THE CASTLEMAINE MURDER.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 819, 1 June 1871, Page 3

THE CASTLEMAINE MURDER.

IB A singular murder case has been Est tried at Castlemaine. The acRged was one George Dyer, who upBards of twelve months ago gave Rnwelf into custody in London on the Recusation of having murdered his Krtner Wilson, with whom he had Krked twelve years ago on the Lod■ongoldfields in Victoria. His con■Lionwas taken, and he was remanded K Bow-street till inquiries could be Kade in Australia as to the probable ■rata of his statement. This of course pas a work of several months, and in Hie meantime Dyer's feeling of reSiorse, having heen relieved by confession, had passed away, and he Seemed to think that he had done a foolish thing, which he now tried to Bndo. He declared that his statement ma all unfounded, and that when he Kade it he must have been insane, fjnfortunately for the success of this endeavour, the enquiries which had Seen made here had elicited evidence to Show that a murder bad been commit|ed at the time and place mentioned by She/prisoner, and that the perpetrator If it had never yet been discovered. liSome additional circumstances of corroboration were also ascertained. On Ibis, the prisoner, still persisting in iris retraction, was sent out here to answer the charge, and the long-de-ferred trial came off a couple of day's ago. After the long lapse of years, the prisoner again stood near the scene of the crime of earlier days; witnesses to testify to incidental circumstances of M the affair confronted him ; and the ■[■ cloven skull of the murdered man, ■ clearly identified, was produced in H-court as a mute testimony against [the self-accused murderer. Dyer still maintained his innocence; declared that ho was insane when he ; made the confession, and really defended himself with a good deal of ability. The jury, however, considered the evidence convincing, but giving the prisoner the benefit of a statement made in his own confession, to the I tffect that the murder was committed partly in self-defence, they found him ■ ■guilty of the smaller offence of manslaughter. The judge awarded a sentence of eight years' hard labour.