Nicholas McDonald was born in Scotland and worked for the railways. He was also one of a group of young men who were referred to in the language of the day as "larrikins." They were a great nuisance to the sober citizens of Green Island but the penalty for larrikinism was not death at the time and the actions of the publican who killed him brought consequences.
The inhabitants of Green Island were thrown into a state of excitement on Saturday evening by the perpetration of what appears to have been a deliberate murder. It appears that a number of parties had been drinking at Patrick Long's Kaikorai Hotel during the evening. One of the men named McSweeney seems to have got much the worse of drink, and, at the request of his wife, another man named Nicholas McDonald endeavored to get him to go home. He got him outside, and immediately thereafter McDonald was struck and knocked down by a friend of Long's named Harry O'Kane, who then went inside the hotel. McDonald followed him and knocked at the door, trying to gain admittance. The report of a revolver was heard within a few minutes at the rear of the hotel, and immediately thereafter Long appeared with the weapon in his hand, and remarking to some one standing beside McDonald, "I will protect my premises, if no other man will," fired at McDonald, who fell and shortly expired. The bullet had penetrated the head just over the right eye. Long was arrested an hour afterwards by Constable Anderson. He denied having fired the shot, or having been outside his hotel that evening...An inquest was held upon the body yesterday afternoon. It is believed the deceased has two sisters about Invercargill. His sad end has caused quite a gloom over the district.
-Bruce Herald, 3/3/1874
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| "Who met an untimely end" Green Island Cemetery |
McDonald's killer, Patrick Long, was a 35 year old Irishman. He was charged with Willful Murder and appeared in the Dunedin Court on February 28.
The story which unfolded in the court was a simple one. McDonald and a friend were drinking on a Saturday night. They into Long's Kaikorai Hotel and asked for drinks. They were served but made a nuisance of themselves and so were thrown out of the bar. One of Long's friends then rushed out into the street and assaulted McDonald. The two young men weren't happy about the situation and began to beat at the hotel door with their fists - and then with lumps of rock, thrown from the front of the hotel. Then Long walked down the side of the hotel with a pistol in his hand and fired.
"That’s the way I’ll serve all such —— — as you, who destroy my property.’’ Long was reported as saying after firing the pistol.
The issue of larrikinism was raised at Long's trial during the examination of witness James Lowry, a fireman at the Green Island meat preserving works: "...did you ever hear of a harrow belonging to a Mr Johnson being pulled across the road one night by some of your acquaintances?"
" — No."
"Do you not know that the man keeps a loaded gun for fear of the Mandersons, the McLoughlins, and the Spences ?"
" — I beg you will excuse me."
"Well, for fear of the Green Island larrikins? Did you not know as a fact that Mr Allan’s buggy was thrown down one night and smashed to pieces by your brother and these other parties?"
" — No."
"Did you ever hear that they waylaid at night a man whom they mistook for Mr Allan, and very nearly killed him before they found out he was not Mr Allan?"
" — No."
"Did Allan ever tell you he keeps a loaded gun in his possession?"
" — I never spoke to him in my life."
"Would you be astonished to learn that he does keep a gun to shoot any person with who injures his property — especially the Green Island larrikins?"
" — He is a fool. (Laughter.) Nobody ever injured me."
"No, because you are a Spence, and are among the privileged class."
" — I am very happy to hear it." (Laughter.)
"I ask you again; Do you not know that Green Island is the most larrikin district in the Province?"
" — I can’t say that..."
Long's defence was that he had fired the shot from his pistol but that he did so to disperse the crowd in front of his hotel. The nature of the crowd and the nature of those Green Islanders described as larrikins was made plain to the jury, as was the sterling character, previously devoid of violence, of Mr Patrick Long. The jury, after two hours' deliberation, and having previously asked the judge about what leeway there was in their verdict, declared Long not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
Coming up for sentence, Long was asked if he had anything to say before sentence was passed. He thanked the jury for their "kind manner and patience" then went on to say: "The next what I shall say is, as my dying declaration — supposing I was on the scaffold, and the rope round my neck, and it was my last word...(His Honour: "No language like that should be used. The verdict does not entail that.")...I did not shoot at him with intent to kill, or at any other man with intent to kill. I shot over that crowd of people, in order to frighten them — in order that I might not be killed myself, and to disperse them. The malice that seems to be borne between me and that deceased man — that this Court is led to believe so — I never had any, and I don't think he had any occasion to bear malice to me."
Patrick Long was sentenced to five years' penal servitude.
The licence of the Kaikorai Hotel, sold by Long to a Mr James Hyndman was contested by the police when it was applied for under its new owner's name. Witnesses described it as a disgrace and the principle cause of the rowdyism of Green Island. A great deal of drunkenness and indecent exposure were caused by its patrons. (Indecent exposure at that time included public urination.) The licence was refused.
Refusal was not an insurmountable barrier to Mr Hyndman - he was in court before the end of 1874, charged with supplying liquor without a licence. A threat made outside the court before the trial to one of the prosecution witnesses was taken by the judge as an admission of guilt.
The Hotel was offered for sale early in 1875. The new owner, Lewis Marshall, was granted a liquor licence in June, 1875. Its next owner, a year later, had his application refused. The hotel's licence was granted or not through the years - it seems to have been trading in 1939.
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| Green Island Cemetery |
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