EXTRAORDINARY AND HORRIBLE CHARGE AT LANDSBOROUGH.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 6, 20 November 1863, Page 2 (Supplement)

EXTRAORDINARY AND HORRIBLE CHARGE AT LANDSBOROUGH.

(Abridged fr/m the Maryborough and DunoTly Advorttso? of the ,6thj iustunt.) ' , The' Police Court here^was .crowded at its opening on Wednesday 'last,' to bear a. charge which had been preferred against a miner named James Carney, for a' capital offence committed on or about the Ist of July last, on the" .person „of , h s o,yvn daughter, -named Mary Ann Carney^ a child underweight '} ears old. Mr Alley took his' seat on, the Bench abput 1 1 o'clock, and the charge read to him by Mr John's, the I Clerk to the Bench. Sergeant Le Blanc conducted the prosecution, aiid Mr Cooke appeared for the prisoner. . Tlie first witness was the child, Mary j Ann Carney, whose appearanc.e .was intelligent, and who gave her evidence with a look of childish candor at first i rather startling to those who believed in the prisoner's innocence. Of course, lit is impossible to give the evidence in a detailed form, but, omitting those parts unfitt?d to appear in the pages of a newspaper, it was, in substance, comprised in t the following narrative : — <*Tne girl did not know how old j.he was, but remembered^her mother, who died last winter, but she .did not know whett. After her death, i she and three jounger two i boys and a girl (a '" baby), lived 'in a-, tent with %er father, -the prisoner ; two f men na>med Wilson and^adisbTi 4fved : in the same tent "after the -mother died, -; an'd slept/there •*lf6' , 'nighi , b^"a'§ttetchtfr , } together, and the girl slept on Jauother stretcher with her father-, the other' children lying ©n. the floor. • The child, then went on to describe to* the Fdlicei f Magistrate, who ;«are fully questioned - her, what her father did to her, and 1 gave de'tails — aB to several nights-r-of a similar character. . Her *fa!the», washed . her night -dress. Shedid not see him, but he told her so. She" 1 deSCrtbfed' that she feTt soreness -and pain-. Her fa thefttook her to Mrs Harrington, and after!-, wards to Mrs Mahoney (whom tlie etiild j ' called "aunt'*), and sometimes went . .on a S iturday to take her to see the baby. She did not tell -anybody for a long time what had happened, as her ' father said he wonid kilL.h.ef : if she^id. At )a<t she told Mrs. Mahoney, who asked 'her what Was the matter with her ; this was afiet her father lisid gone j away from Landsborough. . She liked her aunt letter than Ikt father, and ( would ratl'er live with her. • The two next witnesses, William VVilsou, and Thomas Madison, "who were called for th-e Crown, contradicted, the evidence oi the child distinctly, a'.out their sleeping in the tent, and spoke ofthe uniform kind treatmeit off . tlie prisoner to his children. The evidence, was in favor ofUhe prisoner. They proved that his wife died on the 24th of June, : Mrs Harrington, wife of' Thomas; Harrington (called forthe Crown), : . de*; posed that after the -children left the ' father, — who had no means then to sup- . p -, rt them, — she took care of them, and noticing nothing particular about Mary Ann Carney. She used to nurse the baby, a*jd run about like otfoer children, and she had had opportunities of, seeing her person, and observed nothing ,pat- ■ ticular. - Prudence M'aheney, the wife of John '. Mahoney, deposed that the prisoner took the chiicl, Mary Ann, to her, ("oh the Bth July, and she remained with her three days. She complained of several parts of her body being sore, "and appeared to-be almost idiotic. The pri-: soner took the c.hi'd away on. the llth, and brought her back agaia on Sunday, the 19th, -and?left her again. On two. Saturdays, also, he came and. took her out for a walk, and she came .back' crying, but would not say what was the matter with her. She (withers) iconr sulted a chemic, and after ..that examined the child thoroughly. (Witness he re d escribed certain appearances.) Did not take her to a doctor. The, last ; time but ofleTshe saw the priSonejrf he signed the child over tocher.. • .(>Vitness produced a-written memorandum signed by the prisoner,' ajid witii^sed,^'i.ranß- -, terming the child to her.) J . " la cross-exami nation, she sajtd although she knew of the charge- she; had now made, she did not make it until Saturday,' because she thought the prisoner had ieffthe district She did not ? consult a doctor, or have the ehild exaA /mined fey one, . because , sh,ej. , thought what a shocking thing itwas.i She; told her Kusbahd acd ;6ne ,°se* ■ p^Hon^ ja neighbor, but nothing sqner came back and claimed child, andithen- she gave informatipnOtq^he police. Ead hWrm children* and'ha'd; been married nine years. Had badcon vernations aißouf the" charge with, fe cliiidy it, might have been ten times, but did not " h^r:;^nat to say in Court. :?^a^*|^h^lmisfcpessp ll«wiprocured medicine for the .child, arid 7 had-} hM KwK &l hej.J MTgh%haye A talked about the charge to people in ' Landsbfib^uglu; ~^H^ nothing iri the niatter, although lie >.: knew of it. ""~' ' ' : . Dr. ..Brisband, a .legally ,-, qualified medical p^-ac'titioner^'.^a^ • Landsborough, 4 hat he hid '. made , an examination^? 0).7 Garriey, on Saturday .last^vvith a^ecial ' view ttpjiasbertaini somethin^to^hich > h^&ftentibnUv^ J fwe^ t*acei^^ 'i dying -out>^a[nd.^ certain - appearances ! opinion -force, must have, been Jused . . X£r3:a/^i<J -V-V*. 'f.:.V-' < -iU.J'vjlW'4', >,<;.., j" r . towards her* :>~ - r:7 ;. ■,--;• ■••- Cfossrexaminedjr i-Thisj? was-'.ordy 7a i matter %f ' x Tli^^p^arancue^ s? ; might eiist7fromYcau^s^'dtht r .-...th^Vi * l xhose^;#io^^ -Could hoi *". form an opinion from what; f lie-;s^v, 'as 77toVhow the;-/app^rances7aro^e,,u%Kobn^ r "eurfed with ' some sentences ? reaa/:f bj e Mr Cooke, from Taylor's •'Medica Jurisprudence.''

storj ?had ( not^arie^frcm' the aroint Hold him previous 'tether Warrant ,belrf^ issued, And character of the, charge^ie Kail felt it hjs^duty lo enquire' into. it. t ; He*,,went! carefully through thefevidence, saying that contradictions* appea/ed therein. ne had no alternative but to commit for trial, and no power to dismiss a charge which had some evidence to 'support it.' * Prisoner w»« -accordingly^ committed toi take his trial at the next Circuit Court at Ararat) bail,' owing to the very serious nature' of Tthe aileged"offence, v ding refused- , j:T^