Captured: Portraits of Crime 1870-1930 - Flipbook - Page 25
Carl’s crew kidnapped over seventy people from places like Malakula and
Solomon Islands. At Buka Passage between the islands of Bougainville and Buka,
eighty-five men were hauled on board. On the evening of 14 September 1871, Buka men
broke up their bunks and tried to force open the hold hatch. “Shoot them ... shoot
every one of them”, ordered Dr Murray. Murray and his crew fired their rifles and
revolvers down into the hold. In the morning, some seventy dead and wounded men were
retrieved and thrown overboard. With hands and feet bound, the wounded were left to
drown while other captives jumped overboard and swam ashore.
Carl continued on to Epi Island with the remaining captives who were forced to
clean and white-wash the ship’s hold in an attempt to eradicate all traces of the
crime. Only bullet holes remained. The ship then commenced a second voyage of labour
recruitment, but this time, Dr Murray’s behaviour turned erratic. The brig returned
to Levuka on 18 April 1872 and Dr Murray spent a week convalescing before going to
stay with the British Consul. There, he accused ship master Armstrong, second mate
Dowden and crewman McCarthy of trying to poison him, and of committing the atrocities
on board the ship. Carl was detained by HMS Cossack and a court martial was held.
Armstrong and seven crew men were sent to Sydney for trial. Dr Murray turned Queen’s
evidence and escaped conviction. Judge Fawcett remarked that it was “a stain that the
ringleader of all these atrocities ... should escape”. Murray’s own father publicly
denounced him and declared that if any of the murderers should hang for their crimes,
his son should be first. Newspapers called Murray an ‘arch murderer’ and ‘Dr Judas’.
Armstrong and Dowden were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. This was
commuted to life with three years in leg irons. The remaining four offenders were
sentenced to two years in gaol for assault.
Armstrong was released from gaol on 10 April 1881 after serving nine years
of his sentence. Dowden was transferred to Parramatta Hospital for the Insane on
10 April 1878 suffering from melancholia. He told the Medical Superintendent that
when he embarked on Carl he had no knowledge of the purpose of the voyage and had
unwittingly become involved with the acts of evil men. He was the youngest of all
of those convicted and had lost all hope of freedom. He felt harshly treated as
his fellow prisoners — including ship master Armstrong — had been released early.
In June 1881 Dowden’s sentence was commuted, and he was discharged from hospital
on 13 August. He immediately boarded a ship and returned to his American homeland.
Dr Murray was struck off the medical and dentist’s registers and his wife and
children moved to England without him. His final resting place is unknown. Stories
about Murray’s fate claim he committed suicide or went to the United States. Others
tell of how he returned to Fiji, renounced his sins and married a local girl. Carl
was overhauled and embarked on a handful of voyages before being abandoned at Bluff
Harbour, New Zealand, in 1874 after striking rocks.
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