THE MERCURY BAY RUSH.

Grey River Argus, Volume VI, Issue 425, 3 October 1868, Page 2

THE MERCURY BAY RUSH.

TRIAL OF THE* PROSPECTORS. (F*om a correspondent of the Southern Cross.} September 22. Th,e prognostigations contained in my last' letter from Mercury .Bay, and put> lished in your issue a few^ days agfl, have been more than verified by subsequent events. I was prevented feam, sending my letter by the schooner Success, on Monday, and, as I have since walked overland to Shortland by way of Goromandel, a full report. <4 events^ may not be uninteresting. The departure pf moqt of the. original number of gold-s,eeke^s. by the second trip of the Tauranga caused a depression in the spirits of the party, notwithstanding the hopes of the incoming crowd ; but nothing of any importance, transpired until the arrival the following morning of the Halcyon with William Marshall, the most' blatant of the prospectors. The fact of his coming dispelled all fears as to . the. xesult, apef his confident manner and his repeated assertions that " we were right" made those rejoice who had had the patience to avrait hia coming. He was well, mobbed by large inquirers, and every desire was shown to give him fair play. He. wished for his mates' arrival before he showed the rich" ground, and seemed very anxious for . one, mate, William Sharp, in particular. As the day advanced, and as no mate appeared, the men began to get impatient, and, with the desire to afford the man every facility, a party was formed and despatched to the mill for Sharp, on Whose arrival so much depended. Between^ four and five o'clock $ha nui%exp«cted boat returned, bringing Mr William Sharp^ a mild-looking old ''man — anything but. a digger in appearance. He was, on landing, mounted on a rise, and anobblec was administered to sustain his spirits, when he told his tale, much as follows : — He said he had been working off and on in the creek for seven or eight months^ and had got lfoz. of gold, and, having, told Marshall of this, he (Marshall) wanted to see the place ; he took him to it, and a dish or two was tried, but no gold found. Marshall then struck on a, small quartz leader, and, showing a specimen, said, " Look, here is gold ; our pile is^ made." He and Marshall then went up the hill again, when, "lucky man,*' Mar-, shall again found a rich specimen sticking out of the surface. It was, resolved then to go to Ferguson's mill, let him into the, secret, and apply for a prospecting claim, which, ras everybody knows; was done. The secret of this conference and the complicity of others beside Marshall anq[

Sharp have not and probably will not be found out. Marshall all this while adhered to his statement that good gold was to be shown, and, as night was closing in, a guard was formed, and the two men were shepherded until morning. The whole camp was early astir the following day, and after a hasty breakfast the two men were marched to their "claim," accompanied by nearly every man in the place. Arrived there, several dishes of dirt were tried, but no colour found.. The leader was then tested with the same result, and after Marshall had tried for pome time without avail, all present came to the conclusion that the whole thing was a duffer. One chance remained, however, in the hope that ho could find other specimens on the hill side, like the ones he had shown the Superintendent and others. Nothing came of this, however, and the whole party returned lo camp, where a meetjng was held, and a decision arrived at to try the men by judgp and jury. Alexander Erskine was chosen judge, Samuel Jones prosecutor, aud Samuel Hamilton foremui of the juiry. The prisoners w«re placed in charge of six special constables, and we:e allowed the privilege of challenging any pf the £welve jurymen to the number of six. The court being opened, the prisoners were asked whether they were guilty, or . not guilty, of causing a duffer rush, and of reporting a find of gold on false aud malicious grounds. Marshall pleaded guilty ; Sharp, also pleaded guilty. Mr Jones then addressed the jury, and told them that, as the prisoners' plea had convicted themselves, the case required no remark from him, but he left it in their hands to find a verdici according to their owu consciences. The judge and jury then asked the prisoners a few questions, the answers to which were as follows :— They could not implicate White, the ptorekeeper, but he was very anxious to lease the ground. They admitted that the quartz specimens shown were not found at Mercury Bay at all, and that the whole creek had been sluiced and abandoned some weeks before the prospecting claim was applied for. The names of the prospecting claim shareholders have been given to me as follows: Ferguson, 2; Walter Williamson, 1; William Ma:shall, 1; William Sharp, 1; William Strong, 1 ; Peter Lynch, 1 ; half-caste (nephew to White), 1 ; Bill the Splitter, 1 ; Kelly, I;—total,1 ;— total, 10. The jury having retired, a verdict of guilty was recorded, with extenuating circumstances. The judge, having considered a few minutes, sentenced the prisoners to be shaved. The proceedings throughout- were moat orderly, and every desire was shown to do justice to the men. The Court decided to hand the men, after the operation, over to the police at Auckland, where an information would have been laid against them for obtaining money from several persons by false and fraudulent representations ; but owing to the arrival of a boat in the bay which capsized in the breakers during a squall, a rush was made to the beach, during which time Marshall escaped and Sharp was liberated. A charge was then brought against White, but, no supportable evidence being forthcoming, the jury found that there was no case. It was 'resolved, however, to go down to his house, to see whether he had any> participation in the crime. The whole camp then broke up, arid by small parties the march commenced to White's. On arrival, the anxiety of Mr White for the general welfare, his liberality in giving food to those whose purse was dry, and his general behaviour were so convincing pf his guiltlessness that no harm was even contemplated against him, and not a few will remember the cheering influence of the meals they had in his house. The general feeling throughout the Bay was that great leniency had been shown the men, and the Maoris were much embittered against them for causing a rush by such dishonest means. In Otago and elsewhere, for less, men's ears have been cut off, and they may thank their stars that the body of men they had to deal with were a quiet and law-loving people. The consequences are most serious ; many men had left claims, many had thrown up situations, and many existed whilst at Mercury Bay on little else than shell-fish — abounding on its shores. Marshall appears to be most blameworthy, and has caused the rush — for some unknown motive. The specimens he exhibited certainly were never found on the ranges, or in the creek at Mercury Bay, until he dropped them there for the purpose of finding them. Sharp and the others seemed tools in his hands. He maintained a cool bearing throughout the whole probationary time, until the final hairclipping. With regard to the likelihood pf a gold-field being found in the district, no law can be laid down, but the indications ar3 r.oi of a likely nature ; the quartz is hungry and barren-looking, no gold is found m any quantity in the locality, and no. colour was to be found by any of the party, either on the beach, in the creek, pr on the hill, or in the neighbourhood, at all, although a considerable amount of prospecting was done, and a good radius of ground was tried.