“There were no tracks of any other horse but his own within two miles of the place; no signs of a struggle, and his body appeared to be untouched by anybody after falling.”
“And the gold?”
“No gold was found upon him. Some papers, two or three £1-notes, and some loose silver, were all the articles of value on his person. His horse was found with a mob of station horses, but without the valise, which Dick says was on the saddle when he left the Blatherskyte diggings. This is all I can learn from Dick. If you can come we will start back at once. An inquest will be held to-morrow or the day after; Williams has gone up to Blatherskyte.”
All that was elucidated at the inquest was, that on Monday, the 24th of January, James Starr had left Blatherskyte diggings alone, leaving a stockman named Williams and the black boy, Dick, to come on slowly. He was not again seen alive by anybody then present. Williams stated: That he was a stockman in the employ of the deceased; assisted him to drive a mob of fat cattle to Blatherskyte; that he left the diggings on the same morning, though some hours later, than the deceased did; a storekeeper of Blatherskyte, named Thompson, and the black boy, Dick, accompanied him; went as far as the creek called the “Twenty-mile,” and camped there that night; arrived at Yorick’s Lagoon about twelve o’clock; saw the body of a man lying at the edge of the water; the upper portion of his body was on a log; went over to it and found it to be the body of his employer, James Starr; a bullet wound was visible on the top of his head; appeared to have been dead about twelve hours; the body was quite stiff; deceased had some gold in a valise in the front of his saddle when he left the diggings; did not know the amount; found his horse close to the station, with some other station horses; the saddle was on the horse, but no valise.
Thompson’s testimony was to exactly the same effect.
Jawdon, a butcher of Blatherskyte, stated that he paid the deceased the sum of one hundred and sixty ounces of gold, and a cheque for £155, before he left the diggings; it was in payment for cattle sold and delivered to him by the deceased; saw the deceased put it into a valise and strap it on in front of his saddle; made some remark at the time about the horse getting away with it on; Starr left his place immediately afterwards; did not see him stop anywhere as long as he was in sight; believed that he went straight away. Williams, recalled, stated that after finding the body the black boy, who was an excellent tracker, went round with him to look for tracks; saw no fresh tracks of wither horse or man, excepting the track of deceased and his horse; knew the track of deceased’s horse by his having been newly shod on the diggings, and having a very peculiar shaped hoof; could swear to it; had shod the same horse himself at various times; the track of Starr’s horse went straight to the place where the body lay, and from then back to the road, and along it until the horse joined the mob he was found with; the lagoon was a small piece of water, about five miles from the station, close to the road; saw no horse tracks on the other side of the lagoon; it was about thirty to forty yards broad; cattle had been watering on the opposite side of the lagoon during the previous night; saw fresh tracks of a large number; saw the tracks of Starr’s horse all the way along the road to Yorick’s Lagoon; saw no other fresh tracks; met no one on the road.
The medical testimony showed the cause of death to have been a bullet wound in the top of the head; bullet produced was a small one seemingly, belonging to a very small bored rifle.
Jackson and Harris were examined, but of course their testimony threw no light on the affair. Suspicion first settled on Starr’s discharged cook. He was found at a public-house, some fifty miles from the scene of the murder. Had gone there direct from the station, and had been there ever since, “on the spree.” Several witnesses could swear to his presence there at all hours of the day and night.
Haughton was then enquired for, and found at Imberwalla. Proved to have stopped at a shepherd’s hut, six miles beyond Glenmore station, the night after he left Stratford; he accounted for not calling at the station by mentioning the changed manner of Harris towards him; arrived at Imberwalla three days after wards; had to camp on the road, on account of sickness; was still suffering from fever; did not possess either a rifle or revolver; had not had one for the last six months.
A verdict of willful murder against some person or persons unknown was returned; but years passed and nothing ever transpired.
Dick went into the service of Harris, and one day passing the scene of the tragedy he persuaded Harris to ride over, and then made an explanation which seemed to have been troubling him.
“You see, Mitter Starr bin get off to drink, lay down, like it there, doss up along a log. Some fellow been come up along a nother side, you see, where cattle track big fellow come up. That fellow bin shoot em Mitter Starr when he bin stoop down drink. Then go away along a cattle track. Cattle come up along at night, look out water, put em out track all together.”
Dick’s conclusion struck Harris as being correct, but it went no further towards pointing out the murderer.
Chapter III
More than twelve years after the events of the last chapter, Jackson and Harris met in Sydney. They had not seen each other for several years, both having left the district in which they formerly resided.
“Jackson, you must come and stay with me for a while. I want to introduce you to my wife. No! not the one I told you about. She is dead, died from drink I believe. I heard she was dying, and went to see her. If I had not seen it, I could not have believed that a woman could alter so. I am not a hypocrite, Jackson, nor are you, so I can say thank God she is dead without fear of your pretending to be shocked. No! I can show you a wife I am proud of.”
Jackson stayed several days with Harris, whose wife certainly merited her husband’s praise. One evening the conversation turned upon spirit rapping. Mrs. Harris remarked that some friends of hers, who were devout believers in it, had pressed her strongly to accompany them to a séance the next evening. She did not at first mean to go, but on Harris and Jackson saying that they would accompany her, they made up their minds to see the wonders of spirit-land the next evening.
Mrs. Harris’ friends called at about three o’clock in the afternoon, and the party, after proceeding down several rather shabby streets, stopped at a more than rather shabby house.
Jackson whispered that he wondered the spirits did not select a more fashionable, or at least a cleaner, neighborhood to make their communications in. After payment, they were shown into a dimly-lighted room, where several other well dressed persons were present. Some were seated round a table, others standing. The medium and another person, who was not a medium at present, only a disciple, were holding a conversation on spirit-rapping for the good of the company.
The medium was a thin-faced, crafty-looking man, evidently in bad health. Not bad looking, but still not exactly prepossessing. After a time, he seated himself at the table, the disciple left the room, and silence was demanded. The medium having explained the meaning of the knocks, what one knock stood for, etc, put himself into communication with the spirits. Several people asked questions of deceased relatives, some trustingly and confiding, others sneeringly. Sometimes the answers were strangely correct, to judge from the countenances of the enquirers; others, and by far the greater number, were as evidently wrong. Presently a conversation arose, which soon ended in a discussion between believers and unbelievers.
The medium then took a pencil and paper, and stated; “that any of the company might write a question on a piece of paper, fold it, and lay it on the table; that his arm would be guided by the spirits to write the answer, without having seen the question. This was evidently the display of the evening, and the company evinced a good deal of interest in the proceeding.
As before, some few of the answers seemed to be correct, and the majority wrong.
