constantly in danger. Mr Williams has left a wife and four children who reside with his father-in-law, Mr Sidwell, a publican at Goulburn, New South Wales.”
“The greatest excitement was caused in the town and district on Sunday morning last by the information that Mr Harry Williams, a partner in the Caledonia crushing machine and Samuel Blake, (better known as Sam the Blacksmith), had been murdered by the blacks and two other men, James Rolls and John Kenley, severely wounded. Within a mile of the Caledonia machine that morning. The intelligence unfortunately proved too true. Steps were immediately taken to organise a party to track the perpetrators of the outrage and early in the afternoon some 15 or 20 horsemen, hastily armed and equipped, were on the road to the scene of the tragedy, while others were converging from various parts of the district to the same locality. On the following morning, Mr Charters, the commissioner, issued a notification to the effect that the claims of all parties engaged in the pursuit of the murderers would be protected for one week. It appears that early on Sunday morning, large numbers of blacks were seen on a high hill at the back of the machine called One-Tree Hill, and that Williams, Sam Wright, Samuel Morris and two or three others went out to them for the purpose of an hour’s amicable intercourse. There was only one gun, and no other weapon of any other description among the party, and the gun was left behind a tree half a mile before they met the blacks. The blacks were distributed over the side of the hill, and when the party advanced, evinced, both by signs and words, every disposition to be friendly. ‘Budgery white fellow, budgeree blackfellow’ one fellow (now no more, I think) kept shouting, and came down the hill unarmed. ‘Budgery blackfellows’, responded the whites, by way of returning the compliment, and then a corroboree on a small scale was improvised by a few of the nearest blacks, and the example thus set was followed by Kenley and party attempting something of the same sort. Everything appeared to be going as ‘merrily as a marriage bell.’ Poor Williams took his shirt from inside his trousers to show he was unarmed, and went up to meet the dozen blacks who
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