Untitled

Grey River Argus, Issue 83, 24 July 1866, Page 3

-From further information from another source, we find that Sullivan states that he had £100 with. him when ho landed at Hokitika, and ■ the manner in wliich^ according to his* own account, he became bpnnected with the Burgess and Levy gang ;is a singular one. ~ He had been gratifying his propensity for gambling in Hokitika, when one of the gang picked his pocket. Among- the money stolen was a bent half sovereign, and, he laid an information . against the ..thief. Next day Burgess came to Mm-j and • advised him to drop the prosecution. .He refused ; but on a subsequent occasion, while half intoxicated by Burgess and his companions; Sullivan consented' not to appear against the man, and" pn the Court day Burgess and Kelly tools :him out in a boat. The case^ps adjourned for liis evidence, and tlie police were hi. 'search of him. This was some time in April last, soon after he landed in Hokitika Afterwards, as we understand it, he fraternised ;with the gang ; and the first work he _was setto do was to stand at the front door of a store, near the water in Hokitika, we believe, while Burgess .ran in without his hat, and in haste told the storekeeper that a man was drowning, and ' ran off followed by the storekeeper, diuiiig whose -absence

Kelly entered the place by the back door, ' and stole the man's cash box. Then followed the Okarita robbery, but how Sullivan participated in do not yet know. That he was concerned^n ' the murder of Dobson is known,- and that Fox, the gold buyer, was warned betimt 1 ?, is also known. It appears that Fox went up with notes to buy gold, and that 4 the assassins knew this, hue preferred to wait for his return with the gold, which was* better than the notes. Fox having communicated with the police at .the TwelveMile, came down, and as he passed the spot where iie was told 'the ambush was lying, ho swung his revolver. Ashore distance behind him came five armed policemen, and -go the man escaped.. This was after the murder of poor Dobson. On- a previous occasion a gold buyer was to be waylaid. Sullivan, as usual, was on the road, and Burgess was lying concealed in the bush>a few yards off the road, with a couple of guns under him. At the moment the man passed three diggers, who had gone off the track to avoid a" mudtly part of the road, came right upon Burgess as he lay among the brushwood, almost stepping on him. This so much disconcerted the plan that tlie man passed uuirijured, and saved Jhis gold arid probably liis life. : . :It should be stated here that ' Sullivan frequently objected to the" murdering ; but was laughed at and half, threatened by Burgess, who is an. overbearing* and . determined man, reckless of -life, as has. been shown. Sullivan one day said that he 'did not like that work, and that it was horrible. Burgess made answer ih this lame logic :— thai- kings, in: quaiTelling out of- greed for a little' bit pi territory, . sacrificed thouaan ds of li ve3 ; and therefore what was the use of being squeamish over a few lives here..whom nobody would miss 'I or' words, to that effect. Sullivan declares liis belief that .after' this Burgess . resolved .to kill Jiim and put liim out of the way";, and he, Sullivan, also made up his mind-to kill Burgess. The. first part of his story is confirmed by the statement that Burgess made when he heard that Sullivan had confessed ; and even in the lock-up, cells, as we are inf ormed, Burgess swore he would "do for him" at the first chance, and Sullivan, had to be guarded by tlie police. '^ Yesterday (19th) after ' tlie Cotfrt proceedings, Mr Jervis saw Sullivan and had some conversation with him.. He told him that all the evidence of. tile witnesses was correct, except that of MrGalloway, where the "witness said .they' carried a doublebarrelled gun/ It was the handle of a long-handled shovel which he had mistaken for a gun ; and as the men studiously concealed their faces and would hide what they could, the mistake is not much to be wondered at. ' The guns they had were not seen ; they were taken to pieces and ~ rolled up in, the swags. This is a satisfactory explanation of the, two long-handled shovels which were found hot far from the body of the horse. One of them was thus the party's own shovel, and the other must have been. that of poor old Jamie Battle. Sullivan also 1 told Mr Jervis that the "dark skin iii the opossum rug, which he took to be that of a flying squirrel, was the skin of a dpihestic cat that had-gone wild, and which he had himself shot.in Victoria. A supplement^ to Mr Je'rvis's , .evidence is to be found in" the fact that Sullivan on the Sunday morning borrowed a stone and a bottle of oil, to sharpen a razor, as, he said." He explained yesterday to Mr Jervis, that the stone was only a ruse— they wanted the oil to.-oil their guns and pistols, and not to ; sharpen .razors. On the Monday night, when -Mr Jervis,'s lad went to the door of the house' the four men occupied, and was.ref used admittance, the party was engaged at that very moment in loacling their guns and pistols for use on the following day, . It wilL be remembered that in the large tree behind ."Murderers' Rock," was found by the search party a notch where it' was believed a bullet had been cut aut, as there was a mark as if made by a bullet on the baric. Sullivan explained to Mr Jervis that thjs was a bullet mark. Levy, either on the Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, thought .there was something wrong with one of the nipples of his revolver,- and he aimed at the tree and drew tha trigger. The cap snapped ;he tried another and fired, striking the tree. He afterwards cut out the ball, and used it to reload the barrel, as they could not afford to lose a Ibullet, being shor£of ammunition. . . Sullivan was taken put by the police on Wednesday, to look for 'certain articles which it is said . Burgess had concealed. We have heard it stated that gold nuggets were broken up so as not to be recognised; and hidden somewhere in the. neighborhood ; but of ,this we have no certain knowledge, neither do we know whether the police were successful in their search, but we believe they were not. A report that Sullivan's wife had arrived at Hokitika by -the Gothenburg last week, is said to be incorrect. A Mrs Sullivan ■we believe did come from Melbourne by .that steamer, accompanied by some children, but it is not credited that she is. the wife of this Sullivan ; although it is " possible that she may belong to the Otago Sullivan, with whom, aslwe said, the one now in custody has been confounded. V