MISSIONARY EXPLORATIONS 689 



as soon as they understood that their produce would be carried 

 to the Thursday Island market in the mission lugger. 



All seemed to be going well when Mr. Hall, on i8th October, 

 1917, set out on a tour of inspection, with two black boys and three 

 horses. It is stated that on the night of i8th-i9th, four 

 ABORIGINES, Peter, Myall, Jimmy and Dick, KILLED MR. HALL 

 when he was asleep. Peter is said to have hacked his head off with 

 a tomahawk. 



On the night of 2oth October, MR. OWEN, who was asleep on 

 the mission verandah, was surprised by a party of eight, said to 

 include Peter, and SHOT through the right shoulder with a shot-gun 

 (afterwards identified as the one Mr. Hall had taken with him). 

 In spite of his wound, Mr. Owen grappled with his assailants and 

 threw two of them off the verandah. Mrs. Owen next appeared 

 upon the scene, with a gun, whereupon the natives fled. Mr. 

 Owen fainted from loss of blood, and was attended to by the 

 ladies, who barricaded the house. 



On the 2 ist, Mr. Hall's horse found its way to the mission and 

 an old gin appeared clad in Mr. Hall's blood-stained singlet. Next 

 day Peter and others appeared before the house, armed with 

 spears. When the women fired at them they decamped. 

 Eventually the two ladies and Mr. Owen reached Burketown by the 

 mission boat on 3rd November. Before they left the island they 

 had sent out native scouts to inquire into the fate of Mr. Hall. 



The police made investigations which resulted in the trial of 

 two parties of aborigines, before the Supreme Court at Townsville 

 on 6th March, 1918. Peter pleaded guilty to the murder of Mr. 

 Hall, and was sentenced to death, and the charge against the 

 three other natives above-named was withdrawn. Peter also 

 pleaded guilty to the charge of attempting to kill Mr. Owen, and 

 the jury brought in a verdict of not guilty in the case of seven 

 others charged with the crime. It is rumoured that Peter's 

 sentence was commuted to deportation to one of the State cattle 

 stations in the Peninsula. 



[The above particulars are mainly taken from the Sydney 

 Morning Herald of 6th and yth November, 1917, and 6th March, 

 1918, and the Queenslander of loth November, 1917.] 



It is asserted that Peter, a " civilised " native, was mortally 

 offended by the refusal of Mr. Hall to give him tobacco. Mr. 

 Hall was a conscientious and uncompromising opponent of the use 

 of tobacco. 



It is well known that most of the Torres Strait islands have 

 been overrun by Papuan tribes, who have gradually ousted the 

 Australian inhabitants. One important question arising out of 

 the Mornington Island murder is that of the race responsible for 

 it. On this point I consulted Mr. Hey, whose answer (i6th 

 January, 1920) was that the islanders are pure Australian aborigines, 



