Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1932), Wednesday 4 September 1861, page 2


THE CAPTURE OF "HARRY."

GALLANT CAPTURE OF THE MURDERER "HARRY," THE ABORIGINAL, BY MR. JOHN HUMPHRIES, AT BORAH STATION, NEAR MELVILLE PLAINS. General excitement had existed for a considerabletime past in respect to this scoundrel, more particu-larly as it became known that he would pass through this part of the country en route to the Balonne River. Many inhabitants of this place—amongst whom may be particularly mentioned Mr. Chief Constable Murray, Mr. Alexander Thomson and brothers, with many more—were on the look out

tor him; and having accidentally learnt, some few weeks back, from a German lad who was out in the mountains that a blackfelluw had passed along at the back of the mountains, near one of Mr. John-stone's sheep stations, south of Gunnedah, they, in company with a man named James Glendinning, repaired before dark to the sheep station hut, distant six miles, expecting that he would call there and they would have him; they were, however, disap- pointed, as he had been there some few hours pre-viously, robbed the hut, taking away amongst other things ammunition, &c. Shortly after this Mr. Chief Constable Weston, of Cassilis, arrived with a blackfellow and Constable Scully, of Merriwa; also Mr. Chief Constable Thorpe, of Murrurundi, and a numerous band of volunteers, and Constable Birkby, of Murrurundi. Many of these, however, returned, as any chance of his capture seemed hopeless, owing to the time that had elapsed since Harry had been seen about here. Mr. Chief Con-stable Weston, it would appear, however, did not give up the chase; but made over the country in the direction in which it was supposed Harry had gone. Since this Mr. Chief Constable Murray and Mr. Alexander Thomson, Innkeeper here, have been out frequently in search of him; and I must confess, considering the inclement state of the weather, and the privations they endured, great praise is due to them for their enthusiasm in this matter. It would appear that after Harry left Johnstone's station he went to Wondabah, about ten miles farther south-west, and stayed all night at the sheep station hut, where there was a solitary shep-herd; from here he made his way, unmolested, to a sheep station of Mr. George Coxe's, at Mullalla Mountain, distant eleven miles from Wondabah; this was about the 11th instant (Saturday.) Here he stole 3 loaves of bread, some tobacco, a glazed cap, and other articles, leaving his cabbage-tree hat in the hut, which was afterwards found by Mr. Chief Constable Weston. From here he appears to have loitered about that part of the country unheard of or seen, until he went to a hut where there was another solitary shepherd, within a mile and half from Borah head station; here he camped in the hut with the shepherd, taking off his clothes, and placing his double-barrelled pistol on a stool; he told the shepherd he was looking for a billet as stockkeeper, and told him he belonged to the M'Intyre River. The shepherd was not aware of any murder having been committed by a blackfellow, therefore did not suspect, him. Mr. Humphries Humphries being at Gunnedah, none of the shep-herds or other persons on the station had heard anything about the affair in any way. He only stayed this night, the 13th instant, and then took the main road to Yamingbha, ten miles off in a southerly direction, meeting two men on horseback on the road, and smoked his pipe and stayed talking to them. They were ignorant that he was a mur- derer, and heard nothing about it. Harry parted with the two men, and pursued his way to Orr's station, where he met with a half-caste girl about 13 years of age, who was shepherding; he took her away, but not without great resistance, for she bore marks where he had beaten her and dragged her along the ground. He drove her before him in a direct line to Borah, careful not to leave any tracks where he crossed the road; he made his way back to the shepherd's hut where he had been the night before, robbing the hut of the whole of the rations— this is proved by his tracks, and those of the girl he had with him. Two days after this (Friday,) the 16th instant), the girl got away from him, and was making back for Borah during the night while Harry was asleep, when she saw the shepherd of the hut Harry had robbed, who told her to make haste; and, though she was within half-a-mile from the head station, she did not reach it. Previous to this Mr. Humphries had got home from Gunnedah, and had informed all the shepherds on the station that Harry was likely to pass that way. On the night that the shepherd's hut was robbed by Harry, in company with the girl, Mr. Humphries received intimation of his (Harry's) being there, and early next morning started in company with a blackfellow in pursuit, and thinking that he (Harry) would make for the brigalow scrub with the girl, scoured the country in the direction of Mr. Orr's. The following day Chief Constable Weston, Mr. Humphries, and a number of blacks tracked him from one Borah station to another. On Sunday, the 18th, he robbed another station at Borah, called Berembulla, while the hutkeeper was absent, taking away nearly the whole of the rations. I forgot to mention that when the girl was retaken by Harry, after her escape from him, he took her with him, and again robbed the hut he first went to and robbed, on his return from Yamingbah, taking com-plete possession of all the rations, except a portion of the flour. After this he was not seen again until Thursday, the 22nd, when he again went to Berem- bulla hut, stuck up the Chinaman with his loaded pistol, taking from him £3 0s. 6d. in cash, a damper, and butcher's knife; same evening he left a swag of articles—afterwards found by the blacks who were tracking him, with Chief Constable Weston and Constable Gibson, of Coonabarabran, and now in their possession. Finding a dog which belonged to the girl making to him and the girl, through the bush, he suspected pursuit and bolted, leaving the girl, who found her way back to the station. Harry, taking his way towards Melville, called at a station, with the evident intention of sticking up the shepherd, who, however, having heard of him, had a broad axe prepared, which he wielded formidably. Harry decamped quickly, and went to Melville (called Gullindaddee) and was seen by a shepherd oh the way; at one of the stations here he robbed the shepherd, and went on towards the Rock Inn, on the Namoi River, which he reached on Friday night, and camped at the corner of the chimney of Mr. Eather's house, along with

a blackfellow of Mr. Grover's, named Jemmy, and another belonging to Mr. Eather, named Combo. Harry sent Combo to the inn, kept by Mr. William Gosper, for a bottle of grog and a box of sardines. When Combo went up to the inn, he told Gosper that he thought Harry was the blackfellow that committed the murder. On hearing this Mr. Gosper and a number of men went down to where the blacks were camped, and on Harry being pointed out to him, he struck some matches, looked at his countenance, and asked him if he were a bullockdriver. He replied, "Yes," and would hire in that capacity. Mr. Gosper said, "Very well: come along with me, and I will hire you, and sleep in the house to-night." The blackfellow said, "All right;" took his coat off, threw it over his arm, and made a bolt, though surrounded by a considerable number of men, and swam the river, got to a man's hut, named Carter, snatched up a single-barrelled gun, loaded with shot. Here three men in the hut attacked him, obtained the gun from him, and though aware that he was Harry, the aboriginal referred to, suffered him to escape, he taking to the river again, which he swam. One of the men fired at him, but missed him. On next day, Saturday, he was seen by one of Mr. Humphries' men at Bow Station, robbing it, who immediately galloped in to the head station. This station is between 30 and 40 miles from where he swam the river, and directly back again, to the place where he left to go to the Rock Inn. Mr. Humphries, on hearing of Harry's again being seen on the station, collected a number of men and sent them in different directions, going out himself; but saw nothing of him until about ten o'clock; on Sunday morning (25th), when Mr. Humphries, who was scouring the bush alone, hap-pened to espy him squatting in the grass, and having a loaded double-barrelled gun concealed in a cloak on his horse, rode up to him, pulling out the gun. On seeing this, Harry, jumped up and making off, Mr, Humphries said, "You are just the man I want;'' he replied, No b----y fear any one having me, I am going about my own busi-ness." This he said bouncingly, and tried to make for a scrub a short distance off. Mr. H. galloped up to him, and presented the gun at him, and ordered him to turn round; he kept his swag at his side, facing the gun, and submitted. Mr. Humphries then told him to walk on before him to a small plain, keeping him under aim. When he got on clear ground, Mr. H. made him turn out all his pockets, then dismounted, searched him thoroughly, after binding his hands behind him with a saddlestrap, and marched him in to the head station, dis-tant 7 miles, making him carry his swag round his neck, which was very heavy. Mr. Constable Gibson came; up, and Harry, after being chained and secured by Mr. Humphries, a pair of handcuffs were put on him; and being placed in a cart and secured, he was brought to the lock-up at Gunnedah, where he was safely deposited and leg-ironed. I suppose he will be brought up before the bench; probably to-morrow, and after a hearing be forwarded down to Merriwa, the district in which the murder was committed. When the prisoner was brought into Gunnedah, the whole town turned out—men, women, and chil- dren—to see him, and great was the excitement and expressions of satisfaction at his capture. After three cheers for Mr. John Humphries, his captor, the crowd dispersed, well pleased that this monster has fallen into the hands of justice. It is worthy of remark, illustrative of the cunning of this villain, that he had a telescope, with which he viewed closely his pursuers, and was thereby enabled to secrete himself. Gunnedah, August 26.—Maitland Mercury.

VICTORIA THEATRE.—The enthusiastic reception of "Lurline," on its first production, by the Sydney public, and the constantly increasing favour with which each succeeding representation has been received, are the best proofs that could be adduced of the sound musical taste of the people of this city. "Lurline" is an opera the merits of which are but imperfectly discovered upon a first performance; it is only by listening to it again and again we can become fully conscious of and appreciate its beauties; and the patronage that has been accorded to it has, we trust, brought the management substantial proofs ot the wisdom of the step in presenting so noble a work to the public. There has been a manifest improvement in the entire performance of the opera since last Thursday, particularly in the orchestra; and as the instrumentation is of the most beautiful and elabo-rate description, and its proper performance of the greatest necessity to the success of the opera, the general effect is very considerably increased. The choruses, too, are much firmer than upon the first night; in fact, one must be afflicted with hyper- criticism in its most cynical form to find fault with the performance now. Madame Escott has, if possible, increased in power and brilliancy; and Miss Hudson's beautiful rendering of "Troubadour enchanting" obtains a nightly encore. We regret that the prevailing cold winds have exercised a rather prejudicial effect upon Mr. Squires's voice; and on Monday he was com-pelled to decline an encore, as he was evidently suffering from a severe cold; but last night his voice had recovered nearly all its sweetness and beauty. Mr. Farquharson's unexceptionable singing of the music of the "Rhine King" nightly calls down the warmest plaudits of the house; and the part of Baron Truenfels, not by any means an agreeabfe one, is made as amusing and important as it is susceptible of by the excellent acting and singing of Mr. F. Lyster. As a proof of the grow-ing appreciation of the beauties of the opera by the people, we may mention that the beautiful unac-companied quartett, which on the first night fell somewhat flat, has since been nightly encored; although on Tuesday the honour was declined by the performers who took part in it. "Lurline" presents rather an embarras de richesses in drinking songs and choruses; but certainly the most charac- teristic is Zelieck's "As the bead flies up," which was well delivered by Mr. Kitts. We regret to hear that it is in contemplation to withdraw "Lurline" immediately, to make room for other novelties, and the public approbation bestowed upon it has been so very marked that we trust it will be performed for some nights longer. On Thursday, Sir John and Lady Young honour the opera with their presence, when the "Traviata" will be performed.