THE PARRAMATTA RIVER MURDERS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 230, 27 June 1872, Page 5

THE PARRAMATTA RIVER MURDERS.

From the Sydney Morning Herald and Sydney Empire we take the following abridged account of the final proceedings in the Central Criminal Court, Sydney, before his Honor Mr Justice Hargreaves, on Tuesday, May 21, the last day of the trial of George Robert Nichols and Alfred Lester for the murder of William Percy Walker, on the Parramatta River, on the 13th March :—: — The jury retired at 10 minutes past 6 o'clock. At 25 minutes to 7 o'clock the jury reentered the densely-crowded court. The verdict was "Guilty" against both the prisoners. The judge's associate called upon Nichols to state whether he had anything to say why sentence should not be passed upon him. At this juncture the most profound, silence reigned throughout the court, and Nichols appeared to be about to speak — every person waiting with breathless anxiety to hear wiiat he had to say. The prisoner Nichols (almost inaudibly): — May— may — may it please your— The remainder of the words were lost, for at the moment when be appeared to be about to pronounce the word " honor " an involuntary but loud and deep-drawn sigh escaped him, the sound of which was like the yelp of a small dog ; and letting go his hold of the iron bars he fell heavily on to the floor of the dook. Every person in court was completely unnerved, and for a few seconds there was a stillness, which was only interrupted j and made more painful by the sensational " Ohs" which escaped many persons in the crowded oourt. The excitement was very great, the spectators appearing to think that what had occurred showed that the prisoner's conscience was at work, aud that it tended to prove that the jury had arrived at a correct verdict. As the court was densely crowded, and the dock hemmed in on all sides, it took some time before the door could be opened so as to admit of re'ief being afforded to Nichols. Iv the meantime Lester stood over anl gazei at the features of .Nichols, and appeared as if he too was at at length giving way. He was trembling, and about to release his hold of the bars, when a constable from outside the dock caught him by the arms, and held him up. Brandy having been procured, and medical assistance obtained, Nichols was at length brought to consciousness, and Lester, who had by this time commenced to cry bitterly, had also spirits administered to him to keep him from fainting. Both prisoners were, however, quite unable to stand, so four policemen had to remain in the dock, and hold them against the rails while the sentence of death was passed upon them. Nichols rested his forehead on bis hands, which he placed on the woodwork of the front part of the dock, and did not move while the judge made some appropriate observations and sentenced him to death. Lester rested his head on his arm, and cried bitterly all the while. His Honor, whose voice was broken by emotion, said : George Robert Nichels — You have just been found guilty of one of the most cool- blooded and atrocious murders ever perpetrated in any civilised country. The evidence has proved your guilt (and that of the unhappy young man by your side) beyond the possibility of any doubts, either in the minds of myself or of the jury, or anyone in court, or of auy one who may hereafter read the narrative of this trial. I warn you that the sentence of death, which I must presently pronounce upon you, will and must be carried out, without your having the slightest hope of any remission or reprieve. I look in vain at the evidence to discover any one circumstance upon which the most merciful imagination of any human being can lay hold by way of excuse or palliation for your awful crime, or for delay of your ignominious execution on the scaffold. On the contrary, all the circumstances surrounding your crime are of such unexampled cruelty— show such hardened wickedness, and have spread such ÜBiyersal horror over the whole colony, that I do not believe a single human being could be found on reading the evidence against you to petition for any mercy on your wretched life. The evidence in this particular case proves that after you had allured your intended victim— an unfortunate stranger in Sydney ; lodging here, but in search of employment as a clerk or bookkeeper— into a boat, hired by you and Lester at the foot of King street, Lester carrying part of his luggage back to an hotel, there leaving it for the night ; and that in this boat you and Lester deliberately rowed your victim on that evening of the 13th March to the place of his intended murder. During tbiß last journey he must have conversed with you, as a friend taking him to his future home ; when you were speeding onwards in the gloom of evening till you had taken him far beyond all human aid into an unfrequented part of Sydney harbour, and then, even while hope was eh eering his poor deluded heart with the fancied approach to his future home (which you had falsely placed before him), you dashed your remorseless life-pre-server with repeated blows npon his head, one WOUnd. breaking into his brains. But yon forgot that Almighty God was watching your every act ; and He has said that "He will make inquisition for blood," and that "He will remember the stranger and the friendless." Tbe very cord with which you fastened the heavy stone to his body has been identified, and with the other evidence furnishes an awful fulfilment of God's words — that "The wicked shall be snared in the work of his own hands." You, indeed, thought discovery of crime was impossible, when you had swung the yet warm, and perhaps still breathing, body over the boat's side, and heard it plunge into the depths of that lonely river channel ; but even while you were possessing yourself in Sydney of the Christian Year and other religious books, and well-filled box of clothes of your poor victim, his shattered corpse was rising to the surface of the water in spite of all your cunning, and was being wafted to the shallows of the river shore, where the limb 3 met the horrified gaze of the fisherman Denis Nolan, who put 'the keen- eyed police upon your track, bringing you almost instantly to human justice. 1 beseech you to betake yourself at once to the ministers of religion of whatever denomination you are. Receive their spiritual advice, and implicitly follow their instructions, from the moment you reach the cell of the condemned, so that you may be brought at once to implore the forgiveness of Almighty God, whose clearest law you have so grievously broken, and before whose eternal judgment seat it is that you must meet your unoffending victim face to face, when the dark waters of ocean and river shall give up dark uncoffined millions to the voice of God. From the time that the prisoners were brought into court in tbe morning and placed in the dock, until the time of their counsel addressing the jury, both of them wore a look of ease and confidence. During the whole of the trial, as was also the ease during the inquest, the prisoners always stood apart from each other — never speaking, and never even noticing ( ne another. When the prisoner's counsel had returned into court after having retired for half-an-hour to arrange the defence, both the prisoners began to be agitated. They stood up when Mr Dillon rose to address the jury, Nichols watching the face of the learned counsel, and Lester I looking down on the floor. As the addresses ! proceeded, both prisoners began to show signs

of agitation which they had not exhibited before. Nichols looked very anxious, and seemed to see that the defence was hopeless ; Lester, especially, when Mr Fi'zhardin c, on one occasion, appealed to the jury aa to whether his client looked like a murderer — appeared much affected. He lookod down ou the floor, and his face appeared to be so suffused with emotion that he seemed ready to burst into tears. During the latter pait of the day, and until tbe time of the jury coming back into Court, the prisoners were allowed to sit down in tho dock. On the jury delivering their verdict, and the prisoners being asked if they had anything to say why the scntenee of the court should not be passed upon them, the scene described above occurred. All through the day the Court-room was crowded, every available inch of space being occupied with spectators. The proceedings were watched .with the greatest interest ; and from the time of the return of the jury after arriving at their verdict until the trial ended, the excitement was intense.