Page:Banking Under Difficulties- Or Life On The Goldfields Of Victoria, New South Wales And New Zealand (1888).pdf/161

152 were also taken into custody. The search party first discovered the dead body of a pack-horse shot through the head, together with the swags of the missing men, which had been opened and searched; afterwards a pannikin containing some moistened gunpowder, as if prepared to blacken and disguise men’s faces, and subsequently a double-barrelled gun and other things, but no trace of the missing men. On the 28th, Sullivan availing himself of the offer of His Excellency the Governor of a free pardon to any but the actual murderers, confessed to his complicity in the deed, and gave information which led to the recovery of the bodies of the four men, as well as of a fifth—James Battle—whom they had cruelly murdered on the same day (12th June). The bodies were recovered on the 29th idem, and brought into Nelson the same evening. An inquest was held on the 30th, and a verdict returned that on or about the 13th June, 1866, Felix Matthieu and party were wilfully murdered on the Maungatapu. The funeral took place on 1st July, and was attended by a large number of the leading citizens.

During the short stay of Burgess and party in Nelson they disposed of the greater portion of the gold taken from the murdered men to the different banks. Levy visited the Bank of New South Wales and concocted a plan of murdering all the inmates of the establishment and robbing the bank. The bank was visited by each of the men in succession, and as they all concurred in the feasibility of the scheme, it was agreed that Levy should proceed to Melbourne to procure the necessary disguises, and that the other three should remain in Nelson. The plan of murder and robbery was this:—That when all was ready one of the gang, well-dressed for the occasion, should gain access to the manager in his private room just before closing, while others of the gang should be in the bank on pretence of business, and on the closing of the doors, overpower the officers and murder them in a manner which would give no alarm outside. It was then intended to bury one of the bodies, leaving the others in the bank in order to give the appearance of one having murdered the rest and absconded. Sullivan also gave information which led to the discovery of the body of Mr. G. Dobson, surveyor, who was supposed to have been murdered a few miles from Greymouth in May 1866. Burgess and party were on the look-out for a gold buyer named Fox, who was in the habit of carrying the gold to Greymouth from his store at Maori Gully by a bush track, but who, by some means receiving information that the bushrangers were on the look-out for him, resolved to go down by boat. Dobson happening to go down the track was bailed up by these demons, strangled, and buried. The body was recovered on 5th July, and buried on the 7th. The funeral service was read by the Lord Bishop of Christchurch. I will not dwell longer on this painful subject, but merely state