FEARFUL CRIMES IN NORTHERN QUEENSLAND.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 282, 19 March 1877, Page 4

FEARFUL CRIMES IN NORTHERN QUEENSLAND.

Forsome time past weffcWcftun* IhmM) have been inundated with the reports ©I depredations being committed north, east, south, and west, by those bloodthirsty savages, the " poop blacks." I>rays have been stuck op, and teamsters obliged toffy,, women hunted, bullocks speared, ami the tallest atrocious act is the committal of the moat bloodthirsty double murder that it hj»» been our lot to chronicle- sinew Cooktown was first settled', atid God know»,.the.ru have been enough, lint a short time back, say the first week in December, two-packers,, named llnu'li and Ifrniald Maei|uane, who- for the last two years have been packers between Cooktown and Maytown, started from Gray and Co.'s stores with their paek-teatn of splendid animals, representing a value, •with their loading, of over £IOOO. The Maeqnaries take the " Hell's Gate"' tracks and nothing more is heard of them till a report is received «n Wednesday last from John who states as follows :. —".Gormanby, January 3l\ As I was travelling' from Maytown to Cook town a n the Hell's Gate truck on Sunday last, about three miles from the latter place, from what 1 saw, the niggers had just completed the slaughter of two horses, having jtwt removed one and a portion of the other, Some papers and books were scattered about,, which E picked up for the purpose ef identification. They bore the name of Hugh Maetpiarie, and were invoices, tetters,, &(t. r from Gray and Co., and. several others. There was a pack saddle on the remaining horse, but I did not remove it, but travelled with alt speed to- the Laura, thinking to pull the men belonging to the slaughtered horse, and on my way saw fcesh tracks on the road. Soon after I picked tsp six horses, comprising four pack, one saddle, and one riding horse. I searched about for signs of a fresh outrage, bxit did not find any, and finat'y reached the Laura late that night. The horses I picked up travelled down without being driven, giving evident sig T ia of knowing the track welt, f brought four horses down, one knocked up at t'-e iianra, and; another broke his leg and I shot him on the track." Since this straightforward report has been received, eouaimation ©f the diabolical outrage has been afforded by another packer, who states that near where Uogan first saw the slaughtered horses at llell's Gate, he found tracks of bleeding bodies having been dragged off the road into the bush, and also- picked up more papers bearing the names of Hugh, and Donald Ma«tttane, which have also been banded ov»>r t<> the police. The escort which arrived in town on Wednesday, under Mr. Fitzgerald, furnishes fresh reports of outrages everywhere-, horses tying about disgustingly mutilated on the llell's Gate track, packs strewn everywhere, rations scattered; to- the winds, and, for all we know, the skeletons of their owners bleaching around camps where- the blood - thirsty savages have indulged in their cannibalistic feats,