THE NOTORIOUS BUTLER.

Mt Benger Mail, Volume 17, Issue 850, 22 August 1896, Page 3

THE NOTORIOUS BUTLER.

The following account of the proceedings subsequent to the acquittal of Butler on the charge of having stolen a watch from a Mr M'Phee are taken from the * Argus ':— Detective M'Manamny had never doubted his charge against Butler was absolutely true, and when the jury returned a verdict of " Not guilty" he was more than ever determineel to go further, and by every possible means, consistent of course with fair play, endeavor to prove that he was right. The first interview between the detective and the convict was short. Butler had recovered his self-possession and had quietly settled down to the prison routine. He greeted the detective familiarly, thanked him for the fair manner in which he had been proceeded against, and wound up a few wellturned sentences by saying that he would do M'Manamny a good turn if he ever had the chance. M'Manamny replied that hs did not want any personal favors, but would be pleased indeed if he could recover Mr M'Phee's watch. Butler smiled as he asked if the detective imagined he had lost his senses and was going to make evidence against himself. He was more thoughtful a moment later, when told that no further proceedings were contemplated so far as tho Hawthorn case was concerned. "The old man (Mr M'Phee) was very fair," he said, "and it perhaps would be a reasonable thing to help him to regain the watch. Supposing—l merely say supposing—l stuck him up, and tell you where the watoh is, what would happen to ine if something else were found beside it?" "Does it mean murder?" queried M'Manamny. "No," responded Butler, " merely a loaded revolver." " That might imply an offence against a by-law of the municipality, but nothing you need be afraid of," returned M'Manamny. Butler then promised to give fiorne important information provided he were shown a definite undertaking on the part of the Crown not to proceed further against him in the case of the sticking-up of Mr M'Phee.

A few days later M'Manamny obtained this undertaking from the Attorney-General and once again interviewed Butler. The convict was not so free and outspoken as had been expected. He remarked that he intended to say nothing about Mr M'Phec'a case, and he did not. But he took a piece of foolscap, and with a few lines in pencil sketched the intersection of Exhibition and Little Flinders street, with Rochester Lodge on the corner, and then indicated a fourroomed house in a right-of-way close at hand. About the centre of one of the rooms he placed a pencil mark, and, handing the paper over to the detective, said : "There you arc. Now you know as much as I will ever tell you. Go and see what you shall see." To the detective mind nothing more was required. The plan showed plainly enough the place where the watch had been hidden, and M'Manamoy lost no time in putting the information to a practical test. When he reached the spot indicated on the map or plan, however, he was startled by discovering that there was no house there. It had been recently pulled down, and its bricks had for the most part been carted away. This unexpected development staggered the detective, but without delay he searched out the owner (Mr Raphael, of Russell street), and then traced the purchasers of tho bricks. Neither had heard anything of a watch being found in the house, and, provided it had been placed there, it was probably still lying buried amongst the broken bricks and rubbish, which had been valueless to the purchaser, and had, therefore, not been removed.

At an early hour on the lilli inst. M'Manamny and two assistants, armed with picks and shovels, commenced to clear away the debris. Some hours later they found a brown paper parcel, which, on being opened, was found to contain not only Mr M'l'hee's gold watch aud chain, but a five-chambered revolver, loaded in every chamber, ten ball cartridges tied in a piece of rag, a keenedged butcher's knife about lOin or 12in long, and a black-haired mask. The watch chain was broken where it had been wrenched from the vest, and the watch itself was still showing the time of the outrage—viz., twenty minutes past 10 p.m. The mask, was materially different from the one d»covered in his possession at the time of his arrrest. It is of the orthodox shape, and fastens with string.