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Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 645, 8 March 1870, Page 3

We (Kilmore Free Press) have received information that a clever capture of a supposed murderer has just taken place at Pyalong. It appears that upwards of six years ago a murder was committed in the Baylesford district, the perpetrator eluding the search of the police until Monday last, when, from information received, Constables Mahon and Flint scoured the Pyalong Ranges, and arrested, in a tent in a secluded portion of the bush, a man who followed the occupation of a splitter, and was rarely to be seen among the haunts of men. The fellow was about to show fight, having wielded a tomahawk for the purpose of strikingone of the constables, when the blow was arrested by the other constable jumping into the hut suddenly. The man will be brought up at the Police Court, and will doubtless be remanded to where the crime was committed. At about 1 o'clock, p.m., on the 18th Feb., adesfcructivefire occurred in Lothian, street, Hotham. It was first discovered in a small wooden house of two rooms rented by a cabman named Francis Bertram, the flames quickly communicating to an iron building tenanted by Mr Skinner, also to the grocery store and dwelling occupied by Mr Richard Fogarty, and an unoccupied wooden house, most of the premises being destroyed. The premises destroyed are owned by Mr Michael O'Meara, and are insured in the Australian Alliance Company, for L 475, the damage done being estimated at considerably above that amount. Mr Fogarty's stock and furniture,- the greater portion of which was removed before the fire had reached his premises, is insured in the National Company for L4OO. A commotion wa3 caused at Bnninyong on Thursday by a rumor which got abroad that Power the bushranger lied been apprehended. The Ballarat Courier relates : - — "A man of the name of Shamus O'Bonovan had been drinking in Mark Thompson's hotel at Napoleon Lead, and either in a fit of bravado or temporary insanity, perhaps both, he declared himself the notorious Power. After a short time he was arrested in the back premises of ; the hotel, but although his personal appearance bore a slight similarity to the descriptions given of Power, it was discovered that beyond having drank tea or done something else in company with Power at a very remote and a very indefinite period, there was not the slightest ground for supposing that he was the daring ruffian he had personated, or that lie ever had any other connection with him than that mentioned. . No less than ten fires are mentioned in the Victorian Police Gazette as having occurred since the beginning of the year, incendiarism being suspected in almost tJvery case ? and in several instances a reward is offered for the conviction of the incendiary. The principal contracts for the conveyance of mails in Victoria during 1870 have been obtained by Messrs Robertson, Wagner, and Co. They are two in number, and amount in the whole to L 56,635 JOs. - ■ A melancholy accident occurred at Wi lliamstown lately. A lad named Charles Litchfield, 13 years old, was sent on shore with a message by the steamer Black Eagle, which was lying alongside the Ann street wharf. In attempting to jump on to the pier he fell into the water, striking the back of his head against a block of wood as he fell. He was picked up in a state of insensibility, and taken on board the brig Yarrow, a doctor being sent for immediately. Every attention was paid to him, but he never rallied, and died in a quarter of an hour after the accident. A few days ago it was discovered by Mr Coutts, a farmer at Mount Creenock, that a snake had taken up his abode in a hole under the chimney of his house. To get rid of the reptile Mr Coutts mixed strychnine with some oatmeal and milk, and ' placed it before the snake's hole. Next morning the b&it was all swallowed, and about eight inches of the defunct snake lay outside the hole, greatly swelled. It measured about sft long. On examining the retreat, the Talbot Leader says, it was found that about 100 mice had been killed by the poison also. A Murray contemporary mentions that a Chinaman lately fell into the river and was drowned. His countrymen tried to recover the body, but without avail ; and applied to a European for assistance. The utmost, however, they would offer him for his services was a shilling j and this being -esteemed too low an assessment even of the body of a dead Chinaman, the defunct Celestial was left undisturbed. In a Brisbane telegram of the*lßth Feb. it was stated that a letter had been received at Roma which conveyed an impression that Leichhardt was still alive and living with the blacks, but too crippled to find his way to the settled districts. Files of Northern papers to hand ; give further particulars, which by no means bear out the impression conveyed by the telegram. Most persons wlo will be inclined to believe that the white man referred to is King, and that the blacks who related the story of Mr Powell saw this survivor of the Burke and Wills' party, as they state, "many buir-

mers since," and are not possibly aware of his rescue. The narrator of the story, told by the Nation, says: — "A great many summers since a parry of white men, with a number of horses, plenty of flour, and tirearms, crossed Cooper's Creek, about seventy <<r eighty miles below tho junction of the Bavcoe and Thomson Rivers, travelling in a westerly direction. That the whole of the party were taken ill with what I suppose to have been a malignant fever, or fever and ague ; that all died with the exception of one man, and he was completely crippled; i hat since his own supplies became exhausted, he has been supported by the natives, but that he has been in such a state that he is perfectly incapable of travelling. I cannot form any idea of the distance ; the blacks only tell that it is a great many ' sleeps ' to the westward. Now these facts, if true, siiggest the following query — Can it be Leichhardt's party ? Gregory lost Leitchhardt's track about this part of Cooper's. Creek, and surely we must some day obtain traces of his route. If not Leichhardt, it must be the remnant of some private exploring party, and bushruen will tell you that many small parties have started on private explorations and never returned. The water where I met the blacks who gave me the information is on tho edge of Cooper's Creek. The native name is Ullabeena, about twenty miles north-west from a waterhole called Babcoberay, better known to the whites as ' M'lntyre's Breakdown.' Any of the stockmen on the Wilson River can easily find the place. From Ullabeena, in a west or north-west direction about twenty miles, is a large water-hole on the north-west side of Cooper's Creek, called Carrawanka, which would bo a good starting-point. I understand from the blacks the name of the water or creek where this unfortunate man is supposed to be is Boorowiwarra." On Friday last, reports the M. A Mail, 25th ult., a Chinaman went down an old shaft on Donkey Hill, Campbell's Creek, and, on exploiting one of the drives, discovered the remains of another Chinaman, completely dried up, and in a perfect state of preservation., John was so frightened by his discovery that he lay in bed till Sunday, when he gave information at Mr Watsworth's store. The police were then sent for, and on their arrival they brought the body to the surface. An inquest was held at the Five Flags Hotel when a verdict of "died of starvation" was returned, but a rider was added, "That the body being snch a curiosity, the coroner be requested to ask the authorities if they would have it forwarded to Professor M'Coy for the advancement of science." The remains are on view at the Five Flags, and host Brandle, who has probably an eye to the " bawbees," is turning the affair into some advantage to the hospital by charging sixpence a head for a peep.