Wagga
Wagga Express and Murrumbidgee District Advertiser NSW.
15 Sept
1866
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT:-
That mystic individual, in the shape of your
correspondent from this quarter; has been the origin of great number of
queries, and I do assure you no little uneasiness and anxiety was displayed on the
part of "our local" to find out his definite whereabouts. Many and
amusing were the surprises I heard made. But the "Simon Pure" appears
to be the same mystic personage as ever.
I appear to have eluded his keen powers of penetration, and if it be any
relief to his mind, I might say, at the risk of enjoying a little egotism and
presumption, that he or anyone else is not likely to find me out.
I am not "a creature of this earth's world." That's a
poser.
"The heavy rains with which we have lately been visited caused a
regular stoppage in traffic of all kinds.
The large lagoons around here which have been nearly dry for the past two
years, are now rejoicing in having their measure full.
All previous expectation of another dry summer has been dispelled by this
copious downfall.
All the creeks rose to that height that many narrow escapes
occurred to venturesome persons in trying to effect a crossing.
The Gundagai punt did not work for a whole week.
This is a state of thing
as which ought not to be tolerated, for, I believe, I am correct in stating that
the non-working of the punt was not so much owing to the fresh in the
Murrumbidgee, as to the dilapidated condition of the punt itself.
We all know what a trifling amount is paid annually to the Government for
the punt on that part of the river.
It is currently stated that it is as good
as fifteen hundred or two thousand a-year to its lessee.
If it be so lucrative
an undertaking, why is not the punt kept in such repair as-if not to work in
all floods at least to be able to work in a similar flood to the one just
past.
It is emphatically a great
inconvenience to the travelling portion-of our small community, an instance of which
I can give you.
A gentleman drove down to Eurongilly just before the rain set
in, and on his return was delayed at Gundagai for seven days.
He did not complain so much of the expense which he was of necessity put
to, as to the serious inconvenience he was at in being delayed from his business
pursuits, and during the latter part of the time he was at Gundagi, the river
had fallen, and it was far from being dangerous to work the punt if it had been
sound.
There is, decidedly, something rotten, if not in the state of Denmark, at
least in the arrangement I here write of.
A little excitement was evinced at our Police Court on Friday and
Saturday last, on the-hearing of two cases-Regina v. J. W. Costello, and the same
against H. V. Leathem.
These cases had reference to a matter I touched slightly upon in my
former letter, or, in other words, Costello was charged upon the information of
Sergeant Tant, with having printed certain bills, intended for dispersion, on
or about the 4th ultimo, containing the following:
"Will shortly be
published, the Woman in Black, or the Demon unmasked,"
and neglecting to
put his name and place of abode thereon, as required by the
Act. Leathem proved to having received four of these bills from
Costello, to be delivered to another party.
Here the prosecution pressed the witness to name the party to whom he
delivered them. This he declined doing, unless told by the defendant.
The Bench was appealed to, and ruled that it was irrelevant, and need not
be answered. A single copy of these bills was produced by Sergeant' Tant,
without the name and abode of the printer.
Costello admitted printing the bills, and sending them to Leathem,
his agent, and said-that they had the necessary imprint at the bottom, and handed
one to the Bench in support of his statement.
This one had upon it "Printed
at the Gundagai Herald Office." The Bench ruled that this was
insufficient, and did not meet the requirements of the Act, and found him guilty.
The act requiring, most distinctly, that the name and place of abode of the
printer should be on the bills.
Costello was fined £20 and costs. He
was brought up on another charge, that of not marking the date, number of
copies issued, and name of the person ordering the same, upon the copy which he
kept, as the Act required.
It was optional with himself in this case whether he
should be fined or not. The prosecution was willing to allow him to make the
necessary writing upon this copy, and stay proceedings, but this he declined,
and was fined an additional £20 with costs.
For both the cases he had the alternative
of six months in Wagga Wagga gaol.
The case against Leathem was dismissed,
as he only acted as agent for Costello, and did not circulate these bills with
any malicious intent. However, Mr. Robertson, who prosecuted in each case, asked
for a copy of the depositions in this case, with a view to further proceedings
in the matter.
The prosecution tried all-they possibly could to get the names
of the persons concerned in the affair, but failed, so that the principal
object in the prosecution was defeated, and thus the parties, who were
instrumental in driving a woman to madness, have gone unpunished.
The real
culprits in this arrangement are subscribing amongst themselves to pay
Costello's fines. September 10.
South
Bourke Standard
21 Sept
1866
CAUTION TO Printers... "The Tumut Times of the 10th
instant
states that
a case of considerable interest to the printing fraternity was heard before the
Tumut bench on Friday last, in which the proprietor of the late Gundagai
Herald, Mr .J. W. Costello, was charged with having committed a breach of the Printing
Act, by not having his name and place of abode attached to certain bills that
he had "received an order to print.
It appeared
that he had placed what he deemed a full and sufficient: imprint to the bills,
-viz., "Printed at the Gundagai Herald office," but which imprint was
not according to what the law demands, i.e, the name, occupation, and place of
abode of the printer or publisher.
A second
charge against Costello was that on the "filed copy" the name and
address of the party who authorised the "'printing of the bills was neither
written nor printed in plain and legible characters.
The Printing. Act, 8'
Geo.IV., distinctly states that such is absolutely necessary, and the penalty
for non-observance of this clause is a very heavy one-£20 for each offence.
It is not,
however generally known that the law demands that printers should do this; and
we feel justified in asserting that few offices in the Australian colonies
adhere to the law in this respect.
In the case
to which we allude the infringement of tile law was not a willful one, it having
been done in utter ignorance of the nature of the clauses in the act having
'reference to the printing of bills.
The placard
to which objection had been taken simply announced the intended publication of a
work entitled "The Woman in' Black," or “The Demon Unmasked.”
This title
offended certain parties in town, they deeming that it was intended to apply to
a resident; and they accordingly set the engines of the Law to work, in order
that they might discover the person’s name who ordered the bills to be printed.
As this case
is of some importance to printers, involving, as it does, very serious
penalties, we deem it advisable to make them aware of the heavy fines to which
they are liable by the law.
We think we are but doing our duty in explaining
this point, in order that others may become acquainted with it, and there are
many such who probably may be caught napping by over vigilant guardians of the
law.
In the first
charge before us the 'bench used the discretionary power, and filled the
defendant £5, for each of the bills, and £3. 3s. professional costs; -but on
the second charge, having no discretionary power, were obliged to fine the full
penalty of £20 and' £3. 3s., costs. -
We had, almost omitted to mention that
any Justice of the peace may demand to see the "file copy" kept by
the printer, within a period of six months after being so printed.
***
Who was “the
woman in black” or “the demon unmasked”?
Was it this mendacious
old woman in black mentioned a year before down Bendigo, possibly made her way
from there and ended up in Gundagai? An elderly woman dressed in black, of easy ‘manners and fluent speech? Do you think it is her?
Whoever litigated put themselves “in it” by identifying with the title in any
case.
The
Sydney Morning Herald NSW
8 Dec
1864
CAUTION-TO
THE BENEVOLENT
To the
Editor of the Herald’
Sir--Will
you have -the goodness to insert in your
valuable paper, -for the information of those like myself willing to assist to
truly deserving, a case of gross imposture.
A little more
than two months ago, a respectable looking old woman, attired in black, came to my house and represented that her son had been killed
on the Lapstone Hill, by a dray going over him leaving her (his old mother) in great
distress.
She wished
to procure enough money to take her to Queensland, to another son, who-would
only be too glad to give her a home. She was to have left immediately ("21st
September), but could not make up the sum required, and fearing she should lose
the boat that day, I gave her the balance, as well as some clothes for the voyage.
To-day a lady telling me a tale of great
distress, related the -very same story-same old woman and same name (Mrs. Griffiths), I am sure you will not
object to caution the benevolently disposed.
This is not
the first case lately that has come under my own observation, and I would have
the charitable beware, lest instead of doing good they may only be encouraging a
set of Impostors,
I am, Sir, yours
obediently E.A.B.
Bendigo
Advertiser
19
July 1865
MENDICITY.
(To the Editor of the Bendigo
Advertiser.)
Sir,-In noticing a paragraph in your issue of the 17th ultimo, allow me to inform
your readers and the charitably
disposed ladies of this district.
That an elderly woman dressed in black, of easy ‘manners and fluent
speech, has for the last
eighteen months been preying upon them, and that the proceeds of their generosity, clothes, &c, have found
their way in to the pawnbrokers
to furnish a supply of pure colonial to refresh the body of the said
elderly female.
The amount
collected by this woman in a regular systematic manner is
incredible, and the use
of it such as I here state.
In fact I
have known her return with bacon which some good creature had given her, and go
and try to exchange it for beer.
I have long
thought that mendicity officers were necessary, and am fully persuaded that
they would find occupation in all centers of population, and succeed in rooting
out such nuisances as this from the
body politic.
I enclose my
card as a guarantee of good faith, and am,
Sir, yours
respectfully,
ALMONER.
*pure colonial = Grog, Alcohol, moonshine.
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