The Maungatapu murders
The Burgess gang - Maungatapu murders
Richard Burgess: career criminal
The crimes - Maungatapu murders
A timeline of crime: May–June 1866
For a few short months the gang embarked upon a crime spree along the west coast of the South Island that would culminate in the murder of five men on the Maungatapu Track.
May:
Hokitika
Burgess stole two revolvers from the Hokitika police camp on 10 May. He staged a 'discovery' of these guns at a nearby beach in the presence of two witnesses, Sullivan and a man called Chamberlain. A search of his room located the stolen weapons but his witnesses helped him escape any charges. The Hokitika police supplied the local press with details of his Dunedin history and advised Burgess and Kelly to leave town.
Sullivan's betrayal - the Maungatapu murders
Sullivan turns on the gang
Without bodies the case was circumstantial. On 22 June 1866 searchers found the dead packhorse and the missing men's swags. Rewards for information were offered in vain, but a breakthrough occurred when the government promised £200 and a free pardon to any accomplice (not the actual murderer) who would turn Queen's evidence. This reward poster was placed where the prisoners could see it.
The trial - Maungatapu murders
The trial
The executions - Maungatapu murders
The executions, 5 October 1866
Aftermath - the Maungatapu murders
What becomes of Sullivan?
When Joseph Sullivan returned to Hokitika to give evidence about the robbery of the Hokitika police camp and the murder of George Dobson, a mob called for him to be lynched. Chamberlain was sentenced to four years for perjury in the case of the stolen revolvers; one of the accused police 'insiders' was acquitted. James Wilson was acquitted for the murder of George Dobson; the jury indicated that Sullivan was the most likely killer.
Legacy of the murders
'Even before the famous Maungatapu murders in 1866, swaggers were looked upon with distrust on the West Coast, and after that date hardly any one travelled in those parts without carrying a small revolver in his breast-pocket.'
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