THE YASS MURDERS—FIVE PERSONS KILLED.

Southland Times, Issue 929, 6 April 1868, Page 3

THE YASS MURDERS— FIVE PERSONS KILLED.

(From the "Yaas Courier.") . One of the most atrocious and bloodthirsty murders it has ever been our lot to record was perpetrated at a part of the Southern road known as Conroy's Q-ap, about sixteen miles from Yass, on last Tuesday night or early on "Wednesday morning, 18th March. . Not fewer than five persons in succession fell victims to the inhuman monster, who was a shepherd, and for the past six monk s has been in the employ of John Conroy, a squater, and an elderly man, who is one of those so brutally murdered. The five persons who have so terribly been deprived of life are John Conroy, his wife, a young man named Smith, a shepherd named White, and another shepherd name unknown. The murderer is a ticket-of-leave man, named "William Monday or Collins. He arrived in this colony per the ship Havering in. 1849. He is stated in his pass to be a native of the county of Tipperary, in Ireland, but says he was born in England and taken to Ireland an infant ; and he professes to belong to the Church of England. He is a shoemaker by trade, j is aged about thirty-eight, is sft. -l£in. high; of fair, ruddy, freckled complexion, has brown hair and beard, hazel eyes j his right eye is defective, said to be from the bite of a dog, but appears more like a natural squint ; he has a faint cross on the inside of the lower part of his right arm, and an anchor and W\ inside the lower part of his left arm. He has a scar on the back of his left hand near the knuckle of the fore-finger. He is a little, j spare, wiry, active-looking person, and f is not at all of a repulsive appear- j ance. At the inquest, held on Thursday, < he did not appear to be at all concerned ; : at the horrible tragedy in which he had ' been the principal actor ; he was cool, ! , collected, and apparently much more in- j different to the proceedings than the i most callous of the spectators. Insanity ; has been hinted;- at, but so far as we i could judge- -and we watched the pri- ( soner narrowly during the investigation — i we could discover nothing, either in his i manner or appearance, to lead us to sup- - pose him to be insane. There certainly i f was a restlessness in his eyes, made more i observable because ot the obliquity in his s right eye; but in every other respect he i was as composed and indifferent as the 1 most ordinary spectator. He was baud- 1 cuffed, and during the heariug of the i evidence he rested his left elbow on bis i right arm, and kept fingering his moustache and beard with his left hand. Monday, or Collins, was tried on a charge of murder at Maitland in 1854, and was found guilty of manslaughter. He received a sentence of fifteen years, ten of which he had served when he received his ticket-of-leave. The scene of the horrible tragedy is, as we have already stated, on the main Southern road, between Yass and Jugiong, and about sixteen miles from the former town. Conroy lived in a hut of. four compartments, two in. front, with two skillion rooms at the rear ; a passage runs through from "the front entrance of the building into one of the skillion rooms. On the left side of the passage on entering is a room used as a kitchen, and in this the prisoner and one of the shepherds slept. In the room on the opposite side, the unfortunate man Smith slept ; and in the skillion, entered by a door from Smith's room, the owner of the place, Conroy, slept. Mrs Conroy slept in a detached hut or kitchen, not far from what may be described as the main building. It seems that during the night of Tuesday, the prisoner rose, and with an axe murdered the shepherd who lay alongside of him. The noise awoke Smith, who slept in the opposite room, and on his rushing in, the prisoner stuck him in the abdpmen with the blade of a sheepshear and then struck j him several brutal blows with the axe. Conroy then appears to have left his bed, and rushed, with merely his shirt and nightcap on, to see what was the matter, when he was murdered in a similar manner. Mrs Conroy, having also heard the scufile, rushed from the place where she slept, evidently in an excited state, as she had no clothing on except her chemise, when she was stuck in the abdomen with the blade of the shears, and then terribly gashed across the head and lace with the axe. Thus four victims fell to the axe of the inhuman ruffian ; and next morning a fifth was added to the awful pile of disfigured and slaughtered persons. One of the shepherds — either "White or the one whose name at present is not known — slept in a gunvah near . where . the sheep were folded, and at some distance from the hut, and at an early hour lie proceeded to the latter, where

> the prtaqner had apparesfcly, waited his I approach. On his entering, the prisoner first disabled him by stabbing him. with • the blade of the aheapshears, and then I struck him down with the axe. Tbe , prisoner then, it would appear, resolved > to burn the bodies, T/hdae of Convoy* > Smith, a.nd M«*a Conroy, he placed on the floor of the kitchen, oa top of them he placed the mattes from off the bed whereon Smith had 3am, aud over this he [ kid the bodies of fcb.9 two shepherds, Oovering them over with blankets, etc. The prisoner declared his intention of murdering Miehaal Conroy, a son of the deceased, but fortunately he did not visit the hut at the time the prisoner was there, or doubtless a sixth victim would have been added to the terrible slaughter. The only reason assigned by the prisoner for .this in human burcheryof five persons is, that he waa badly treated while, in Conrny'u employ, i hut he was stinted in provisions, and that all the money he t/ould obtain from Conroy for his six months' service as aahepherd, was a £Inote, the balance having been withheld as the value of sheep lost, and for other i _ causes. __Xt,aeam« x Imost1 most incredible that" so many succssive and shocking murders could be perpetrated by any sane man for so trivail a cause, but. as we have said above, we see not the slightest grounds for doubting the prisoner's sanity. The .information of the atrocious deeH. was brought to Yass about three o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, and shortly after ; four Mr Sub-inspector Brennan bad reached the scene of the shocking tragedy. . The other particulars will be gleaned from the evidence taken at the inquest. On Wednesday night the prisoner was. brought into Yass by Mr Brennan, and lodged in the lock-up. The bodies were conveyed in a spring-cart as far as Bowning, eight* miles from Yass, that night, and next morning (Thursday) were brought into town, The inquest on the remains of the five victims of this most atrocious crime wat held at the Fortune of War inn, Coomastreet, on Thursday, at noon.. Patrick Brennan^ sub-inspector of police, deposed: Between two and three o'clock yesterday afternoon, I received information that John Conroy and a lad named Smith had been murdered at Comoy's house, near Bogolong. I proceeded out with mounted-constable Cade and a tracker. . I reached Conroj's abont four o'clock, A number of persons had been about the front of the house. j I opened the door and went in. I saw a heap of mattrasses and a heap of bedclothes on the floor, and two men lying on it, with their faces cut, and dead. The tracker turned the men down and pulled the. mattrass off. I then saw old Conroy lying on bis back, with his face cut and broke in. He had nothing on but his shirt. I saw a young man named Smith lying with bis face downwards, dead. I saw Mrs Conroy lying partly on Smith. She was lying on her back, with her forehead nearly touching the ground ; they ' were all cut, same as with an axe. Smith's ■ entrails were hanging out. I left amin I in charge, and sent constables and others out in search of prisoner, of whom I had got a description. I started towards Ilia- j long ; on the road met Mr Walsh, of | Binalong, and Constable Hall. The : prisoner was walking in front of them, ' coming tawards Conroy's. I took charge J of the prisoner and brought him to Conroy's house. 1 brought him inside, into i the passage, and pointed out Conroy, his i wiTe, Smith, and the other two dead persons to prisoner. I said to him, "Do you see those persons murdered?" and he said " Yes." I said, " I charge you with murdering Conroy, his wife, Smith, and the other two whose names I do not know." He said, ".] did do it, and I don't want to deny it." He said, '" I had them ready to burn off ; I intended to come back to ni<*ht and burn tbe?n off they are the scruff (sic) of the earth." I picked up the axe (produced, a short handled American axe), and asked him if he knew it. He said he did, but that it was not the axe he had done it with, but he said he would find it. I said, " Never mind, I'll find it." I went in, but could not see the axe. He came in with me then. He 1 lifted up some bags on a sofa where he I said he had slept, and pulled out the other I axe (long-handled one produced) and said i that was the one he had murdered them j with. I asked him if the shirt he had on was that he wore when he killed the people. He said, "No ;" he threw it in the heap and put on a clean one. I picked up the shirt produced from amongst the] , bodies and asked him if that was the one. He said, " Yes, that is mine." It was saturated with blood. He said he had i been six months in Mr Conroy's employ, ! and all he gave him when he was settling ; with him on the Tuesday night was £1 ; that he did not get half enough to eat ; that he had sworn to take their lives ; that he would sooner be hanged a murderer than die a perjurer. Oh the way into Yass he said that according as they came into the room he ripped them open with a shear-blade and then used the axe ; that Mrs Conroy must have heard the noise, came in, and that he put her to sleep. He said that in the morning the old shepherd White came from the hurdles, that as soon as he came in they had a scuffle and he killed him ; that he was not sorry for what he had done, that he was glad of it ; that at the time of his doing i it he perfectly well knew what he was ) doing, and that he would be hanged for it. ! I said, "Are you mad?" He said, "No, so help me God, perfectly sane." The shear-blade produced I found on (a table at. Conroy's. I showed it to prisoner this morning. He said it was the one, and that it was an instrument that they used in Spain in close quarters. The I prisoner's name is Wm. Monday, or Collins. He was tried in Matland in 1854< for murder, and convicted of manslaughter, and received a sentence of fifteen years. He arrived here (in Yass) in January, ' 1864, and handed the pass (produced) to the police. I have, seen him repeatedly, 1 and he shepherded at Conroy's. I heard . that he was insane. Prom the appearl ance of the house there had been some

one sleeping in the .bed in the skillion. Mrs Oonrov bad slept in a detached building. There were n.o inarka of blood on the beds, Con ray had nothing on but W9 shirt. Smith had on a pair of pants and a shirt. Mrs Oonroy had <>n only a short nightdress. One man (name unknown) had a ru» rolled rouncl him. White had on alibis (slothes. George Walsh deposed a I reside at Binalong. Yesterday I heard of some murders having been committed at Conroy's. I wna then in Binalong. I went out with Constable King, and proceeded towards Illalong. We met prisoner about a mile and a half or two miles fro™ lilalong. I told him to stand. He stopped, Another man, a dealer, was with us. I a*ked him where Conrov was. He said " With the heap." Asked: him where the old woman waa. He said, " With the heap, ready for burning off." , . The denier asked where Snnth was. He ! said he was with the lot, and that he i would go with us and show us. He ■ talked a deal of nonsense. On the road met Mickey Conroy (deceased's aon) and Constable Hall; and after, Inspector Brenuan, When I came to the hut I found five bodies there. I saw the prisoner produce an axe. Saw him, take an axe from some sheepskins under a bunk (or old sofa), and said that was what he cooked them with. There was some ; blood down one side of it. Believe the axe produced is the same. He said he was struggling with a man, and then he j drove the shear-blade into the boy (Smith) when he interfered. When I met the prisoner he was going towards Conroy's Gap. Michael Conroy, a son of deceased John Conroy, deposed : I reside at Stony Creek, near Bogolong, about a mile from deceased's place. I know prisoner. He was servant to my father, I believe for six months. I last saw my father alive at his house at 10 o'clock of the morning of Tuesday last. 1 was speaking to him and my mother. ~ Prisoner was giving up the sheep and I was counting them. We had no words. I did not tell him there were any short. AJbout 10 o'clock next morning (Wednesday) I went again to my father's place. I saw no one about it. The half-door was shut and the large door was "open. I did not go into the • room. I thought they were all out. 1 went round the paddock, where I saw some sheep. I saw no one there/ I then went to the garden. Saw no one there, and returned to the house. I then, went inside. I opened one of the dqprs, and first saw the body of one of *he shepherds. I opened the door a little more, and saw a quantity of blood. I got on my horse and went to where- there were two men encamped. I went to my own place, : and brought a man named Wood with me to my father's house. Went into the house and called Wood in to look. We then saw the body of my father and of the | shepherd. I went to Binalong, - and reported it to the police. I believe the axe | produced was my father's property. Do . ! not know of my own knowledge that my j I father and prisoner had a quarrel on I Tuesday night. I never heard my father say he was afraid of prisoner. I believe my mother sent for a man named Smith to sleep ab the place. ! Sub-Inspector Brennan deposed in adi dition : When I charged the prisoner with ; murdering Conroy, his wife, Smith, and • the other two men, I asked him if he had robbed them, if he had taken any money. He said he did not. He pulled out his pocket, which was tied, and pulled out a:i £l-note, saying that that was all that Conroy had given him for six months, that be did* not, want aay money from him, . that if he (Conroy) had the principle of | a inau he (prisoner) would not have done what he had. : The medical evidence left no doubt as to the cause of death, and the prisoner was committed for trial at the. next sitting of the G-oulburn Circuit Court. |