JOHN MARSHALL - HORSE THIEF
Crikey! A horse thief in the family! You can never be sure what turns up when you poke your nose into
the family's history; as I soon found out
when I delved into the life and times of my great grandparents John and Betsy
Marshall, circa 1869, and found a young Scottish lass from a law abiding
Protestant family wed to the delinquent son of convict parents.
I’ve written
earlier stories about John’s parents Catherine Spalding, the Irish convict’s
daughter, and Samuel Marshall the convict turned explorer, Catholic by
religion, Australian residents by force and making the best of a tough life in
a raw new country.
Betsy’s
parents Duncan and Ann Cumming by contrast had arrived in Sydney as free
settlers from Culnakirk in the Scottish highlands of Inverness. They spoke only the Gaelic and brought with
them the tradition and strong clan ethics of their homeland. Betsy was only six years old when she and her
brothers and sisters arrived in Patricks Plain a farming area in New South
Wale’s Hunter Valley.
Within twelve
years her mother would be dead, her older brothers and sister married and her
father and kin resettled in the lush farming area of Scone some 85 miles
distant from Patricks Plain; a settlement which in time to come would be known
as Singleton.
…
CULNAKIRK Scotland
In Scotland’s Glen Urquhart valley, within sight of Loch Ness.
'
If young Betsy could tell us now what she best remembered of her home land
she would probably volunteer her grandmother and cousins left behind in the
green tree studded hills of Culnakirk where the Cumming family could trace
their family history back many centuries to a time long before the English to
the south had taken hold of their country.
If her grandmother, the family’s matriarch Isabella Cumming nee Fraser,
still alive in 1855 when her son and his brood left for the great unknown land
to the south, was asked to comment on their departure she would no doubt voice
her sorrow that her beloved Duncan and her precious grand children were leaving
her side, abandoning their birthright and would never again see the land of
their forebears.
And the small
village of Culnakirk itself, no more than five resident families one of them
Duncan’s brother John, all eking a precarious living from their small holdings,
would join the mourning and wailing of the countless other towns and farms
throughout Scotland, struggling to come to grips with the steady migration of
their brethren to foreign parts.
When the
Cumming family, father Duncan, mother Ann and their children, Alexander,
Donald, Duncan, Eliza, Hugh, baby John and 6 year old Elizabeth boarded the
small vessel Anna, you could be sure they felt within their hearts the mournful
sound of the bagpipes farewelling them reluctantly yet resolutely on their way.
Ahead lay a
long and perilous sea voyage and an unsure future. For young Betsy’s brothers and sisters the
gods of fortune and favour would shine bright, they would embrace their new
land, and carve a happy future. Betsy
though would not be quite so fortunate.
…
BOWMANS CREEK
In the Hunter Valley of New South Wales-not all that far from Patricks Plain and Scone
Patriarch Samuel Marshall’s grave stone Branxton
Cemetery.
The feisty and capable Catherine Spalding’s marriage to convict Samuel
Marshall heralded the start of a welcome new life for this Sydney town born
daughter of an Irish Convict. In her
short life she had known hunger, desperation and drudgery as her parents, Irish
born Bryan and Mary fell in and out of favour with the law as often as Bryan could
dance a drunken jig. More times than most he was granted his freedom only to
have it swiftly rescinded.
As early as 1804 he had been sentenced to hard labour in the coal fields
following the short lived rebellion at Rouse Hill. As a child young Catherine had sat in a court
of law determining the theft of sheep as her parents and brother’s guilt was
debated, had seen her step sister’s marriage to a much older man end in murder
with 10 year old Catherine herself a witness to the brutal crime. As a 12 year old she had worked as a servant
in grand houses. There wasn’t much of
Sydney Towns debauched early days that the young Catherine hadn’t witnessed
firsthand.
And then aged
17 she met the much older Samuel Marshall; they married and reared a family creating
a reasonably decent life style. The Marshall
family, and Patriarch, Samuel himself weren’t exactly squeaky clean in their
dealings with the law but they raised six children, all of them relatively law
abiding…except for one.
And he was
the one who married Betsy Cumming.
…
A MARRIAGE CURIOUSLY IGNORED
March 24th 1869 Gowrie, Patricks Plain–
Elizabeth Cumings to John Marshall
Witnessed by Elizabeth Austin and John Lonsdale
Ceremony performed at Gowrie Church of Scotland.
Gowrie is now part of the town of Singleton
The official entry of the young couple’s marriage began
a lifetime of misspelling for Betsy Cumming and a great deal of guesswork by
family historians. Officially described
as being unable to read or write they signed the certificate with two X’s.
But was the ceremony attended by members of both
families? Did the widowed Duncan Cumming
and his eldest son Alexander mingle politely with the Marshall Clan? Catherine Marshall’s husband Samuel had been
dead the past nine years and his Last Will and Testament had mentioned all his
sons bar one, the problem child John.
A later family tree details all the Marshall children
and their marriages, with four of them marrying into the same family named
Balls, and one to a lady named Mary Freestone, but for John, the middle child,
he is described as single, with nary a wife to his name.
Was this because he married out of the Catholic
church, was it perhaps an oversight of a misinformed historian, or was it
because John Marshall was simply too wayward to include him in an official
gathering of the Marshall clan?
But in 1869 John did marry Betsy in her church, and in
the vicinity of Patricks Plain where many of her Cumming family still resided. Duncan her father was still alive then, so
too her brothers Alexander, Donald, Hugh and John. It is difficult to
understand though why Duncan Cumming didn’t object to the marriage; Son in law John
Marshall had after all run afoul of the law many times over.
So much so that his own mother, Catherine Marshall had
been forced to publish in a local paper a warning to anyone foolish enough to deal with her son…
I rather think young John over the years had proved to
be quite a handful.
…
Samuel
Marshall, John’s father appeared by all accounts to be a strict disciplinarian and
tough in business. An early pioneer in
the Patrick's Plain district and an outstanding horseman he was transported to
Sydney on the vessel Ocean in 1816 aged 17 years, obtained his freedom in 1828, married 18 year old Catherine Spaulding in
the Christ Church Cathedral Newcastle in 1832,
granted 50 acres of land in the Northumberland county in 1838, acquired the Shamrock Inn 1840, subscribed to
the Irish Relief Fund in 1846, was assigned numerous convict servants over the
years to work his various properties, died in 1860 at the age of 60 years and left a sizable estate to his wife and
sons, excepting by omission one son, John.
Father Samuel was
also cited on numerous occasions for assaulting employees, along with some
questionable dealings at the local pound of which he was at one time in
charge. In an age when women were
expected to remain in the confines of the house his wife Catherine proved the
exception. Feisty and handy with a rifle
she brooked no nonsense and when Samuel died Catherine took over the running of
his affairs.
A GLIMPSE OF JOHN’S CRIMES.
There were other unrelated John Marshall's alive in New
South Wales at the same time as our lad, one or two also in trouble with the
law and another clearly a toff whose crimes seemed to lean to tax evasion and
the like. It wasn’t all that difficult
to isolate the crimes of our family renegade from the others. For a start he operated mainly in his own
back yard.
That son John
was a constant thorn in his mother’s side was obvious. These are just a few random examples of his
dealings with the law…no doubt there were other misdemeanours that didn’t reach
the pages of the Maitland Mercury.
1864: WEST
MAITLAND POLICE COURT JOHN MARSHALL IN CUSTODY ON REMAND CHARGED WITH HORSE
STEALING.
1865: WEST MAITLAND CIRCUIT CRIMINAL COURT JOHN
MARSHALL FOR CATTLE STEALING REMANDED. LATER FOUND GUILTY AND SENTENCED TO 6
MONTHS IMPRISONMENT.
1869 : POLICE COURT ON CHARGE OF CATTLE
STEALING, JOHN MARSHALL AND WILLIAM MARSHALL OF BOWMANS CREEK. REMANDED FOR
SENTENCING.
1876: ROMA QLD.
JOHN MARSHALL APPREHENDED WITH TWO OTHERS DRIVING STOLEN STOCK FROM
ROMA. COMMITTED FOR TRIAL TO NARRABRI
NSW WHERE THE THEFT TOOK PLACE.
1891:
NARRABRI. JOHN MARSHALL AND SONS
JOHN JNR AND WILLIAM CHARGED WITH STEALING CATTLE. ELDEST DEFENDANT ASKED FOR
BAIL REFUSED BY MAGISTRATE.
1893: NARRABRI QUARTER SESSIONS JOHN MARSHALL
(FATHER OR SON?) CHARGED THEFT OF WATCH AND ILLEGALLY USING A HORSE. ..
SENTENCED TO 2 YEARS HARD LABOUR.
A clear indication
that John Marshall and cattle duffing went hand in hand: But far worse was to come…
MARRIAGE THEN JAIL
Maitland Jail.
Young Betsy had barely a month to enjoy married life
before husband John is carted off to jail on the usual charge of stealing
cattle.
SINGLETON.
April 1869.
Police Court,
Tuesday, 13th. Cattle Stealing.-John Marshall and William Marshall, of Bowman's
Creek, were
charged with
stealing a cow and a heifer, the property of Thomas Spencer, of Rouchel Vale.
Evidence is given by the arresting policemen and the
two prisoners. Brothers John and William
Marshall are committed for trial in the next Singleton Quarters Sessions, with
bail allowed to each prisoner in the sum of £80.
SINGLETON QUARTER SESSIONS. June 1869
Tuesday, the 15th Instant
before his Honor Judge Dowling. NEW MAGISTRATE. Mr. Ralph Millar, of Corinda, is
duly sworn and John Marshall andWilliam Marshall are indicted for stealing two
bulls, two cows, and two heifers, the property of Thomas Spencer at Dry Creek, on the 2nd April last. The
prisoners plead not guilty, and are defended by Mr. Wisdom, instructed by Mr.
Thompson.
After a great
deal of evidence the Crown Prosecutor
made his reply, and then his Honour summed up and the jury retired.
Inexplicably
the jury, after only half an hour returned a verdict of not guilty and John was
able to return home to his young bride: Which was just as well because around
that time their first baby, John Marshall Junior was conceived… a son who in time
will take after his father in more ways than one.
VIRTUALLY JOHN MARSHALL’S BACKYARD
This
map shows only too clearly the general area covered by John Marshall in his
unlawful ventures. Gowrie was once
Patricks Plain and is now known as Singleton.
Black Creek and Bowman’s Creek, where Betsy lived near her mother in law
Catherine while husband John was in jail, is in the vicinity of
Goorangoola. Anvil Creek is where his
father Samuel bought the Shamrock Inn.
Scone and Rouchel Brook the towns where the Cumming father and sons
settled after leaving Patrick's Plain.
And Narrabri, a fair distance away is where John Marshall and Betsy
finally moved with their eight children… which should perhaps have been nine.
…
A TRAGEDY UNFOLDING
It seemed not even a newborn son
could curb the activities of a prolific thief and it’s not long before John
Marshall again finds himself in trouble with the law.
SCONE. QUARTER SESSIONS, MARCH 3, 1870.
(Before
His Honor Judge Dowling ) Barristers present: Mr Manning, Crown Prosecutor, and
Mr Pilcher. Attorneys:Messrs. Thompson, Abbott and Quaiffe.
John Marshall
and John
Cummin appeared in custody, charged with having
stolen
a steer, the property of Donald Cameron of Rouchel
Brook.
It would seem John Marshall had a fixation on purloining
other people’s stock from the general area of Goorangoola and nearby Rouchel
Brook, which in itself isn’t surprising; Betsy’s brothers have purchased
holdings there, so too his own brothers and sisters. He knows that part of the
world very well indeed.
Perhaps the Judge is aware of these family
connections and is in sympathy with Betsy’s kin at least; or perhaps he was
just having a difficult day because he delivers a similarly harsh sentence to
John Marshall that he had already given to a prisoner in an earlier case.
In his sentencing the Judge states that the
prisoner Marshall, “who has the
reputation of being a noted cattle stealer,” is found guilty and sentences
him to three years imprisonment with hard labour.
You can almost hear
the sharp intake of breath from the courtroom.
However
his alleged accomplice John Cummins is acquitted. (Just who Cummins is we don’t know; however there was a Cummins family
living for a time at Patricks Plain.)
But for the purpose of this
story it is with this 3 year long jail sentence that the scene is set for a
tragic chain of events that will not only involve his young wife but cause
further trouble with the law for her husband as well.
THREE YEARS LATER
BETSY AND AN UNWELCOME PREGNANCY
Maitland Mercury: On the 8th February 1873
an inquest into the death of a newborn baby was held before the Coroner Dr
Glennie at the Northumberland Hotel in George Street, Singleton and adjourned to
Tuesday the 11th for deliberation.
This news item is
our first hint that Betsy Marshall has suffered a grave injustice. Piecing together events that occurred, both
prior to and following John Marshall’s release from jail relies mainly on
conjecture. No diaries or journal
entries kept by the largely illiterate couple to help explain or even deny what
transpired or even pre-empted the events of a certain night in February 1873.
With her husband incarcerated presumably in Maitland’s
jail one would think either or both families, Cumming and Marshall would step
in to protect her and the infant son John, named after his father. But Betsy stayed
on at the Goorangoola property living in fairly basic housing with her mother
in law Catherine in a similar building nearby.
Though John had been sentenced on March 3rd 1870 to 3 years
hard labour it appeared he had obtained early release in September of 1872.
THE
INQUEST 1873
A
newborn female child has died and rumour and innuendo abound in this small
community suggesting it was caused by violence.
An inquest into the death is brought before the Coroner, Dr Glennie on
the 8th February 1873 and no doubt without a suitable court house
available it is held in Singleton’s Northumberland Hotel.
Senior
Sergeant DuVernet presents his deposition: I am a senior sergeant of police stationed at
Singleton; in consequence of certain information I received I proceeded
yesterday afternoon the 7th instant with Constable Lott to the head
of Bowman’s Creek and went to John Marshall’s residence. I saw Elizabeth Marshall his wife.
I told her I had come to make inquiry with regard to
the birth of a child. She replied she
had a child and that it died soon after its birth and that she had buried
it. She showed me the place where it was
buried about 150 yards from the house, buried under some slabs in a soap box.
I opened the box and found the female child. (Which
incidentally was then viewed by the jury.)
It was lying on its back with the arms crossed and much
discoloured. I could see no marks of
violence,
I took a statement from the mother and brought the
body of the child into Singleton in the box in which the child was buried.
Catherine
Marshall deposed: I reside at
Bowman’s Creek; I am the mother of John Marshall. On Tuesday evening last my son’s wife,
Elizabeth Marshall complained of being ill.
She went to bed at the usual time.
Sometime during the night my son came to me and said his wife was very
bad. He thought from the fright of a
snake she had trod on in the afternoon.
She was suffering from cramps. I
went over to my sons place; I found she was in labour.
I thought she
was going to have a miscarriage, I did not think she was at her full time. The child was born within hour after I
arrived. It was a female child,
apparently come to the full time, appeared to be healthy, and after washing
and dressing the child I took it home to my place which is about fifty yards
from my son’s and gave it some milk and water and sugar.
I then took it back to its mother and told her to take
it into bed which she did and I went home.
I shortly after wards heard the
child crying and I went over and brought it back with me, I then gave it a
little more food, and laid it down on my own bed, the child was afterwards sick
more than once. I took it up and cleaned its mouth, I then took the child back
to its mother at daylight, about half an hour afterwards I heard the mother
calling, I went to her, and she said she thought the child was choking or being
suffocated, she had it lying on its face across her lap, trying to get it to go
to sleep, I took it, and tried to give it more food, but it would scarcely take
any, about an hour afterwards I heard the child was dead, and I went and found
it was the case.
I brought it over to my place, and examined
it to see if there were any marks of violence on it, the mother came and
stopped at my place on Wednesday evening, and the next day she took the child
away and buried it, my son had been away more than two years, and returned
home on the 23rd September last.
Dr Newton deposed: I am a duly qualified medical practitioner of
New South Wales, on the 8th instant I made a post-mortem examination of the
body of the female child unnamed, there were no external evidences of violence
on the body , on removing the scalp, I found a large effusion of blood over the
left parietal bone, due to pressure during its birth, the brain, the heart and
lungs were healthy, the stomach contained a small quantity of mucus, and was
perfectly healthy The Uvei and intestines were healthy There were no indications
anywhere of the said child having died from violence or poisoning.
The
statement made by the mother of the child before senior-sergeant Du Vernet and
referred to in the deposition of that officer was as follows –
Elizabeth Marshall states: I am the wife of John Marshall,
of Bowman's Creek, labourer, on Tuesday night last, the 4th instant, I
was delivered of a female child, it was as far as I know about eleven or twelve
o'clock at night when it was born alive and continued alive for about an hour
or an hour and a half afterwards, it was born in a hut, just above my
mother-in-law's hut, my husband and mother-in-law were present when the
child was born, my mother-in-law took it from me, and brought it into her
own hut, to wash it and give it some drink, the child after birth looked slimy,
and used to get black in the face, its sides also were black, the child was
like choking and looked weakly and ill.
There was no one in the humpy but myself when
it died; my husband did not have the child in his hands that I am aware of,
I never told anyone that I was in the family way until I got bad with labor
pains. I never mentioned to my mother in law that I was pregnant. About
a month since I was bit by a black snake , I got ammonia from a man
named Thomas Eather, who lives close by, I took the ammonia inwardly and
applied externally , I also took brandy, the body now produced is the dead body
of my child, I buried it myself
yesterday evening (the 6th instant), the child had been dead about
thirty hours when I buried it.
The initial Inquest was then
adjourned until Tuesday the 11th when the jury returned a verdict
that a child had died from natural causes.
…
The only lingering evidence that a child had existed rests with its
Birth registration…
1873 MARSHALL UNNAMED - PARENTS JOHN & ELIZABETH PATRICK'S PLAIN.
…
All
in all a harrowing experience for Betsy Marshall. The jury heard the above evidence and
returned a death from natural cause verdict.
But are there holes in Betsy and Catherine’s story? Why the emphasis by
both Catherine and Elizabeth that no violence had occurred, or that John
Marshall had at any time handled the infant? And the mention of a black snake
appears to hover between a month before
and that very afternoon. Why was no
evidence given by John Marshall?
Perhaps
we can make an educated guess from the safe distance of a hundred and more
years when we read what transpired immediately before that Singleton Inquest…
and shortly after the birth and death of the baby.
A HUSBAND’S FURY
SINGLETON POLICE COURT, TUESDAY, 7TH
FEBRUARY, 1873. (Before Messrs. W. C Browne and George Jarman )
VIOLENT ASSAULT. John Marshall, in custody, was
charged with having committed a violent assault on Thomas Eather. Mr A J Gould
appeared for complainant Constable Malarkey proved the arrest of the prisoner,
by virtue of a warrant signed by W C Browne, JP.
Thomas Eather deposed: The assault took place on Wednesday morning last, the 5th instant,
about 5 o clock, at Goorangoola, the first words I heard defendant speak to me
were ' Get up you b----- w----- it is you I want and no one else," I said
“All right, I will get up if you will
wait a bit; I put on my clothes, and no sooner had I got outside in the
verandah when prisoner hit me and I then hit him, and we both fell to the
ground , prisoner got up, and directly I was on my legs he kicked me on various
parts of the body; I got up and ran for a stick to defend myself, as I was too
weak from the severe kicks received from prisoner; prisoner took the stick from me, when I got another one;
prisoner then ran away.
I told you if you did not go away I would knock your brains out with a
pole, when I got it; as soon as you went away, I went inside and laid on the
bed, I did not abuse you it all.
Dr Glennie gave evidence that he had examined complainant and found bruises where
he had been kicked, which proved the injuries inflicted to have been caused with
considerable violence.
The prisoner was convicted of having committed a most unwarrantable and
violent assault, and fined in the sum of £5, to include £1 1s. expenses for a
medical witness, £1 Is professional and 5s. 6d. court costs in default, two
months imprisonment in Maitland gaol.
…
The
assault charge and subsequent court hearing explains why John Marshall wasn’t
present to give evidence at the Inquest.
It also suggests that Betsy’s husband had a fair idea of the identity of
the man who made her pregnant. We are left to mull over the curious wording of
some of the witness statements. The
fact that Betsy’s mother in law claimed to know nothing of the pregnancy, Betsy
stressing her husband had not handled the infant; The varying timetable for the
snake bite or scare; The fact that Betsy was given ammonia and took it both
internally and externally… and of course the naming of Thomas Eather.
What
the inquest doesn’t spell out is the truth behind the death of the unnamed
infant.
…
A YEAR LATER
CONTINUING VENDETTA AGAINST THOMAS EATHER
John
avoids gaol on the 1873 assault charge and for a while it appears he has been
trying very hard to keep out of trouble; But understandably the travails of Betsy and
the circumstances of her baby’s birth and death are printed indelibly on his
mind. A year passes and with Eather
living close by, John Marshall is no doubt just biding his time…
The
residents of Goorangoola, lulled by the passing 12 months comparative calm are
reported in the local paper as “flattering
themselves” that cattle stealing had been done away with in the district… but
they spoke too soon.
On
the 29th January 1874 local postman Thomas Eather arrived home at
his property at Campbells Creek to find his cow paddocks empty. The postman’s job back in those days involved
days away on horseback and was a much sought after position with an average
remuneration of £30 per annum. In fact
Betsy’s brother Duncan had secured the Rouchel Creek job of delivering mail
about this same time that Eather was covering the Branxton and Goorangoola mail
run.
Riding
through his paddocks Thomas Eather is mightily puzzled that his herd of 21 cows
are nowhere to be seen. The paddock
gates were still secured, the fencing untouched.
Eather
sets out to canvass his neighbours. Later it is reported in Maitland newspapers
that the postman had received a tip off from an unnamed informant and as a
result set off to Goorangoola and the Marshall property; where surprisingly for
him the cattle were not to be seen.
Finally
he locates the missing stock milling about on land adjacent to the property of
Mr Francis Ball who claims no knowledge of how they got there.
With
no proof the cattle had been stolen Eather could only move the beasts back to
his property.
Bowman’s Creek of course is where John Marshall
lives with his wife and son and mother Catherine, and Francis Ball is no doubt
kin by marriage to various Marshall brothers and sisters who married into the Balls
family.
…
All
is quiet again until a week later, on the 5th February John Marshall
is again arrested on a warrant to show cause why he should not be bound over to
keep the peace towards Thomas Eather.
It
seems Eather and Marshall met head on at Bowman’s Creek and predictably John
Marshall threatened to knock Eather’s
teeth down his throat and in the court’s words jump on him. Eather further alleges with a touch of bravado that
Marshall only threatens, uses filthy
language and causes assault when he has a mob around him and would have
done so on this occasion had his brother Samuel Marshall not stepped in and
stopped him.
Following
advice that a similar assault charge had been handed down on Marshall in
February of the previous year with a default prison sentence then of 2 months,
the defendant John Marshall is then summarily bound over to keep the peace with
sureties of £80 in default imprisonment in Maitland gaol for six months unless
in the meantime such sureties be found.
…
AND WHAT OF BETSY THRU ALL THIS
Apart
from her appearance at the Inquest, Elizabeth Marshall is never mentioned in
newspaper reports concerning her husband’s crimes.
It
would be easy to assume that John Marshal was a tough young hooligan whose
manhood had been threatened and insulted by his wife’s public exposure: Easy too to imagine Betsy as a cringing timid
young wife fearful of his rage.
Of
course John would have been enraged, and yes Betsy, young, alone and knowing
full well the shame of an illegitimate baby would have hidden her pregnancy for
as long as she could. And I’ve no doubt
the person responsible for her condition would have done anything to remove the
evidence. Even suggesting and providing
the ammonia. Remember a tearful Betsy
describing she took the potion both internally and externally.
But
the proof of John and Betsy’s marriage vows and the strength of their
commitment to each other is all too evident in the seven children that arrived
in the years that followed that dreadful night in 1873.
Betsy
and John Marshall’s family steadily grew to include another 7 children…
1870
JOHN BORN PATRICKS PLAIN
1873
UNNAMED CHILD BORN DIED PATRICKS PLAIN (GOORANGALLA)
1874
WILLIAM BORN MUSWELLBROOK
1876
HELEN BORN PATRICKS PLAIN
1878
ANNIE BORN PATRICKS PLAIN
1880
ISABELLA (BELLA) BORN PATRICKS PLAIN (named after Betsy’s grandmother Isabella)
1883
CHARLES BORN NARRABRI
1886
SAMUEL BORN NARRABRI
1889
DUNCAN BORN NARRABRI
We shouldn’t consider as gospel the births officially
recorded as occurring at Patrick's Plain; remember this settlement soon became
Singleton but doubtless was for a number of years the official records centre
of a vast community of smaller hamlets.
And
yes it would also be foolish to imagine John, as his young family grew, turning
over a new squeaky clean leaf.
NARRABRI
Just
three years after my grandmother, Bella, was born, the Marshall family moved
some 800 kilometres away to the small town of Narrabri in the far west of New
South Wales. A small but thriving
settlement numbering 1,000 people and on the cattle trails to the west and north
across the border to Queensland; the town would be connected to the railway
line shortly after the Marshalls arrived.
Not a
great deal is known about their time in Narrabri apart from a newspaper clip shown
below which appeared in the Singleton Argus of July 4, 1891. ….
ALLEGED CATTLE STEALING CAMP
A NARRABRI SENSATION
John
Marshall sen., John Marshall jnr., and William Marshall, father and sons were
on Wednesday charged at the police court with stealing three head of cattle,
the property of Mr. W. F. Buchanan of Killarney and were remanded for eight
days on the application of Inspector Smith.
The eldest defendant asked for bail but the police magistrate refused.
The case is causing a sensation as it is understood to be a raid on an old
cattle stealing camp.
The end
result of the police investigation and subsequent court hearing came as a
complete surprise: Just 6 days later,
after being held in custody all that time with the newspaper headlines
screaming ‘sensational cattle stealing
charge’, the defendants were brought before the Bench …and without further
ado discharged.
Lack
of evidence; strong alibis; who knows.
The three, father and two sons may even have been innocent.
…
THEIR LAST YEARS
It is doubtful the Marshall’s stayed much longer than 1891
in the far western town of Narrabri.
At the time of
the Narrabri proceedings my grandmother, Betsy’s 6th child and third
and last daughter Isabella was just 11 years old. Bella will eventually move to the town of
Hillgrove, a mining area where she will find employment as a hotel house
maid. She will meet her husband Charles
Brown there and marry him on his return from the Boer War.
Her father, John Marshall the delinquent son and horse
thief would die in Maitland in 1917… he had survived his own mother Catherine,
the convict’s daughter by a mere 12 years.
The widowed Betsy
will live on until 1925 when she is buried in the cemetery at the Sydney suburb
of Ryde where her youngest daughter Bella Brown and her husband Charles lived
with their children, one of which was my father Guy Francis Geoffrey Brown.
And when 75 year old Betsy Marshall was buried and it
was necessary to name her parents for inclusion in the death certificate, the
one man who had been ever present in her mother’s family, and the one Bella
Brown best remembered, was mistakenly named as Betsy’s father…. Not Duncan
Cumming who died in Scone in 1875 - but her eldest brother Alexander Cumming,
her eldest sibling by 16 years, who lived in Rouchel Brook with his wife and family
until his death in 1920 at the grand age
of 90 years.
___________
Robyn Mortimer
© 2015
Other stories about my long ago ancestors… the Browns,
Cumming and Marshalls.
Click on the title to view.
Click on the title to view.
