| The inquest on the body of Mary Anne Clark, the unfortunate girl
whose body was found in the house in Hancock's Court, Parramatta-street, on Monday, 4th instant, was
resumed on Thursday morning, at the Police Office. The names of the jurors sworn are, as follows: —
Alexander M'Callen, William Jenkins, John Webster, Benjamin Tabsley, Henry Hall, William Simmons,
Samuel Penn, David Taylor, Peter Panslow, Christophor Flynn, Thomas Field, Henry Kettle, John Tucker.
David Taylor was chosen as foreman. John A'Hern was placed in the dock, charged with the wilful murder
of the unfortunate deceased. An unusual croud [sic] had assembled in the Police Yard to catch a glimpse
of the prisoner, and the instant the Court opened, at about a quarter before eleven, the rush into the Court
was terrific, and every portion of it was immediately crowded. The prisoner is a man about five feet five
inches in height, with a stoop in the shoulders, and rather spare figure ; his age is forty-one, his hair brown,
and his face slightly pitted with the small pox, the countenance flat and uninteresting, with the exception of
the mouth, which had a firm and compressed expression, the eyes grey, small, and deep set, and with that
low, dull appearance, seeming to be almost characteristic of the crime of murder ; the general expression
of countenance was sinister and bad, the manner and deportment calm and quiet, with but little emotion of
any kind. The prisoner on being asked, by the Coroner, his name, replied John A'Hern ; he was unable to
write, or to say how his name was rightly spelled ; he was transported in the year 1828, per the ship Eliza,
offence shoplifting, sentence seven years, and had since obtained his certificate of freedom ; he was a
native of Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland. The Coroner in opening the proceedings, stated the facts of the
case as they had come before him, calling the attention of the jurors to the fact, that the whole of the
evidence that would be placed before them must necessarily be of a circumstantial character ; there
was also one mysterious circumstance, namely, the absence, in spite of the efforts of the Police throughout
the Colony, of a person closely connected both with the prisoner and the deceased by kindred and social
ties ; this woman, named Johanna Collins, had lived with the prisoner, and passed as his wife, but if he
should show that she was allied by a closer tie, inferences would be drawn, on which the result of the
inquiry must materially depend. Search had been made in almost every conceivable place for this woman,
but no tidings had been heard of her, and in the absence of any evidence, of a bold character, to fix either
the actual deed on the man, or any impelling motive to it, very much must depend on the inferences to be
drawn from those subordinate facts, which would be brought under their notice, and which, with the
exception of the mysterious absence of the woman, wore as complete and full, as the most vigilant
Police could make them.
James Clark, whitesmith, living in Hancock's Buildings, sworn. — The
prisoner resembled a man who had given me a lock to repair in Hancock's Buildings, on Saturday, the 31st
of May ; but I cannot swear to him ; I had only moved to Hancock's Court the previous day ; an old man, like
the prisoner, came to me from a house opposite mine, and asked me to come and repair a lock on his door
(here the prisoner was taken out and dressed in the clothes taken from him) ; he opened the sash and got
through, and I got through after him ; I then took the lock off and repaired it ; I saw no girl with him ; it was
between nine and ten on Saturday morning ; on the Wednesday morning after, about seven o'clock, I went
into the house again ; I saw nothing of the old man between that time ; on that morning my attention was
called, by the neighbours, to the key being on the outside of the door ; and some women asked me to go
in, as they did not think all was right, for they had not seen the old man or girl for two days ; I went in, and
stood at the bottom of the stairs, leading out of the lower room, and shouted hallo, but there was no
answer ; I then went up stairs, and saw some blankets in the corner of the room ; there seemed to be
a body beneath them ; I went towards them, and laid hold of the blanket with my finger and thumb, and
saw the apparently dead body of a female ; I called out "here is a horrid sight ;" and the women called a
policeman, who came up stairs.
Cross-examined by the prisoner. —It was on a Saturday that I mended the lock ; and it was on Friday
that I took the house; I took it from Mr. Hancock.
Hermann Facen— I am barman to Mr. Hancock ; on Friday week last, I let a house in Hancock's
buildings, to the prisoner and a girl ; it was about one o'clock in the day ; it was Friday, the 30th May ;
he was to pay 5s. a week, and he paid one week in advance ; a girl was with him, she followed him in
closely ; the girl went and sat down in one of the boxes; she sat there about three hours and a half ;
he asked for a gill of rum for himself, and a glass of water for the girl ; he drank it and the girl asked me
for a piece of bread and butter ; I said, I had none, and he then bought her some cakes ; she ate one,
and then while he was away with the key looking at the house, she came and asked me for another
glass of water, which I gave her ; I remarked her hands were very much bruised and scarred ; the nails
torn off and bloody ; I asked her what was the matter, but she hung down her head and gave me no
answer ; her face was all over bruises and patches ; when he returned he took the girl with him to look
at the house ; she rose to follow him, and appeared very lame and stiff ; I said "my girl, what's the matter
with you ;" she said she was stiff and tired ; prisoner said she is my daughter ; I asked her if he was her
father, and she said yes ; I then asked her, where was her mother, and she said in Maitland ; he then told
the girl to come, saying to her, I will put you into the house, and then I'll go and fetch the things from the
other house ; he had something more to drink, and then took the girl away ; I did not see her alive after
that ; I saw the body of the girl last Sunday morning, it had been exhumed ; it was the body of the girl I
saw with the prisoner, and was in the burying ground.
Cross-examined by the Prisoner — It was not on Thursday morning that you came to Hancock's ; it was
on Friday, you called for a gill of rum and drank it ; you said nothing about the conduct of the girl ; I did not
say she was a "pretty girl" ; you did not say you were a man to be pitied ; you did not say that a poor man
was to be pitied, for a girl like her getting out of bed, as soon as you had fallen into a dead sleep ; I did not
hear her own, to doing so ; it was on Friday at one o'clock that you came to take the house ; Clarke and you
took the house the same day ; you came to me the next day to say that you had paid 9d. for the lock ; I told
you I would make it right with the smith.
Charles Cobbey residing in Hancock's buildings— I remember seeing an old man and a girl in the
court yard, on the afternoon of Friday the 30th May ; the prisoner is the man ; just after dusk I saw him
searching for a key, about the door of the house ; she was beside him ; the old man seemed drunk ; the
girl was on the left side of him ; she said something to him, and he lifted his foot, and kicked her backwards ;
she then got up and went to the window of the house to get in ; a load of wood was laying underneath it,
and she got on it to get in, and put her head through ; she could not do it at first, but staggered back, and
he then took and shoved her in through it ; there was a noise as if she had fallen in ; he staid outside
looking for the key and muttering ; I did not hear a word from the girl ; I heard him say one, two, three,
give me my pipe ; one, two, three, four, do you know what a mantle-piece is ; I saw the man and the
girl come out about an hour, afterwards ; she had a shawl on her head when they went into George-street ;
she limped very much ; I saw no more of them, till I saw the body of the girl on Sunday morning ; after it had
been exhumed ; I cannot swear that it was the body of the same girl that I saw with the old man.
Cross-examined — She got on the wood, to get through the window ; she stumbled back, and then
you pushed her through ; you had a candle in your hand, and were drunk.
Maurice Roach, residing in Hancock's Court — I saw the prisoner in Hancock's yard, sometime after
dinner, on Friday the 30th May ; he had a girl with him ; he chopped some wood, and told the girl to make
a good fire, and burn herself and house too if she liked ; I saw the dead body of the girl in the house, and
it was the body of the girl I heard the prisoner speaking to.
Cross-examined — There was no one with me when I heard the conversation, I was about ten yards
off you.
Thomas Harbidge, assigned to Mr. James Hooper, of Kensington. — I knew prisoner in the employ of
Messrs. Bolton Brothers, near Wellington Valley, in the year 1843 ; he was employed as a shepherd, and
had two females with him ; the elder I saw, but should not know her again ; it was not known whether she
was his wife, sister, mother, or what, and the youngest went as his daughter, but was not known to be so ;
they all lived in one hut, but I never saw them in it ; I left that part of the country in May 1843 ; I left the
prisoner there ; I next saw him in February, 1844, between Liverpool and the Cowpastures, about 4 miles
from Liverpool ; he had only one female with him there — the girl ; called to him from over the fence
where I was herding cattle ; I asked him where the woman was that he had with him at Bolton's, and he
said he had left her at Goulburn ; I saw him again this day fortnight, the 29th of May, down by Gaunson's,
the grocer's, in George-street, with the younger girl ; I said, "good morning, a'Hern," and he said, "good
morning, but you have the advantage of me ;" I told him who I was ; I said, "your daughter is getting a fine
age now ; he said, "yes — I gave her a severe beating last night ;" her face was marked and scarred,
and her neck stiff ; I asked him where he had been since he left Bolton's, and he said "at Mr. Hood's,
adjoining Bolton's station ; he asked too if I were married, and then looked at the girl, who laid her head
against the wall, and looked at me ; as soon as I heard of the murder, I went and saw the body in the yard
at Hancock's, and identified it as that of the girl with A'Hern.
Cross-examined by the prisoner. — It was opposite Mr. Gaunson's door where I met you ; I was about
my master's business ; she had on a straw bonnet, and her neck appeared very stiff from a beating ; when
I met you on the Liverpool road, I asked you to go and have some refreshment ; I did not say that I had a
"chop" for you ; I did not say that I had a watch and a suit of blue, which I would let you have for a mere
nothing ; there were marks on the girl's face when I met her on the 29th of May. William Evans, lodging-house
keeper, near the "Cross Keys," in Kent-street.—I know the prisoner ; I recollect him renting a room
in my house about three months ago ; he, and a woman and a girl ; I do not know what his name was, but I
called him Paddy ; the woman said his name was Paddy, and she passed as his wife, and the girl as his
daughter ; they slept in one room ; I never saw them in bed ; they were as well behaved people while in my
house as I would ever wish to have in it ; the girl was very well ; they came to, get necessaries, and then
went up the country ; they staid about one week ; about three months after, he came to my house again ;
about last Thursday or Friday fortnight, and told me that he had got a place down by where the Maitland
steamers came in, and that if the woman called to enquire, to send her to him there ; he had no one with
him when he came the second time ; I asked him what made him leave the old woman behind ? he said
"I left her with her sister, in Maitland ;" two or three days after, he came and asked me if I had a place to
rent ; I told him I had a little place at the back which the people were going to leave ; he had the girl with
him ; she was muffled up ; I asked what was the matter with her, and he said she was sick ; "what made
her sick ?" said I ; he said "I sickened her ;" I asked him what he had beat her for ? and he said two men
had come to the window whilst he was out, and tried to get in ; I said he should'nt [sic] beat her for that, as
it was not her fault if the men came there ; he said "never mind ! I sickened her ;" I did not see the girl again.
Cross-examined by the prisoner. — You did not tell me that you wanted the place, because the girl
was, too well known down at the other place ; you did not say that she used to go out at night, and go with
all the men she could ; you did not say a word about your, wife having left in consequence of the misconduct
of the girl.
John Porter, residing at Mr. James Spears', publican's, corner of Erskine and Kent streets. —I know the
prisoner ; on Whit Monday, I was out in the bush getting a load of wood for my master, and I met the prisoner;
he had a little girl with him ; it was just by Tavener's public house, on the Parramatta Road ; they overtook
me and we just spoke to each other ; he asked me something about a house, and I told him to call at the
corner of Kent and Erskine streets ; when I got home, I found he had called, and got the key of a little house
off Sussex-street ; the next morning, about nine o'clock, I saw him in the yard, and I said, "well master, how
do you like the little gunyah ?" he said very well, and asked me to give him a bit of wood, which I said I
would ; I saw the girl then and for several days after ; she had a scar on her cheek ; but appeared fresh
and well ; I had not been in the gunyah for a fortnight before the prisoner took it ; I never saw the prisoner
before the day he took the house ; I heard no screams or noise of any kind from it ; I went into the house to
have a smoke three or four days after the prisoner had taken it ; I went into the front room ; it was floored ;
there were no tables or chairs there, and there was no blood on the floor ; I was in the house on Tuesday
night week ; I observed marks of blood on the floor ; on one of the rafters there was blood.
Mary Anne Hogden, wife of Robert Hogden, residing in Sussex-street. — I remember the prisoner ; he
resided in one of Mr. Spears' houses, in Sussex-street ; to the best of my recollection, on Whit Monday he
came with a girl and looked at the house ; he asked for the key, and my husband told him where to get it ;
he got the key, and afterwards came to ask for a broom to sweep the house, and also for some things, to
do with, as he said, till his woman came down the country, where he said he had been shepherding ; I said
I would do so, and he thanked me ; I was in the house a fortnight before he took it, and a few days after he
had been in it ; I saw no blood on the floor, or elsewhere ; I saw the girl there, on the first day they came ;
she seemed to be almost 14 years of age ; there were marks on her at first ; she was much disfigured in
the face ; he passed as her father, and on the Saturday after they came there, he brought me a straw
bonnet and some ribbon, and asked me to put the ribbon on ; I told him to leave it and I would do it and
bring it in ; I took it in, and the prisoner was sitting in the house with the last witness ; the bonnet produced
is the same bonnet, and the ribbon is the same as the one I put on ; I did not see the blood stain on the
bonnet which it bears now, and I don't think it could have been on then ; I saw the body of the girl in
Hancock's Buildings ; I think it was the same I saw with the prisoner ; the print gown she had was the
same ; I saw the girl several times, and spoke to her ; she never said anything ill against the prisoner,
but spoke of him as her father ; on the Sunday she came in, I asked her if she had been at chapel ;
she said she had, and had been to confession ; I asked her what she had toe confess, and she told
me her father had been with her ; on the Monday morning, the prisoner, who was in the habit of coming
to cut me some wood in the morning, told me that the girl had given him great trouble, and seemed as
if he were ashamed of telling me what it was about ; he said he had found out that she had been cohabiting
with two men, and that he had made her go with him and show him the house ; he then brought the girl into
the house to me, and told me of it before her face, and she acknowledged it ; she did not seem particularly
frightened at him ; he kept asking her if what he said was true, and she said it was ; she appeared to answer
frankly, and I felt confident what he said was true ; she said, "let's have no more of it, and I'll forget all I have
done amiss, and be a good girl ;" I could not say that I ever heard any noise ; he told me, that there were
two other men after her ; she went down on her knees and asked his pardon ; I don't think she was at all
a simple girl.
Examined by a Juror. — I never had any conversation with the girl in the prisoner's absence ; but he
used to send her to the house alone.
Amelia Hobbs, daughter of Charles Hobbs, residing in Sussex-street — I think I have seen the prisoner
; he stopped at a house in Sussex street, and had a girl living with him ; I saw him kick her once as I was
coming by ; she was sitting on a seat they had made of a board ; it seemed a violent kick ; she did not tumble
down ; there were marks and scabs nearly all over her face ; it is about a fortnight ago since I saw him kick
her ; I heard him tell, her to go and take her cap off, and something else, but I did not hear what it was.
Robert Hancock, publican — I know the prisoner ; my man let one of my houses to him last Friday
week ; I saw the girl with him ; she seemed very ill, and held her head down.
Neale Toner, confectioner — I have known the prisoner about twelve months ; I saw him last Friday
week, in Sydney — down in Sussex-street ; he said he lived there, and took me into the house ; I
saw the young girl there that he took from Maitland, and I asked after the old woman ; he said she was
in the bush ; she was his sister, and her name was Johanna ; I lived in the same house, in Maitland, with
the prisoner, Johanna, and the girl ; I had lived in a room at widow Henry's eight months, and when I came
back from Patrick's Plains Races I found they had taken the room, and I then lived in another room ; he
called her his sister, and it is about a year ago ; they all slept in one room, and in one bed ; I saw them all
in bed together one morning ; I asked him if it was his wife ; he said no, it was his sister, and I then said it
was a queer thing for him to sleep with his sister and his niece ; they seemed on very good terms ; when I
went into the house in Sussex-street, I asked if that was the young woman, and he said yes, and she
pulled the bonnet over her face ; he said he was going to leave the house that day, and she seemed
desirous to prevent me looking at her ; I did not see her again till Thursday morning, when she was lying
dead in Hancock's house ; I recognised her at once ; when he said he was going to leave the house, I said
I would not mind taking it ; he said I had no call to be looking at it, as another man had already taken it ; he
seemed in a hurry, and as if he did not want me to stay.
Cross-examined by the prisoner — It was just opposite your house where I saw you ; you did not ask me
to go in ; I saw you and your sister, and niece, in bed together in the room in Maitland ; the females were
lying with their feet one way, and the man with his the other ; it was about eight o'clock in the morning.
Michael Hogan, stonemason, residing at the corner of Erskine and Sussex-streets — I know the
prisoner by sight ; on last Monday fortnight the prisoner asked me into his house, and I went in, and a
man from Maitland, named Henry, went in with me ; he was complaining of the conduct of the girl, who,
he said, would, in spite of all he could do, go out after other men ; he said he had beat her on the previous
night, and showed them a cap with blood on it ; there was only one spot on it ; he asked the girl if it was not
true, and she said yes ; the girl was in the inside room, we were in the outside ; he asked the girl if she knew
who he had got there, and told her it was the son of Mrs. Henry, whom they used to live with at Maitland ; he
then told Henry how he had beat her at a station in the country, and cut off her hair, to cure her of
misconduct, when he again asked her if it was not true, and she said yes ; I did not see her, but I believe
Henry did after I went out; he said he slept with his head against the door, to prevent her going out at night,
and that he had fastened it with a piece of iron, but it had been forced open.
Cross-examined — You
said you cut her hair off to shave her ; you did say you cut her head ; you did say that Henry was the first
cause of her going wrong ; Henry denied it, and said he would ask the girl ; he did ask her, and the girl
said that she went into the bed where Henry and another man were, but that Henry would not stay ; you
came to me afterwards, to my own house, to look for Henry, and I told you he was gone to Maitland, when
you said you were sorry, as you wished to have told him not to tell his mother of her misconduct.
John Lowe, constable — On information I received, I went to a little house of Mr. Spears, in
Sussex-street, last Tuesday week ; I went in and saw the marks of a quantity of blood on the floor,
as if it had been wiped up ; there was blood on the walls, and on one of the rafters ; the piece of
paper I produce, covered with blood and some hair on it, is off the wall, and also the piece of rafter,
also other articles, amongst which was a broken plate, all blood stained.
Mary Anne Hogden, re-called — I told constable Lowe that there was blood on the walls of the house
where the prisoner lived ; I did not shew him the house ; some person was taking the paper off the wall
yesterday, I believe it was constable Lowe.
William Callaghan— I produce sundry articles I found in the house where the girl lay, consisting of a
shirt, an apron, a handkerchief, and a piece of calico, stained with blood, a shawl, bonnet, plaid petticoat,
Hyde Park jacket, two caps, and other articles.
Thomas Maguire — I went to the house in Sussex-street ; constable Lowe was there, and brought
the paper and the piece of rafter produced away ; I produce part of a cap, soaked with blood ; also a piece
of cloth similar to that of the grey jacket found in Hancock's house, and which fits into a cut part of the back
of the jacket ; their is blood on the sleeve and back of the jacket.
Margaret A'Hern — I reside at Maitland ; am an unmarried woman, and the prisoner is my brother ; I
am mother of Mary Anne Clark, the deceased girl ; her name was Mary Anne Clark, and, as near as I can
tell, she was between 13 and 14 years of age; I had a sister, Johanna A'Hern, who lived with the prisoner ;
I saw the prisoner, Johanna, and my niece together, about twelve months since last Maitland races ; they
were in Maitland, living at Mrs. Henry's ; I went one evening to their lodgings, to get my child ; they were in a
little room inside ; I did not bring the child home, for my brother would not let me, but beat me ; as far as I
know, Johanna did not pass for the prisoner's wife ; the child was willing to come with me ; he said that he
would take great care of the child, and that I was unable to maintain her ; I live at Maitland, with a man of
the name of Collins, and I could have maintained her ; I left Sydney about three years ago, and when I went
to Maitland I put the child in service at Mrs. Connolly's, who gave her 1s. 6d. per week ; shortly after, my
brother and sister came up, and asked where the child was ; I told them, and they said they were going up
the country, and would take her with them ; they did so, and kept the child with them till they came hack to
Mrs. Henry's ; I then wanted to get the child back ; it is about twelve months since they left Mrs. Henry's ;
they all went away together, but I did not know they were going ; I have not seen the child alive, or my
sister Johanna, since then, nor have I seen my brother since then, till very lately ; yesterday week was
the first time I saw my brother since they went away, and I then saw him at Maitland ; he came to the
house, and Collins, who was in the shop, shop, saw him first, and called to me — "Here 's Jack ;"
I asked him to come in, and before he sat down, I inquired where Johanna and the child were ; he said
they had ran away in the bush ; I asked him where, but he said he could not tell the name of the place ;
I asked him again, but he gave me no more information ; he did not tell me anything about Johanna or
Mary Anne ; he did not say he had been in Sydney, nor did he say where he came from ; I thought he
had left the child outside the town, as he was always afraid I should keep her from him ; on Friday I left
the prisoner in my house, and have not seen him since ; I heard nothing of a murder till Mr. Connolly read
me something of a murder from the paper, and told me he thought my brother should be taken into
custody ; the prisoner asked me to buy a shirt for him, and gave me 2s. 6d. for it a short time after he
came in ; I went and fetched it, and he took off the one he was wearing, and put it on the fire ; I told
him not to burn it, as it would do for patches, and went to take it off the fire, but he said it was a rotten
old thing and would burn it ; he would not let me handle it at all, and I did not see whether there were any
marks on it or not ; I go by the name of Mrs. Collins; I heard of my brother having been arrested ; I did not
see him after he was arrested till now ; I came from Maitland on Saturday night I went to a grave yard in
Sydney, and saw a body taken out, which I swear was the body of my child, Mary Anne Clarke.
Cross-examined by the prisoner — When you came to my house, you had your jacket under your arm ;
I never did ask you to take the child for charity ; you never sent her from Mrs. Henry's to me, except for a
quarter of an hour ; you never told me that you were afraid of sending her to my house for fear that Collins
should take advantage of her ; the girl always appeared very much frightened at the prisoner ; he never
offered to send the child back, either by message or otherwise ; about eighteen months ago, I lived under
a man named Taylor, at Maitland ; prisoner lived at the same house with my sister and the child, but would
not allow her to sleep with me ; she slept in a bed by his, on the floor, with my sister Johanna ; but he had
a separate blanket from them ; I wanted the child to sleep with me, but he would not allow her ; the child's
name is Clarke, and not Read.
Michael Brennan— I have charge of the Roman Catholic Burial Ground ; a body was exhumed on
Sunday morning ; it was the same body which had been viewed by the Jury on the 4th Instant, and is the
one seen by the last witness ; when she saw it, she said it was the body of her daughter. Margaret A'Hern,
recalled — The hair I produce, I cut off the body of my child ; it is quite short, and all the hair was of
the same length ; when I saw her twelve months ago, she had a fine head of hair ; the hair shewn to me
on the paper taken from the wall of the house in Sussex street, seems to be of the same shade as the
hair I cut from my child ; the last night I saw my brother in Maitland, we had some tea, and a cup of tea
was left on the table ; he came and tried to persuade me to drink it several times ; after that in the night,
I was taken very ill, with intense pain in the stomach ; I went out, but my brother did not awake ; the next
morning he remarked that I was ill, and I told him he must have slept very sound not to have heard me.
Thomas Kerr, constable in the Maitland police. — I obtained information of a supposed murder in
Sydney ; I obtained information from a man named John Conolly, that he wanted me to take a murderer,
from Sydney ; he described him to me, and I followed him and took him into custody, as he was leaving
Maitland by a bush road ; he had on a straw hat and the clothes he has now, but no jacket ; when I saw
him I told him to return ; he said, "what for ;" I said, "Jack the Nailer wants you ;" and he came back, and
when Conolly saw him he said it was the man ; I then put the handcuffs on him, and told him he was
charged with murder ; he said he had been living in Windsor with a native of that place, and, on my
questioning him, admitted he had been in Sydney lately, and had left it on Sunday morning at eleven
o'clock, and come to Maitland on Wednesday night ; he wanted to go for his jacket, but I would not let
him, and I then took him to the watchhouse ; I believe Conolly told him it was Mary Ann he had murdered ;
he appeared much agitated and pale, and said he was faint, and asked me to let him have a glass of beer ;
I took him into the — Arms, and gave him a glass of ale ; I then searched him, and he had in his pocket
a certificate of freedom and a one-pound note ; I also found a piece of print corresponding with one of the
pieces found in the house in Hancock's Buildings ; whilst he was drinking the ale, he said if he was found
guilty, he hoped they would twist his neck the next moment ; he then expressed a wish to drop down dead ;
I went to get his coat, which I got on my way to the watchhouse ; I observed stains of blood on his waistcoat,
and there was also some on the inside of the collar ; I also found blood marks on the trowsers ; he had a
new shirt on, and on asking what he had done with the old one, he said he had cast it away on the
mountains coming from Sydney ; I found in his coat pocket a ribbon of a hat and a small cloth containing
sugar of lead ; he said he had bought it to make a wash for a rupture he had ; there were stains of blood
on his coat and on his hat.
Mr. Adson, Serjeant of Sydney police. — I went to Maitland on Thursday ; I arrived there on Friday ;
the prisoner was apprehended whilst I was between East and West Maitland ; I asked him if he had a
wife, a sister, a daughter, or a niece, and he said, "No ;" I asked him how he accounted for the blood on
his clothes ; he said he had hurt his shin ; when he was in the watchhouse I took his right boot off, and
found a spot of blood on the toe, also spots of blood on the trowsers ; the prisoner fell on his knees,
and said he would tell all about it; he said he left his old sister at Cassilis, and he heard since that she
was at Patrick's Plains ; the little girl he said he took with him, and described her bad conduct along the
road; he said he took a house in Sussex-street, and staid there seventeen nights, out of which, nine,
she staid out, and that the last night she came home much bruised and cut ; that afterwards he took
another house in Parramatta -street; but finding that he could not keep her in, he had left her there
with plenty of tea and sugar, and came up the country on foot ; after Mr. Day had left him, I was alone
with him for nearly an hour ; I cautioned him not to say anything to criminate himself ; but he kept on
talking ; he asked me how long it was to the Criminal Court, and I told him about a month; he replied,
"God bless me ! alive to-day and dead this day month ;" he complained of being very weak, and asked
me to send for a priest, saying he had better make the best use of his time, as he supposed he should
be hanged as innocently as he had been transported.
Cross-examined by the prisoner — You did not tell me what took you to Maitland ; you talked a great
deal, but I don't think you said you had come to tell the mother of the girl having turned out badly.
Daniel Joseph Tierney, surgeon — On Wednesday, the 4th instant, I viewed the body of a young
female, named Mary Anne Clark, about fourteen years of age, lying in the upper room of a house in a
court off Parramatta-street ; the body was lying on the right side, the face towards the wall ; the appearance
dirty ; there was a large wound in the scalp, over the superior portion of the frontal bone ; two very large
wounds on the posterior part of the scalp ; there were several external marks on the forehead, temples,
nose, cheeks, and chin ; the ears appeared as if they were diseased, or had some injuries of some standing;
the nails of the thumb and the middle finger of the left hand were off ; part of the nail of the fore or index
finger of the right hand was off ; there were several deep contusions on the hands and arms ; the neck,
chest, sides, and abdomen, were much bruised, as well as a considerable contusion on the left breast ;
the pubic portion of the abdomen was very extensively bruised, as well as the thighs and legs, as if
deceased had been kicked ; in making the post mortem examination, I found, on raising the scalp,
a mark or cut on the frontal bone, corresponding with the wound of the scalp, and two marks on the occipital
bone corresponding with the wounds of the scalp in that region, as also a small piece of the bone was
chipped off, and other slight indentations ; the membranes covering the brain were inflamed, and a very
extensive effusion of blood was observable upon the brain, particularly on the posterior part, and clots of
extravated blood were collected there ; in and underneath the muscles covering the chest there were
quantities of extravasated blood; there were slight adhesions of both lungs, particularly the right one,
which was very unhealthy, great effusion of blood having taken place into the substance of the right lung
; there was also considerable hemorrhage ; the right lobe of the liver was diseased ; so was the spleen ;
the latter was gorged with blood ; deceased died from the effects of the violent injuries mentioned in the
foregoing statement I have no doubt but that some person often cohabited with her ; as to the
appearances of deceased, and the house that she was found in, as also the one she was supposed
to have lived in off Sussex-street, I have to observe, that there was a regularity about the way in which
she was laid, that indicated that she was covered by some person after death ; there were human
excrements in a tin quart pot in one of the corners of the room, as also on the boards, the latter had
the appearance as if deceased were dragged along the floor, and there was a cloth smeared with faecal
matter ; these circumstances I mention for the purpose of pointing out that deceased may have been
compelled to remain in the room, or that some other party used them by day, sooner than run the risk of
being observed going to or from the house, but I am more inclined to believe the former supposition ; in a
small house in Sussex street, Inspector Moore showed me the marks of a quantity of blood upon the floor
and splashed upon the walls ; the plaster of the walls was recently broken, apparently from the blows of
some sharp heavy instrument ; it is possible that deceased may have received the injuries of the head in
that house, and be able to go to Parramatta-street afterwards ; one circumstance alone makes me think
such might have taken place, that is, that there was very little blood on the floor or about the clothes of
deceased when discovered ; I am rather tenacious in giving this opinion, fearing the blood in the house in
Sussex-street may be that of some other individual ; I believe the instrument by which the wounds of the
skull were inflicted, must have been a sharp cutting instrument, but one of the marks on the wall in the
house in Sussex-street shows that the instrument used there was one of a heavy nature, such as a
tomahawk ; if it was the latter instrument with which the wounds were inflicted on the scalp, it is very,
probable that the bones of the skull would have been more injured ; I cut some hair off the head of the
deceased, and have compared it with the hair of the bloody paper produced by constable Lowe, and find
that it is of the same colour and shade ; I think that, the wounds on the head, breast, or abdomen, would
either of them have caused death ; they were certainly the effect of violence, and could not have been
produced by the hand only ; the wounds on the head might have been inflicted four or five days ; the large
wound on the back of the head was a gaping wound, and no operation of nature towards healing had taken
place.
The Coroner called upon the prisoner to know if he had any thing to say why he should not be committed to
take his trial, upon which he entered into a long narrative of his adventures with the girl, detailing the most
extravagant descriptions of her propensity to vice which it is possible to conceive. He stated that the last
place where he lived with his sister and the girl, was at Mr. Cope's station, at Cassilis. That having discovered
that the girl had been guilty of misconduct with the men on the station, he determined to leave, and that
Johanna had been too much ashamed of the conduct of her niece, to accompany them. That he then
brought the child down the country, and that at every station the child used to steal from him in the night,
and commit the most shameful extravagances, all of which she related to him afterwards. On his taking
the house in Sydney, he said she continued her behaviour, and that she told him that nine nights out of
the first fourteen they staid there, she was out with two men in Market street, and with other men. That
to stop her, he moved to Parramatta-street, but that on the first night of their sleeping in that house, she
ran away, and did not return on Saturday or Sunday, and on the latter day he resolved to travel to Maitland,
to acquaint her mother. On his arrival there, he found the mother had just been confined, so that he did not
tell her, for fear of making her ill.
The Coroner, in summing up, remarked on the inconsistencies and extravagancies of the prisoner's defence,
as utterly opposed to all his own previous statements, and the evidence of the witnesses, and so entirely
inconsistent with every feeling and passion of our nature as to be utterly unworthy of credit.
The Jury, without retiring, instantly found a verdict of guilty of wilful murder, when John A'Hern was committed
to gaol to take his trial, whither he was escorted by a strong guard. The Coroner, in the course of his
observations, remarked on the ability and industry which had been displayed by the police in tracing
out this intricate affair ; and we are glad to add our testimony to a very commendable degree of intelligence
and activity exhibited by the force throughout. |
