CLAIMS INNOCENCE OF ONE MURDER, guilty of another.This is the unusual, bizarre story of 2 cattle rustlers, a lunatic murdering police officer and a courtroom shooting with no gun.

CRIMINAL 1

The first of the two central men involved in this story is John Gofton. Unfortunately, finding information about Gofton was difficult before he turned up in South Australia. The only available information on this man was that he boarded a ship named Wave, bound for Sydney.This was in Van Diemen’s Land, Tasmania, in 1832.The next time he pops up is as a cattle rustler in the area named Black ForestBlack Forest is still the name of this suburb, even today.I will continue Gofton’s story a bit later.

CRIMINAL 2

The other main person involved in this story, is Joseph Stagg, Born in 1800 in Bristol.In January 1821, they found Joseph guilty of animal stealing offences.Then, in March, once again arrested for animal theft for stealing a sheep.The beast belonged to a man named William baker.They caught Stagg butchering the sheep and arrested him.Because it was his second charge, they tried him at Somerset in March 1821 and sentenced him to 7 years in Australia.On 22 April 1821, Stagg and 265 other convicts loaded aboard the ship, Lord Hungerford.They set sail for Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) under the command of. J Napier O’Brien. The ship arrived in Tasmania, on 26 December 1821.

RECEIVED A WHIPPING

On arrival, Joseph received an assignment to a new settler, Thomas Triffit.This occurred in a southern Tasmanian area named New Norfolk.Joseph repeatedly absconded over the next few years.He received a whipping every time he was captured and returned.Eventually, he was involved in the murder of the local flagellator.Some stories claimed Joseph and four other men burnt the flagellator to death in his bunk.This cannot be confirmed.Joseph again went on the run and somehow managed to make it to South Australia.Eventually hooking up with John Gofton and his rustling team.

WOODSIDE

In 1832, Settler Charles Newman, who was a farmer in the Adelaide hills in an area, now known as Woodside, Had a knock at his farmhouse door.

On opening the door, Newman met two men who introduced themselves as John Gofton and Joseph Stag.

The men claimed they were horsemen who had lost their rides on a trip from Mount Crawford to Adelaide.

It was not unusual for isolated properties to put up travellers for a night or two, in these early days.

RUSTLING GANG

These two men asked for overnight accommodation and food.Newman obliged and fed the two men and allowed them to sleep in his makeshift barn overnight.The following day, the men were gone.Newman later discovered these two men were two cattle rustlers who were currently sought after by the police. It seems that they would visit these remote farms. Stay the night and make off with any unguarded animals they could get their hands on.

LOCATE THE GANG

For a long time, the police had been trying to locate the headquarters of Gofton’s rustling gang. Eventually, Constable Henry Alford received information.CLAIMS INNOCENCE OF ONE MURDERThe information was that the crew was working in a thick bush area, still known as the Black Forest.This area is halfway between Adelaide and the beachside suburb of Glenelg.

SNUCK IN AT NIGHT TIME

Alford and a junior officer snuck into the area at night time on foot, leading the horses by their bridles; They headed in thru the thick scrub.Here they observed the glow of fires and black shadows moving around. Then, eventually,