THE QUEENSLAND MURDERERS.

Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 92, 1 July 1902, Page 3

THE QUEENSLAND MURDERERS.

—-o A HORRIBLE CRIME. The crime for which the Kenniffs have been arrested caused widespread horror throughout Australia and New Zealand as the facts became known. At the end df March last Constable Doyle, Mr Dalke, and a tracker Sam Johnson, were out after the men who were charged with horse-stealing on a somewhat extensive scale, and struck thei~ tracks at Mouut Moffat. The constable and party followed the tracks, and on Easter Sunday morning came on the men just as they were leaving camp. The three wanted men cleared out. The tracker states that the police party came up with one of them, and Doyle and Dalke tried to pull him off his horse, while he (Johnson) rode on after the others. He heard five shots fired, and was in turn chased by the two men, but escaped to Carnarvon Station, thirteen miles away, where he met a man named Bourke, who had been mustering horses. They retui*ned to the scenef of the scene of the encounter, and found the pack horse, and Mr Dalke’s horse and saddle, on which there were blood marks. There were also marks of bullets on a tree close by‘ and across the creek a short distance away there were bloodstains on the ground. For several days the police prosecuted a careful search both fpr the supposed criminals and for the remains of Constable Dojde and Mr Dalke, and some days later they found Doyle’s horse in the ranges. There were two pack-bags p’aced across the saddle, and in them were "found the remains and charred bones—the remains of the bodies of the murdered men. It was supposed that the men must have cut up the bodies and sat by while the remains were incinerated. Finally, the police discovered the place where the inhuman deed was done (a rock in the bedof the creek on the bank of which the tragedy took place). A. mile and a quarter from the scene of the shooting, and less than half a mile from the men’s camp they found a large basalt rock, about Bft in diameter, and slightly hollowed in the centre, and on this the men’s bodies had been burned. It is supposed that the bodies were taken across the creek by a large log about 20 yards from where the shooting occurred, and had probably been cut up theie, rolled in blankets, and then conveyed to the rock referred to, where the ghoulish work was resumed. After being burned, all the bones were broken into small pieces with two hardwood sticks and a large round stone like a cannon ball. The work apparently took longer than was expected, and the murderers being afraid of surprise went back to the scene of the shooting and obtained pack bags from the pack horses. They burned the place where Doyle and Dalke had been slain, and where their blood was, also the big log on which the bodies had probably been placed for dismemberment. They went back to the creek with the pack bags, gathered up all they could of the remains, and put them in bags to carry away and conceal. They made a broom from brushwood and swept the stone as clean as possible, sweeping the ashes under the rock. All this seemed done with devilish deliberation. The rock had scaled off in large flakes. Under these there were blood and other terrible emanations from the burning bodies. The scene was horrible. That vas considerably over two months ago, and during the whole of that time the police, assisted by several civilians, have seatched for the alleged murderers. The country to which they were supposed to have escaped is very rough, and it was considered quite

possible that, if they tqok proper precautions, they would be able to get vuite away, From time to time it was reported that traces of them had been discovered in the ranges, and now, just as pursuit seemed almost hopeless, in spite of £IIOOO reward being ouered for their capture, they have been caught, strangely enough,, not far from the scene of the tragedy in which they are alleged tp be implicated.