"Not Guilty!"

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 87, 3 April 1914, Page 5

"Not Guilty!"

THE TRAGEDY OF ST. IVES. RESULT OF THREE TRIALS. "Not guilty" was the verdict returned by the jury empanelled at the Sydney Central Criminal Court on Monday of last week, before the Chief Ijustiee, Sir William Cullen, to hear ; the charge of murder preferred 'against Thomas Edwin Brown in eonjnection with the death of Sergeant jHickey at St. Ives on May Ist last year. The verdict was received with applause from the body of the court. "Is there any other charge against the prisoner?" asked his Honor/ "No," replied the prosecutor. The gate of the dock was opened. Brown stepped out a free man, and 'joined members of his family. I The case has been a very unusual 'one, and the prisoner's experiences unique (states the Daily Telegraph), he having been condemned'to death, had the sentence commuted to penal servitude for life, and finally found not guilty of the crime alleged against him—all within a few months. At the first trial the jury disagreed. A second trial was ordered, and in this the jury returned a verdict of guilty, sentence of death being recorded. On appeal to the High Court a new trial was ordered, on the ground of certain evidence having been improperly admitted, and it was this fresh trial which opened on Monday, when the sitting of the Court lasted 12 hours exactly—from 10 a.m. till 10 p.m.— the jury's period of deliberation being 40 minutes.