Blast from the Past II - Now with more Past!!!

Here's some more rantings from my Tassie ancestor, Joseph Salmon, this time a few weeks later in 1838.

He talks of being attacked by various individuals, but I must admit he is guilty of one thing: Excessive Comma Usage.

True Colonist, 19 December 1838:

To the Editor of the True Colonist.

SIR, – Permit me through the medium of your independent Journal to give the public a further specimen of Justice ****** at Oatlands ; About a fortnight ago, he dined and spent the evening with our respected Chaplain, where I understand the wine was of the choicest description, and on his return to his rural retreat, one of his female servants who is subject to fits, fell down on the road that leads to his worship’s residence, two persons who happened to be travelling on that road, found this poor woman laying on the highway, and rendered her all the assistance they could, however, when the poor woman recovered her senses, she screamed out, and Charles Harrison, his worship’s butler came to know what was amiss with her, at the same moment his worship of Oatlands came up and ordered his faithful butler, to take one of the men into custody, and had him sent to gaol, being a convict, the other was a native youth named McCoy. Mr Whitford gave his horsewhip to Harrison and ordered him to beat McCoy, which Harrison did, the poor lad was beat to a degree that he could not reach his home or where he was travelling to, and was obliged to lay in the bush all night, where he was found the next morning by some shepherds, the poor lad was obliged to be conveyed into Oatlands next day in a cart, and placed under the hands of Doctor Park, and having his head greatly bruised and both his eyes entirely shut up for several days. This poor simple lad was billeted upon constable Samuel Smith, who was very kind and attentive to him, during his convalescence, and Doctor Park attended him, who is to paid by Harrison for his trouble. These are fine tricks played by the preserver of the peace at Oatlands. On Friday last, the Quarter Sessions was held at Oatlands, where his worship the Police Magistrate presided as Deputy Chairman, who with Messrs Anstey and Harrison, formed the bench, several unfortunate persons were convicted and sentenced by his worship of Oatlands, among the rest was placed at the bar, a person whose name is Pinnegar, who had been clerk of the public works of Oatlands, under the superintendence of Captain Peddie, and was also confidential clerk, cash and book-keeper, to the celebrated George Dudfield, upon whom Mr Pinnegar happened to forge several cheques and orders for sums of money to a considerable amount, and for which offence Mr Dudfield had Pinnegar committed to take his trial at the Quarter Sessions, he was accordingly put to the bar for trial, Mr Whitefoord pronounced the man Pinnegar guilty!! and passed sentence of transportation for life upon him beyond the high seas but at the same time informed him, that in consideration of the useful information which he made during his incarceration, that the bench would recommend him favourably to the government, and prevent him from being sent to a Penal Settlement. All this was done although the prosecutor Dudfield was in Hobart Town, what a farce to try, convict and sentence a man without any prosecutor, but there were very cogent reasons for all this, Pinnegar had been very useful to Mr Dudfield, in drawing up warrants of attorney, bills of exchange, and many other precious documents which could not well be entrusted to professional gentlemen, and particularly in one instance a warrant of attorney said to be executed in favour of Dudfield, by one Samuel Hall, the lime contractor for the public works at Oatlands, upon which judgment has been entered up, execution issued, and the poor man’s property sold by the Sheriff, although Hall most solemnly declares he never executed any such instrument, Pinnegar is the subscribing witness to it, and the matter is now subject of enquiry before the Supreme Court, Pinnegar must be treated kindly, and Mr Dudfield has declared he will not hurt the hair of Pinnegar’s head, and as a proof of the P.M.’s kind feelings towards Pinnegar he has an indulgence that no other person in Oatlands has ever experienced, he is allowed the use of pen, ink and paper, and every other comfort which he is able to procure, a servant to wait on him, clean his shoes, and brush his clothes &c, &c. However, all the kindness and good words which Mr W gave Pinnegar as passing sentence on him for life had not the desired effect on him. He said you may do as you think proper gentlemen, but I am not yet tried nor will submit to the sentence, after all this loss of time, Mr Whitefoord then asked Pinnegar if he had not pleaded guilt to the charge in the indictment, he replied in the negative, the chairman then enquired of the other Magistrates if Pinnegar had not pleaded guilty, they replied they thought so, but he obstinately denied the plea, and was remanded. Can you Mr Editor inform me whether or not, it will be legal to put Mr Pinnegar again upon trial for the same offence, for my own part I think he stands acquitted, having been put upon his trial, and no prosecutor having appeared against him entitled him to be discharged, how can the record of guilty made by the deputy clerk of the peace be entered in the record book, the fact is that Pinnegar is in the way of Dudfield at present and if he can be sent off without Dudfield appearing against him it will be well, then Mr D is still the friend of Pinnegar, Dudfield is well aware of Pinnegar’s abilities and how much he is in his power, Pinnegar was clerk of the public works at Oatlands, Dudfield did all the carting at a fixed price per day, and those returns and accounts were all made out by Pinnegar, and no doubt were never diminished in their aggregate sum, it is well known that Pinnegar lived at Dudfield’s hotel, and dressed more stylishly than any other person about Oatlands, and kept a lady in lodgings, how could this be done. He declared before the bench that Dudfield owed him a large sum of money, and that he had not defrauded Dudfield, how could a man placed as he was, had money due to him from Dudfield, that is easily accounted for, they divided the spoil, but Dudfield being an old hand at that, always takes the best part and leaves his partner in guilt and crime to live upon promises and perhaps get hanged, not the first.

When Dudfield first came to Oatlands he frequently went out to stock huts, concealing himself and listening to what was said by inmates, then made his communications to None so Dusty, and had several fined and imprisoned, by which means he ingraciated himself with that cunning *** ; but old Greynard now keeps his den very close. Your exposition on the Table Mountain affair has put him from prowling abroad, still he is at the bottom of all that is done, by his friend Dudfield.

The Editor of the Courier feels indignant at me, and speaks in no measured terms of slander and abuse of a tradesperson in Oatlands, in a late number of your journal, in which he calls the writer by several set names, such as fool, strange scribe, and says my nearest relations have long since discountenanced me, but what has that to do with the public? – surely that is not a sufficient reason for Magistrates to countenance the wicked practices of Dudfield, and a host of horse and cattle stealers; but the Editor must say something in favor, if possible, of his relations and supporters; but the facts are stubborn things, and speak for themselves. You have put an extinguisher on the slaughtering of the Table Mountain cattle – no cheap beef now sent to Mr Dudfield’s for sale ; some time ago it was common on a Sunday morning to see a cart load of beef for sale at his door. What will the mild, polished, and polite Editor of the Courier say to this? Can he or his supporters deny it – or can he or them charge me with anything dishonest? No – I defy them. I am an enemy to small thieves and also to great ones. My family quarrels have nothing to do with the public – they are quite uninteresting to it. Will your readers believe that some time ago John Weeding’s dogs killed three sheep belonging to None so Dusty, for which Mr Weeding paid him £7, but demanded the dead carcasses, None so Dusty would not let him have them, but sold the meat at 6d per lb to his stonemasons, by which he had double price for his sheep – was this honest? Can the sapient Editor of the Courier bring any such dishonest dealings against

JOSEPH SALMON

For the record, I think "None so Dusty" is Thomas Anstey, a wealthy landowner and former Magistrate himself.

I don't have anything else from Joseph at this stage (although most of these characters appear in the Supreme Court case In re Dudfield later that year, regarding Dudfield's eventual insolvency, as well as in a Tassie game called "Skulduggery: Forging for Fools"), but I would like to point out that Joseph was tragically killed in 1846 on the road from Green Ponds to Oatlands - the wheel of the wagon he was travelling with crushed his head.

I know: Ouch.

Bit of a strange way to go, I reckon - how does one's head get under one's wagon wheel for the crushing to occur? Well, I have a copy of the inquest, and it seems there were no witnesses, so we'll probably never know. The inquest simply concluded it was an accident. Oh, and incidentally, the name of the coroner presiding over the inquest?

John Whitefoord.