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Southland Times, Volume 1, Issue 501, 25 June 1866, Page 3

I , Female advice to betrothed men— Always live up to your engagements Why is a dog's tail a very great no* velty P —• Bectiiiße no one ever saw it before. A fr\y (luy«s ago died Friedrich liiiekevl:, the oldent and ope of tlm greater pt" thq

MUEDEE AT- G-EEYMOUTH. We have published, in a telegram and in other ways, that Mr George Dobson — who was connected with the Survey Department of Canterbury, and was the son of the Chief Surveyor of that Province— had started one evening to go a few miles on the Diggings, and had not afterwards been heard of. Search parties were sent out, but they searched uselessly ; and a general fear had come to be entertained at the date of the last papers from G-rey- . mouth, that Dobsoa had been mistaken for a gold buyer, and had been murdered by some of the desperate men known to be in the district. We regret to say that there is now reason for supposing that that belief was correct ; for last evening, a telegram was received from Canterbury, by the Commissioner of Police, stating that "warrants have been issued by the bench at Greymouth, for the arrests of the persons described below, charged with having murdered George Dobson, on the 29th ult." The " persons named " are three daring scoundrels well known in Otago, being no others than Kichard Burgess alias Hill, Thomas Kelly alias Hannon, and John Joseph Sullivan, who, in the early days of Gabriel's Gully, stuck-up some men near Wetherstones/and afterwards fired upon the Police. The men are thus described in the telegram: — Burgess: 36 years of age, sft. 4^in. high, fresh complexion, brown hair, hazel eyes ; has a gun-shot wound on the back. — Kelly : 39 years of age, sft. 5-|in. high, sallow complexion, hazel eyes, face wrinkled ; marked with a mermaid and sailor on the right arm. and a cross on the breast. — Sullivan : 40 years of age, sft. 9in. high, fair complexion, stout build, short brown hair inclined to grey, long face, square forehead, blue eyes, firm mouth, small fair whiskers, no moustache, broad shoulders ; has the appearance of au " old hand." The three men were captured here, by Sergeant Bracken (now of Hokitika), and Sergeant Truinble. The officers traced them to a tent at the outskirts of Wetherston.es; but they, bolted as the officers neared the tent, and Burgess (or Hill) and Kelly (or Hannon) escaped. Trumble had previously noticed a very lonely tent iour or live miles from Wetherstones^ and he -made up his mind to search it. "He and Bracken got to the tent just before daylight. Bracken got off his horse, uudid the tent, crept in, revolver in hand, and found the two men asleep. They awoke to find themselves completely covered by Bracken's revolver ; and they believed in the earnestness of Bracken's threat, that the first that stirred would certainly die on the instant, and that the chances were strongly in favor of the fate of the second being .similar. Meanwhile, Trumble had crept in behind the villains, and taken from under their heads two revolvers and two guvs. Then their capture was easy. Burgess and Kelly were found guilty of shooting with intent to kill, and also of stealing a gun ; and they were sentenced to penal servitude for three years and a half. They were discharged from prison ou the 11th September last. Early in 1963, Burgess once or twice caused great danger in the Dunedin Gaol. Once, he contrived to communicate with the notorious Garrett and others, so as to concert a breaking out ; and he contrived to break through a thick stone wall and to enter the adjoining cell. On another occasion, he and Garrett each barricaded the door of his cell, and set the officers at defiance until the' doors had been battered d0w0... Those doors, and others in the gaol, then opened inwards — a stupid arrangement, which was speedily altered. Burgess was flogged ; and he bore his punishment with seeming indifference. It may be said here, that Garrett, who for a long time absolutely would not do work of any kind, has for some time been thoroughly" well behaved, and has worked regularly and hard. "Sullivan was found Not Guilty ; and as soon as he was at liberty he sailed for Sydney. The telegram received last evening was the first intimation to ths police here that he had returned to New Zealand ; and now, unfortunately, he and his "mates are charged with murder. All three of the men have undergone long periods of penal servitude in Victoria; and Burgess's wound in the back was received while he and several others were attempting to escape from the hulk in Hobson's Bay. Burgess was formerly a mate of the notorious Capt. Melville , and he has the reputation of being one of the most cool and daring criminals in the Australian Colonies. — Daily Times, 16th June.