The Present Picture of New South Wales (1811) by David Dickinson Mann
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page 20 of 150 (13%)
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subordination, on the due preservation of which depended the
individual happiness, and the public security of the settlement; and which could be in no danger of subversion, until the press should become prostituted to base designs--a period much and sincerely to be deprecated by every real friend to the colony. In the month of August, a most inhuman murder was committed on the body of Joseph Luken, a constable, who, after going off his watch at the government-house, was beset by some villains who still remain undiscovered, and who buried the hilt of his own cutlass very deeply in his head. I was the second person at the spot, where the body of the unfortunate man was discovered; and, in attempting to turn the corpse, my fore-finger penetrated through a hole in the skull, into the brains of the deceased. Every possible search was made to discover the vile perpetrators of this diabolical act, but to no purpose, the measures of escape had been too well planned to be thwarted. Even the governor himself attended, and gave directions for the drums to beat to arms; the military to stop all avenues leading from the town, and different officers to search every house; but, although several were apprehended, no conviction could be brought home. Soon afterwards, another murder was committed on the body of a man belonging to one of the colonial craft, named Boylan. It appeared that he had been in a part of the town, called "The Rocks," and had been struck with some heavy weapon on the head, of which he immediately died. Upon this occasion, I sat as foreman of the jury, which was summoned soon after daylight, and continued to sit until nearly one o'clock the next morning, when two men and a woman were committed for trial; and a third man, in |
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