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WILFUL MURDER
On Sunday evening last intelligence reached
Maitland of a most diabolical murder which
had been perpetrated on the road from Maitland
to Seaham, near the fence of A. Warren, Esq.
The information was given to the chief constable
between six and seven o'clock on that evening,
by a person named John Campbell, who resides at
Clarence Town, and who stated that his father,
Robert Campbell, had been robbed and murdered
on the previous Thursday, and that he had given
a man named Frederick Ganett into custody on
suspicion of being concerned in it. The chief
constable recollected that he had on the previous
evening seen a man in Maitland with a new
suit of clothes on, and it struck him that he
might know something of it; he accordingly
went in search of him, and after a short time
found him at the Waterloo Tap, West Maitland ;
but upon searching him nothing whatever was
found upon him. Mr. Wood asked him several
questions however, and in the course of the
conversation it was mentioned that a man named
Benjamin Stanley, a ticket of leave holder, was
seen talking to Ganett one day last week, and
upon this the chief constable immediately com-
menced an inquiry after Stanley. He called
aside the tap keeper, Spalls, and found from
him that Stanley had been at the Waterloo Tap
several days last week; that the last time he
was there, which was on Saturday morning, he
had left some of his clothes, and that he had
changed two sovereigns in payment of his score.
The clothes and sovereigns were given over to
the chief constable, and he at once proceeded
to find out Stanley. After calling at several
places he went to the house of a man named
James Anthony, who resides on Mr. Eckford's
farm, on the race course, and there he found
Stanley, whom he took into custody. On
being interrogated by Mr. Wood as to where he
was on the Thursday previous he replied that
Mr. Wood was neither judge nor jury, and he
would not tell him.
On Monday morning both men were brought
before the police bench, when they gave their
names as follows;-Benjamin Stanley, per
Planter, 1832, life, out of employment; Frederick
Ganett, per Moffat, 1836, 14 years, in the em-
ployment of Mr. H. Gordon, court of requests
bailiff. Both prisoners hold tickets for the
Maitland district.
Stanley was charged with the wilful murder
of Robert Campbell, and Ganett with being an
accessory to the fact.
After undergoing an examination they were
both remanded until Tuesday.
From the evidence given on both days it appears
that on Tuesday, the 28th May, the deceased
Robert Campbell, who resided with his sons at
Clarence Town, left home upon a chesnut mare
with a long tail to come to Maitland, to receive
some money from the court of requests office,
intending to return home the next day. He did
not, however, receive payment until Thursday
morning, and in the mean time stopped at Mr.
Mayo's. On Thursday morning, about nine
o'clock, Mr. Gordon gave Campbell a cheque on
the Bank of Australasia for £11 2s. 6d., which
was cashed soon after by Mr. W. G. Bell, the
accountant at the Bank, who paid Campbell
five sovereigns, six one pound notes, and two
and sixpence in silver. Soon afterwards
Campbell left Mr. Mayo's for home on the same
mare upon which he had arrived in Maitland.
The prisoner Ganett knew that Campbell had
been paid.
The old man did not reach home on Thursday
evening, and nothing was heard of him by his
sons until Friday morning, when a man named
John Connor went to their house, and informed
them that a man had been found murdered near
Mr. Warren's fence, about a mile from the punt
over the William River, and that he believed
that it was their father. His two sons imme-
diately went to the place, and recognised the
body as that of their father, which they found
lying on the road with the throat cut so dread-
fully that the head was nearly severed from the
body; and on washing it they found a gunshot
wound on the jaw. They traced the blood from
where the body was found to about a quarter of
a mile back on the road towards Maitland, where
it appeared that the deceased had been shot.
A large quantity of blood was upon the ground,
and a sixpence covered with blood was found
there. No money was found upon the deceased,
and there was no appearance of any struggle at
the place where the body was found.
On the morning of Wednesday, the day before
the murder, the prisoner Ganett was seen talking
to Stanley for some time on the race course near
Anthony's, and a little boy named Prior heard
Ganett say there was a man in Maitland who
lived at Clarence Town, and wanted a man to
clear some land for him, and Stanley said he
would go and see him. On the same night
Stanley slept at the Waterloo Tap, and on
Thursday morning, about seven o'clock, he went
away, saying he was going to East Maitland ; he
then said he had no money, and he could not
pay for what he had had. He had been living
at Anthony's about twelve days, and during that
time he never had any money, and was in no
employment. Ganett and Stanley had formerly
lived together in the same service.
The puntman at Hinton remembered the old
man passing over the punt twice last week, once
to Maitland, and afterwards from Maitland ; but
he could not recollect on what day it was, but
he remembered that on the same day Campbell
passed going from Maitland he was told of
the murder having been committed. He also
recollected that Stanley went over the punt
about nine o'clock one morning last week, when
he said he had no money, and between three
and four o'clock in the same afternoon he
returned and paid the puntage, but the man
could not tell upon what day this was.
On Thursday Mr. C. Blandford was riding
between Hinton and Mr. Warren's, about one or
two o'clock, when he met an old man riding
upon a chesnut mare with a long tail, and a
man was walking alongside of him. The old
man stopped, and asked Mr. Blandford which
was the way to the Seaham punt, and he directed
him to go through Mr. Bartie's yard and by Mr.
Warren's fence. He observed the man who
was walking, as he thought he had seen him
before; he had very much the appearance of
the prisoner Stanley, both in height, figure, and
complexion, but he had more whiskers than the
prisoner ; his whiskers being very large, black,
and bushy, and meeting under the chin; the
prisoner's whiskers were very small ; in every
other respect he resembled the man ; he would
almost swear he was the same man, but he
thought the man had a darker eye than the
prisoner, though he might be mistaken. He
had some knowledge of the prisoner's face, and
he thought at the time he met the man he had
seen him before. The more he looked at the
man the more he felt convinced he was the same
man, though he would not positively swear to
him on account of the great difference in the
whiskers.
After this evidence had been given, it was
proved by Mr. Randall, hairdresser, West
Maitland, that one day last week, though he
was unable to say what day, the prisoner came
to his shop to be shaved; that he had very
large black whiskers meeting under his chin,
and that he desired Mr. Randall to shave them
all off, and leave him only a very small whisker,
and that he afterwards had his hair cut; and
when this was done Mr. Randall remarked to
him, " Why, you don't look like the same man."
It was also proved by Mr. Spalls, the keeper of
the Waterloo Tap, that when Stanley left his
house on Thursday morning he had the large
whiskers on, but when he came there on Friday
morning they had been shaved off, upon which
Spalls said to him, "Why, you've been bar-
berized ;" to which the prisoner made no reply,
but merely put his hand to his chin.
About seven o'clock on Thursday evening
Stanley returned to Anthony's, and appeared to
be very weary from travelling ; he was quite
sober. On Friday he was assisting a man
named Jackson ploughing ; and on the same
day he paid a sovereign to Spalls at the Waterloo
Tap. On Saturday morning he was at Spalls's
again, and changed another sovereign ; both of
which Spalls put into a box where there was no
other money, and they were given up to the
chief constable ; upon one of these sovereigns a
spot of blood was discovered. On the same
morning he went to Mr. Rickards's shop, and
purchased a hat and coat, which came to £1
8s., 5d. for which he paid with two £1 notes,
and received the change in silver, and in about
two hours afterwards he went again and
purchased a print dress, and a mousseline de
laine dress, and a pair of braces, which amounted
to £1, and for which he paid a sovereign. He
afterwards, on the same day, went to the shop of
Mr. Joseph Clarke, shoemaker, and purchased
a pair of half boots, for which he paid another
sovereign, and received five shillings in change.
Some of the clothes he had previously worn
were found at the Waterloo Tap, where he left
them on Saturday, and the remainder at
Anthony's. They were produced in court, and
upon his straw hat there was a small dash of
blood ; his trousers were also slightly stained
with blood; there was a small spot of blood
upon one of his braces, and also upon the
black handkerchief which he wore round his
neck.
Such is the substance of the evidence given
against both the prisoners, and at the close of
the examination they were remanded to the
coroner's inquest, which was to be held on
Wednesday, at Seaham, whither they were
conducted under a strong escort, accompanied
by the chief constable.
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