THE GOLD FIELDS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 163, 24 May 1862, Page 4

THE GOLD FIELDS.

TUAPEKA,

(from our own correspondent.)

THE RUSH TO THE TUAPEKA RIVER

Tuapeka, Alay 22ud, 1862.

From this quarter I hear of numerous instances of first rate returns. One party of four had" for their last week's work, 42 ozs., while another party of three obtained over 20 oes. These men are at work on the edge of the river paddocking, and they believe that if properly prospected, the whole of theground lying between the Junction and the mouth of the Tuapeka will pay handsome wages. Alost of the men who nave settled down along the edge of the river are doing well; the work however is somewhat heavy, owing to the large quantity of water that has to be contended with. I see no reason why the gullies which open into the Tuapeka flat should not be as auriferous as the edge of the river. The character of the drift is the same, and the external feature of the ground equally inviting- Again, the course of the river is a mere "rut, and the clay and drift through whicli it flow-s must have been in position long prior to the period when some violent volcanic action changed the watershed, and caused the waters from the hills to flow in their present direction. It is to he hoped the Government will see the propriety of expending a small sum of money to make the road from the Junction of Gabriel's to the moutli of the Tuapeka. Apart from the large amount of traffic now passing over it, and the necessity, therefore of making it passable, there is ypt anothpr reason why this should be done. Within some eight miles orthe mouth of the Tuapeka there is a heavy belt of timber, many of the trees being three and four feet through. If a road were made, timber could bo landed on the gold fields at a much cheaper rate than it is possible to supply it for from Dnnedin. I believe the dray track from the Tuapeka to this forest is Rood; all that is required, therefore, is the expenditure of some L2OO to cut a few sidlings and bridge one or two small ruts. A cheap and plentiful supply of timber would enable the miners to work ground now abandoned, because ofthe heavy price of props and ulahs. There never was a country having auriferous deposits in which tunnelling could be carried ou to Greater advantage, but the difficulty 01 obtaining timber at anything like a reasonable price has hitherto deterred the miners from entering upon this kind of work. On many of the hill sides you see that at about half way from the summit there is a deposit of drift, and you immediately exclaim, " How easy it would be to tunnel that ground." You arc met at once with the response, " Yes, if you had timber to prop it." Accordingly it is passed by, while ground perhaps much poorer is worked, simply because it neither requires props nor slabs. . I trust the Government will see the propriety of doing something in this direction. I believe this is not the first time their attention has been called to this matter. ■x.iM^imMasumaaasaxcßtum Alelancholy Accipent on the Clyde.—Oji Wednesday n'i'ternnoori, t-,vo mpp. named Hector Al'Pherson and Hugh Campbell, wjiile engaged iji the diving-bell apparatus at Elderslie (where operations for blasting the rock there have been carried on for some time), met. their death by the sudden bursting of the air pipe. They were at the t hue under water at a depth of twenty-two feet, and engaged in slinging stones whicli had been blown off the rock and hoisted on boaid'the bell, when by the air-pipe bursting, the water rushed in from beneath in such a volume that they must have instantly been deprived of life. Ihe pipe burst about 12 feet from the pump, the rent being about four inches long. Although search was instantly made for the bodies, it was not till half-past one yesterday morning that Campbell's body was recovered. It was brought up to tho bteamboat U hart at Glasgow by the tug Samson, and afterwards conveyed to the Clyde Police Receiving House. Al 1 herson's body has not yet been discovered. Both were unmarried, Al'Pherson being twenty-seven years ot age, and Campbell thirty. The pipe, though thin, was considered sufficiently strong tor the purpose. The matter has been reported to the Piocurator-l'iscal at Paisley.— Scotsman.

OA'.IKICR OF UU MOLL ARR

AYe take from, the Umdou 7'w»« tlie following detailed wvount of the career of'tlie notorious murderer; Diiiiioll nl, whose trial has lately excited such a sensation in France : —

The'mii.il inwiise'exeiteuicnt has been created throughout Franco, by rhe trial of a m:iu named Martin Duuiollard, a bllniror, who for the last eight years .has been iv the habit ot murdering and robbing servMit girls under tho preteiice of conducting them to good situations. Fifteen cases of murder or attempted murder are alleged against him, and it is suspected that he must be guilty of many more crimes of a similar nature. His wife was indicted as an accomplice. The trial, which took place at Bonrg, in the department of Ara, commenced on Wednesday hist, and was brought to a close on Saturday. Dumollard, whose hair and beard were rugged and unkempt, is 52 years of age. He was attired at the trial in a _ blue blouse, lie regarded the audience in court with a dull and stupid' gaze, and although bo is represented ns a man of unusual aeuteiiess and cunning, his countenance denoted only the lowest passions. His wife has nothing striking in her appearance. She was attired during the trial in the costume ordinarily worn by countrywomen in Franco. The following account ofthe extraordinary and unparalleled charges against the prisoners is obtained from the official acte d'accusation. On the 25th of May, 1861, about II o'clock at ni:;ht, a woman knocked at the door of AI. Joly, an inhabitant of the village of Ballau, and asked for shelter anil protection from an assassin, out of whoso hands she stated she had just escaped in a miraculous manner. The terror depicted in her countenance, her disordered garments, and the bruises on various parts of her body, bore witness to the reality ofthe danger which she had encountered. The namoof this woman, who was a stranger to that part of the country, was Alarie l'iehon. She was at once taken before tlie police authorities at Alonlliiel.towhom sho made the following astounding statement: —She had (she said) come from Lyons, where she had been living a« a domestic servant. That samo morning, as she was crossing the Bridge de la Guillotiero, she was accosted by a countryman, clad iv a blue blouse, with a hump on his back, and having a scar ancl a swelling on his upper lip. This person inquired of her the address of a certain registry office, and took the opportunity of entering into conversation with her. Ho told her that he was employed as a gardener at a chateau near Alontluel, and that he had been sent to Lyons by his master for the purpose of engaging a domestic servant. The place \vn3 a most advantageous one, tho wages being 250f. a year, besides perquisites ; the work was easy, and consisted mainly in attending to three cows. Thrown off her gua-cl by these unexpected proposals anil the apparent simplicity of the stranger, Alarie Pichon accepted the tempting offer. She at once got re<tdy her box of clothes, and an hour or two afterWard's, accompanied by her guide, took tho train to Montluel, where they arrived soon after nightfall. The man, putting tho box upon his shoulder, told Alarie to follow him, saying that he intended to take a short cut to their destination. Suddenly, after having proceeded for a long time through lonely and unfrequented ways, and after having parsed across several ploughed fields, the stranger stopped in the middle of a meadow and laid clown the box, saying that be was too tired to carry it any further, but that he would go for it the next morning and take it to the chateau. They then resumed tlieir journey, but this incident caused Alarie to feel somewhat uneasy. Soon afterwards thoy came to a hill and began to ascend it. Alarie Pichon observed that her companion seemed anxious that she should go first. She had before remarked that he had armed himself with a heavy stick, and now she noticed that he stooped down several times te pick up stones. When they hail proceeded a few paces further on, she saw him thrust his hand under his blouse, as though ho were nbout to draw forth a weapon. Terrified beyond measure, she stopped and said, " I see you have deceived mo. I will go no further." '' We have arrived atom- destination," replied tlio stranger, at the same time stretching out his arms iii the direction of his victim, wdio saw that a cord with a slip knot was above her head. She instinctively dropped a bandbox and an umbrella which she was carrying, and, raising both hands above her head, arrested the fall ofthe diabolical instrument of murder. As it was, however, her bonnet was dragged oft' her head. Alarie Pielion then took to flight. She fell several times and bruised herself severely, but on hearing the footsteps of her pursuer, she summoned up all her energies and resumed her headlong flight through the darkness. At last, to her relief", she heheld a light in a cottage window, and in a minute more she was safe under tho roof of AI. Joly, in the village of Ballau, which soon became the scene ofthe most intense excitement. The search made for the box and the other articles was altogether fruitless. The disappearance of these so soon after the commission of the crime seemed to indicate that the culprit was not far distant, and this supposition was strengthened by the evident fact that he was perfectly acquainted with the neighborhood. Above all, tho attack upon Alarie Pichon called to the minds of all a great number of eases of the same kind which had been" made on previous occasions in the same locality. The circumstances of all the victims being domestic servants, the situiltude of the manoeuvres by which they were lured on, and the singular fact that the assailant had always been described in the same manner —.all these tended irresistibly to the conclusion that the attack from which Alarie Pichon had providentially escaped was the most recent of a scries of crimes whicli their authors had systematically pursued. The attention of tho officers of justice was soon directed to the occupiers of a house situato at Alollard, a hamlet in the commune of Dagnoux, ancl in the vicinity of the place to whicli the woman Pielion had been led on the night of the 25th of Alay. The neighbors looked with suspicion and distrust upon this house, in consequence of the mystery and silence maintained by its inmates. Tho bad eliaiactcr of the mau who resided there, coupled with tlie grave and dissimulated behaviour of his wife, the strange nocturnal excursions of the husband, and, lastly, the striking resemblance he bore to the description of the malefactor who was "wanted,'' induced the jugu lie paix to proceed to the house of this man—Alartin Duinollard, who had already been twice convicted of robbery—and to demand of him an account of how he hail employed his time on the day and night of the 25th of Alay. Tho embarrassed manner of Dumollard and his wife, their evasive and contradictory replies, and the presence in their abode of a quantity of various articles, seemed to confirm the suspicions wliich wero entertained. Duinollard was arrested and forthwith conveyed to Trevonx, whore he was confronted, -on the evening of the si.no day, with Alarie Pichon, who immediately rocjgnised" him as the man who had made the attempt upon her life. The evidence of identity was corroborated by the testimony of several persons who h.id seen tlie man in Lyons in the company of his intended victim on the day ill question. The obstinate denial opposed to this conclusive evidence by Dumollard is the less to be wondered at when it is considered that his mind was occupied as much with this isolated crime as with the frightful acts whicli he had previously committed. The woman, who had compromised herself liy her false and contradictory statements, and alsq h'v the anxiety she evinced to conceal certain suspicious articles, was likewise taken inso custody. Sfivei-fil searches were made in the house, aiid resulted in the discovery of a large quantity of clothes, linen, trunks, boxes, fragments of lace, ancl other articles, all likely to have belonged to domestic servants. Among these spoils, of which many bore traces of blood, particular attention was directed to some garters of different form and color, which appeared to have belonged to different persons. The police also found some pieces of stuff which had been taken from the box of Alarie Piehon, and also articles of clothing belonging to women who had been assassinated. The crimes which were subsequently brought to light extended over the period between February, 1555, and Alay, 1861. The acte d'accusation recounts a large number of these murders and attempted murders,' 'among the most remarkable of which is that of Alarie Baday, a young sen-ant of Lyons, and the attempt upon the life of Olympo Alabert, another servant. The latter girl, being deceived by the promise of 250f. wages, unhesitatingly departed with her pretended gmc'.eJ and after a long journey they arrived at nightfall in the environs of Trauioyes. They were approaching the forest of Aloiitaveraf, where some clays previously the bleeding body of Marie Baday had been discovered, when, affrighted by the solitude of the place, Olympe Alabert declared that she would proceed no further, and suddenly quitting her companion, she fled into a neighboring farmhouse. The acte d'accusation then enters into particulars of two successive attempts made in the months of October and November, 1855, the 'objects being two sen-ant girls, Josephine Uharlety and Jeanne Alarie Bourgeois, Both of tjiem escaped by flight from the consequences of their imprudent confidence, and both lost^their luggage and money. The acte d'accusation goes on to say that from November, 1855, to the close of the year 1858, no crime committed by the accused bas been publicly charged against him. In December, 185S, however, he resumed his diabolical avocation, for, engaging a young servant maid at Lyons, he conducted her to the Wood of Alontbain, and there, in the middle of the night, he firsr violated her, and then, having wounded her, buried her while she was still alive. After tracing a number of robberies committed by the same means—the victims always servants decoyed from Lyons, who only escaped death by flight, and leaving their property in the bauds of the accused, the acte d'accusation relates the particulars of the last murder committed by him, on the nightof Ihe 20th of February, 1801, and concludes by stating that during the eight years in which the prisoner had pursued his career ot crime, six of his victims had been murdered al't.T being

■violated, and.nine other.giris.providentially c caned from their assailant, though four ofthe latter number were compelled.fo leave iii his hands the property which lirtil excited his cupidity. The above charges wcrp subsfi ntiated by the evidence of about 70 wit nesses, the 'principal 'facts being extracted from the wife ..I" Damollard, w'.io was subjected to a lengthened cxamimiti'i.i. [by electric telegraph.] : Bojukg, -Feb. 1. The trial wa* brought to.a close to-day. Dumollard w;is condemned to death, and liis wite to 20 years' imprisonment, with hard labor.