SAW PUBLIC HANGINGS

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3696, 27 September 1927, Page 4

SAW PUBLIC HANGINGS

BATHURST PIONEER DEAD. AN INTERESTING CAREER. Sydney, September 20. Said to be Bathurst’s oldest resident, Mr. James Sherman died suddenly on Monday, aged 90 years. Mr. Sherman was horn at Petticoat Lane, the famous Sunday market in the East End of London,and he arrived in Bathurst when only 15 years of age, to he placed under the guardianship of James Sherman, the first Chief Constable of Bathurst. The late Mr. Sherman claimed to he a nephew of Alexander Harris, one of the sailors who accompanied Captain Cook on his voyage to Australia in 1770. He often related how his mother, prior to his departure from London to Australia, took him to say good-bye to Uncle Harris, who wab then 108 years of age. The Sherman family has records and medals to prove that the claim is authentic. Mr. Sherman lived in the dark days of Bathurst. He saw Bathurst under military rule, and offenders placed in the stocks at the lower end of William street for petty offences. He remembered public executions, and also saw convicts at work on the road. He recalled a raid of bushrangers headed by Ben Hall in Bathurst on October 3, 1853. . 1 The late Mr. Sherman is survived by his widow, who is over 80, and five children. His only brother, Mr. John Sherman, died in Bathurst a few years ago at the age of 86.