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THE DEEP LEAD MURDER.
The correspondent of the Pleasant Creek
News writes The most fruitful topic of con-
versation here is still the Deep Lead murder,
which has been revived, as it were, by the find-
ing of a pair of trousers not far from where the
other articles of clothing were found in a
deep shaft last week. It is believed here
that the trousers correspond with those
worn by the murdered man. Active search
is being made for the head and boots of the
unfortunate victim. Constable Hillard is
making an exhaustive search, having two
miners employed searching every old shaft in
the neighbourhood of the murder, as it is
thought that the murderer may have thrown
the head and boots down one of the many
hundred of old abandoned shafts to be found
in the locality. Mr Adamson, the Crown
prosecutor, with Inspector Ryall, visited the
scene of the murder and also the place where
the clothing was found last week. Both of
these gentlemen, I learn, believe that the
murder was committed on the spot
where the body was found. I was a
spectator in court the day that Burns was
brought up to have his case postponed, and
I was rather surprised at the undeserved
strictures cast upon the police in connection
with their efforts in this case. Had Justice
Higinbotham known the true facts of the case
I do not think he would have been so rough
on the police, as I am convinced that both
Constable Hillard and Detective Forster have
worked hard in this case to endeavour to
elucidate the mystery as to who is the per-
petrator of the foul murder and the victim of
it, but of course his Honour was to be excused,
as it did not appear in the depositions taken
at the police court that the bush had been
scoured and the shafts searched, which cer-
tainly was the case. With the greatest
respect and deference for the opinions of our
judges on matters of law, &c., I have noticed
they sometimes appear to discard what I
should term the logic of common sense, or
knowledge of some of the common things of
every-day life. For instance, many years ago
a certain judge of the Court of Mines was en-
gaged in hearing a mining case, when one of
the witnesses happened to refer in his evidence
to sludge. His Honour was not clear as to its
meaning. “Sludge! Sludge!” said the judge,
“What is that ?” and his knowledge of tailings
was just as profound, for when the witness
referred to tailings his Honour looked at him
somewhat astonished, and said, “ Tailings!
Tailings! — what is tailings ?" I should judge
his Honour's colonial experience at that time
was rather limited.
A rather unpleasant experience befel one of
the miners employed by the police today
while engaged in searching one of the old
abandoned shafts at the Four Posts for the
head and boots of the murdered man. The
miners in question had been looking down this
particular shaft, and saw a dark object in the
corner, which they thought might be the
boots they were looking for. The windlass was
erected, and when a few feet from the bottom
the man who had gone down saw a large
snake of the black species coiled up in one
corner of the shaft. A long stick which was
standing in the bottom of the shaft was made
use of in despatching his snakeship, who was
about six feet in length.
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