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Southland Times, Issue 1160, 17 May 1869, Page 2

By the arrival of the Omeo, from Melbourne, we are placed in. possession, of late Australian dates. The following are the principal items of intelligence : — • VICTORIA. BRUTAL MURDER NEAR THE MILITARY BARRACKS. The body of a woman, who appeared to have met with her death by violence, was found, soon after seven o'clock yesterday morning, on the flat near the Military Barracks, Princes-bridge, and about 100 yards distant from the high road, by a boy who reported the circumstance to the constable ou the bridge. The deceased was found lying on her back with her clothes turned up to her waist, and the upper part of her legs exposed. The stockings were marked with clay, also her left knee ; the head was turned to the right side ; the neck was discolored, and bore some slight marks ; her left breast was exposed, and bore a mark as if from a bite ; the right hand was clenched, and in the fingers some red hair, appaveatly part of a man's whiskers ; some hair of a similar kind lay near the body. The body was warm, with the exception of the exposed parts. The earth about where the deceased lay appeared as if a struggle had taken place. The deceased had the appearance of a woman of the town, and was about five feet two inches high, of very stout build, with brown hair and grey eyes. She was dressed in a light-colored skirt, a dirty crinoline, with red and white stripes, long loose brown jacket and stays, leather slippers <k % shoes, white stockings, and an old black hat with velvet band. A bad or imitation half-crown was found near where she lay. The body was removed to the morgue, where _it now lies for identification and inquest. Dr N~eild made a careful post-mortem examination of the body, which is not yet concluded. He found marks of fingers on the throat of the deceased externally, and internally all the indicai.z if -* a .,i~i.:~~ tii -— =~ doubt that the v lfortunate woman was murdered by being throttled. There are no other marks of violence except a few slight bruises, such as might be recsived in such a struggle as evidently took place. Late in the day the body was identified by a number of persons as that of Maggie Bryan, about thirty years of age. The deceased was seen late on Taesday night in company with a soldier and another woman, in the neighborhood of the barracks. It is also stated that a soldier is missing, and that a policeman saw a soldier with inaiks of blood on him in the neighborhood of the wharf, near the railway bridge, subsequent to the supposed time of the murder. The police, as is their wont on these occasions, preserve an extreme reticence. As the post-mortem examination is not yet concluded, it is not likely that the inquest will be held to-day. — * Argus,' May 8. Mr Butters, ex- Mayor of Melbourne, who was expelled from the Assembly for corrupt practices, has been re-elected without opposition, for Portland. Mr Jones is also likely to be returned again for Ballarat. The Bey. Mr Taylor, late minister of the Collins-street Baptist Church, who was dismissed after having been J found guilty of adultery with female members of his congregation during a period of six years, is again before the public. He is invited by some of his old admirers to form a new congregation, and to act as pastor of a portion of the Baptist Church. It is proposed to form a private sect, with Mr Taylor at the head, to be called the " Eree Christians." The press speaks in very severe terms of the movement.