The Mountain Mystery of New South Wales. this particular tragedy. Burgess was last seen in Butler's company near a place called Bimberry, on August 25, 1896; but there being nothing at or about that time to sug gest the presumption of foul play, it was supposed by his intimates that he might have betaken himself for purposes of legiti mate mining adventure to West Australia or other distant gold-fields. The discoveries of the bodies of Preston and Lee Weller, how ever, pointed to the probability of another and more tragical conclusion in Burgess's case, and an investigation of the ranges by searchers, moved by the hope of earning a substantial reward, which had in the mean time been announced, resulted in the dis covery, on January 20, of his body, done to death by a bullet wound, fired from be hind in the usual way. In this instance, and owing to the longer interval, the flesh of the face, scalp, and neck had become decom posed, and personal identification was wellnigh impossible, but other means of arriving at the truth were not wanting. " After the murders of Weller and Preston," observes a Sydney newspaper, " some of the effects of the men were appropriated by the murderer, while other articles, especially clothing, were flung about anywhere, as if the culprit had become too excited and anxious to know what he was doing. There arc evidences of the same trepidation or frenzy after the Black Range murder. Burgess must have taken off his coat near the spot where he began digging the hole in which he was afterward buried. The coat was found about twenty yards away, and seemed to have been thrown down as the murderer was hurrying out of the scrub, back to the track leading down to the camp." Fortunately Butler had in a moment of unusual exuberance of sentiment left a pho tograph of himself with a respectable wait ress at Gillham's dining-house in Sydney. As soon as the hue-and-cry set in this was at once placed in the hands of the authori ties. It is not overstating the case to ob
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serve that in the absence of this one link — this blunder, so to term it — Butler would to a moral certainfy have been a free man to day, with every opportunity of making further distinction for himself in the art of extermi nating his species. At every stage of the various inquests reduplicated copies of this sun-picture led to his immediate recognition, as in each instance the partner or companion of the murdered man. Even then his case had not been a hopeless one but for a second act of almost incredible folly. The effects stolen from Capt. Lee Weller included the sea-going certificates and papers of that gen tleman. Proceeding to Newcastle (N. S. W.) about November 14, Butler had the au dacity to adopt the name along with the title-deeds; and after loafing about the place for over a week, he shipped as " able seaman Lee Weller " on board the sailing ship Swanhilda, which left Newcastle for San Francisco with a cargo of coal on the 23d of that month. At that date the disappearance of Preston, Weller, and Burgess were disap pearances and nothing more. Suspicion had not reached the acute stage. But in early December the full murders stood revealed, and the criminal was " badly " wanted. De tective Machattie, a highly efficient member of the constabulary stationed at Newcastle, had a sufficiently acute recollection of spot ting the spurious " Lee Weller " while that person kept loitering about the port; and when it came to be known that the real owner of the name had to a practical cer tainty met with foul play, Machattie, who on November 28 first obtained a view of one of the copies of Butler's likeness, evinced no hesitation in at once pronouncing it as doubly representing the able seaman of the Swan hilda and the missing malefactor. Conroy, who fortuitously joined the police force in Sydney the very day the Swanhilda left Newcastle, and whom Butler had some little time before tried to victimize in the usual fashion, was also able to recognize his man in the copy of the photograph exhibited to
