THE SCARSDALE MURDER.

West Coast Times, Issue 351, 7 November 1866, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE SCARSDALE MURDER.

(from the baixarat star, oct. 22.) On Saturday, October 20, Mr Thos. Hopper, district coroner, held an inquest, at the Black Swan Hotel, Newtown, on the body of William M'Ginley, a miner, who, as was shown in evidence, had been stabbed to death by a Chinaman on the previous morning. The Avife of the deceased deposed that about half-past four o'clock a.m. on Friday her husband and she -were awakened by a noise made by the fowls in the yard. They both got up, and her husband went out to the fowlhouse. Witness heard him say, " I've got you now, Johu ; I'll give it to you." Witness saw her husband Avith a stick in liis hand and beating the Chinaman. The two struggled and fought from the foAvlhouse till they reached the gate, -when witness heard her husband exclaim, "I'll not let you go, Johu." Witness then caught up a small piece of Avood and 'threw it at tlie Chinaman. It struck him on the temple, but she could not say whether it cut him. Her husband then cried out, " Oh ! ho has stabbed me with a knife ; run OA-er for William Hall" Hall's house was about a hundred yards aAvay. The Chinaman then got off. Witness's hitsband ran a few yards after him, and then fell. Hall canie. at once and turned the deceased, aa'lio had fallen on his face. He Avas then quite dead. Witness Avas so excited that she took little notice of the murderer, but she believed that he had on a dark jumper. His cap had dropped off in the struggle. It Avas not daylight at the time, and witness was afraid, she would not be able to identify the murderer, though quite certain he was a Chinaman. William Hall deposed that on the morning in question he heard Mrs M'Ginley call out that her husband had been stabbed by a Chinaman, He ran undressed to tlie place, and found the deceased lying dead. There Avas a large pool of blood Avhcre he had fallen Witness and another neighbor took the deceased into his^own house, and forthAvith gaA r e information to the police. Found the cap now produced lying close by the foAvlhouse in M'Ginley's yard, and t>aw Constable M'Cormick find a bag containing three fowls belonging to witness ; the bag Avas close by a log that lay near the residence of the deceased. A stick, the same as those used by the Chinese in carrying their luggage, AA^as also found at the place. Dr. J. P. Murray, Scarsdale, Avho made the post-mortem examination, deposed that there Avas a slight abrasion on the right kuee of the deceased, as also an abrasion on the left fore arm, and three or four superficial scratches on the inner surface of the same arm. There Avas also a slight cut, about two inches iv length, on the upper and inner portion of the left arm, which must have been made by a sharp instrument. On the right ami there was a superficial wound an inch and three-quarters in length, situated about four inches below the point of the shoulder, .vhich looked as if the skin had been removed Avith a sharp instrument. There was a Avound about half an inch beloAv the left nipple and five inches from the middle line of the bod)-, slanting inAvards, ai.d about an inch in length, corresponding to the space between the fouith and fifth ribs. The loft ventricle of the heart had been cut through to the extent of about two and a half inches. It was a clean cut, as if dove with a Aery sharp instrument. The wound internally corresponds in position and direction to the external wound, but was much larger. The cause of death was undoubtedly the wound in the heart, occasioning fatal licemorrhage. Constable M'Cormick, of the Scarsdale station, produced the cap, stick, and bag left behind by the murderer. Tbe constable also produced the piece of paling said by Mrs M'Ginley to have been used by her husband in beating the murderer. The stick, Avhich had not been very strong, and AA'hich had eA'idently been bi oken in the struggle, was thickly covered with blood, conjectured to have spouted from the Avound of the deceased. The jury returned a A-erdict as follows: — "We fiud that the deceased died at Newtown, on the 19th October, 1866, from a Avound in tlie heart inflicted by some sharp instrument ; and we further find a verdict of Avilful murder against a person unknown, and Avhom we believe to be a Chinaman." The deceased had been ten years in the colony, and had been married seven years. He leaves a Avife aud two children to lament his untimely end. The main clue at present to the identification of the murderer is considered to be his cap, which is believed by the police and others to belong to a notorious fowl-stealcr in the locality, who has been several times convicted. The case, as may be imagined, has produced a deep sensation in thy district. The deceased Avas a sober, steady man, bore an excellent character, and -was very much respected by his acquaintances.