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THE PEAK DOWNS MUEDERS.
[queenslandeh, m.uich 28.]
After a long and patient trial extending over
several days, Thoirms John Griffin, late police
magistrate at Clennont, and gold commissioner
for that district, has been convicted for the
wilful murder of two troopers, belonging to.
tho gold escort, on 6th November, 1867, at
the Mackenzie Eiver. The prisoner pleaded
not guilty to the indictment, but tho chain of
circumstantial evidence connecting him with
the crime with which he was. charged
was so completo that no. ono was
surprised when the jury, after a brief
deliberation, brought in a verdict of guilty.
Sixty witnesses were examined for the Crown
and only one for the defence. The counsel for
tho prisoner appear to have relied principally
on shaking the testimony by subjecting the wit
nesses of the Crown to a severe' crossexamina
tion, but nothing was elicited materially at
variance with the evidence previously given at
the preliminary inquiry before the magistrates.
His Honor Judge Lutwyche passed sentence of
death. The prisoner's counsel raised
two objections to the judge's charge,
and his Honor reserved tho points to ba argued
boforo a full court, so that the execution
will be delayed for a short time, but it is
scarcely probable that anything will arise
which will alter the decision alreudy arri-'ed at.
The circumstances under which the; ^.rder
was committed, the enormity of the crime, the
high and responsible position of the prisoner,
and the conclusive manner in which the guilt
has been brought home to him, all combine to
make the trial one of the most remarkable
that has occurred in this colony, and will ac
count for the deep interest takon in it by the
public, both in this and tho neighboring
colonies.
In addition to the remarks of the Queens
lander IB this extraordinary case, we give the
followrng from the Brisbane Weekly Herald:
— ' Another act in tho Mackenzie Biver
tragedy has been finished. The miserable
wretch, who from ono single leap descended
from his high estate to become a robber and a
murderer was, on Wednesday last, sentenced
to expiate his grave offence on the gallows ; and
when this sentence is carried out the curtain
will fall upon a tragedy ,which, fortunately
fov social life in the colonies, stands
almost alone in the cold-blooded atrocity
which marked the crime of the principal actor.
The man whom the law has adjudged to
bo guilty of this foul murder previous to its
commission appeared to have been especially
favored by fortune. Ho arrived in Brisbane
about seven years ago, and occupied for a con
siderable time the pasition of chief constable
in the metropolis ; and during tho time he
filled this oflice he scoured for himself many
friends — friends, too, who had the ability and
tbe will to assist him in climbing .the ladder
which leads to sooial distinction. His first
step upwards was his promotion to tho office
of clerk of petty sessions, and ho fulfilled the
duties required of him so satisfactorily
as to induce the Government to appoint
him to tho police magistracy of Cler
mont,' which responsible position ho filled
for several years. Here, however, his promo
tion stopped, and people who were acquainted
with him here imagined that ho was quietly
performing his duties, and that he was tbe
same respectable member of. society that they
remembered to have taken down depositions,
and performed the other routine business of
tho Brisbane clerk of petty sessions. The news
that ho was in the custody of tho police
for having committed a treacherous murder
— for having shot two sleeping constables,
for tho sake of some four thousand ono pouud
notes — came upon people liko a thunderbolt,
and innumerable conjectures were hazarded
as to whether there was any foundation for
the charge ; whether he was insane, or whether
ho was really the guilty creature that could be
capable of such a heinous crime. It was a
case of circumstantial evidence only, and many
were of opinion that it would break down ; but
as day by day the activity of the pelice
succeeded in bringing forth fresh proofs,
whiob, when welded together, were calcu
lated to havo such a damning weight against
the prisoner, there wore very few who
could doubt his guilt, or who could realise the
possibility of escaping tho punishment allotted
to the murderer. We are informed that the
judge and all who wero present in the court
when tho dread sentence was passed were af
fected ; and well they might have been._ It is
not often, in any court of justice in
tho world, that a man in whom suffi
cient confidence has been placed^ to en
dow him with the functions of an administrator
of the law, i3 by an act of his own com
pelled to leave the bench for the dock, and
there bo sentenced to a premature and dis
honorable death. But, judging even froin the
nature of the evidence adduced at the prelimi
nary examinations at tho police court, there
could scarcely be any reasonable doubt of
Griffin's guilt, or that the sentence pronounced
upon him by Mr Justice Lutwycbe will bo car
ried into eftect without any interference on tho
part of the Exocutive.'
The Custody of Spendthrifts. — The cor
respondent of the Morning Herald in America
says that a law exists in Massachusetts, .rhicn
provides for the appointment of official guar
dians to notorious spendthrifts. A person who
foolishly wastes his estate in debauchery,
gambling and riotous living may, upon evi
dence being given of the fact, be declared a
spendthrift, and placed under official control.
A few days since a Bostonian was, under this
law, adjudged a ' spendthrift,1' and committed
to a guardian's care.
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