James Martin

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1850, 12 February: Ticket of Leave revoked years (see Libraries Tasmania site for this and following entries). 1850, 18 October: Ticket of Leave restored. 1854, 5 September: Being drunk in a public place – 6 weeks’ hard labour. 1857, 16 June: Admitted to Hobart Hospital. 1857, 22 June: James Martin died in Hobart Hospital.

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1846, 16 February: James Martin – drunk and out after hours – 3 months’ hard labour (see Libraries Tasmania site for this and all following entries, including his date and place of death, unless otherwise cited). 1846, 21 July: Drunk and insolent – 14 days’ hard labour. 1846 Muster: James Martin, 37, (having been sentenced in Sydney in 1839 to 7 years) is listed as having come to Tasmania in 1845 [incorrect; it was 1844]; he is assigned to a Probation Gang (see NSW and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806-1849; Tasmania, Ledger Returns A-R 1846). 1847, 3 May: Granted a Ticket of Leave. 1849: James Martin, 40, who came to Tasmania from Norfolk Island, having been sentenced in Sydney in 1839 to 7 years, is listed as a free man (see NSW and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806-1849; Tasmania, Ledger Returns 1849).

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1844: James MARTIN was admitted to Darlinghurst Jail; 39, born 1805 (see NSW Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930; Description Book, Darlinghurst, 1841-1849). 1844, 28 September: Transfer to VDL – Governor George Gipps authorises James Martin’s transfer to VDL. His letter to the Colonial Secretary’s Office reads, in part: “Whereas the four men named… who were transported to New South Wales in the ships mentioned opposite to their respective names, having become approvers in various trials before the Supreme Criminal Court Sydney, it has been considered expedient to transfer them to Van Diemen’s Land… 1. James Martin, ‘Norfolk’; 2. Robert Malcolm, ‘Lloyds’; 3. John Phelps, ‘Emma Eugenia’; 4. John Hall, ‘John Barry’” (see NSW, Australia, Convict Registers of Conditional and Absolute Pardons, 1788-1870; Application, ALL). 1844, 14 October: Arrived in VDL, along with Robert Malcolm [co-approver in the Noble murder trial, May 1844], per Waterlily from Sydney (see NSW and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806-1849; Tasmania, List of convicts (incomplete) 1808-1849; and Libraries Tasmania, Conduct Registers of Male Convicts arriving under the Assignment System on Non-Convict Ships and on Strength in Nov 1844; (CON35) 01 Jan 1844; 31 Dec 1844; CON35-1-2).

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The Guardian then outlined each man's criminal history: GEORGE VIGORS arrived in the colony in the ship Florentia, 3rd January, 1828, having been convicted and sentenced to seven years transportation, for stealing a watch and shoes, at the Dover Assizes, 13th March, 1826. Punishments in the colony. 1828 — March 7th, fifty lashes for drunkenness; May 10th, one hundred lashes for absconding and stealing boots and shoes; July 12th, three months in an iron gang for absconding; August 14th, fifty lashes for absconding. 1829. — January 13th, three years extension of original sentence for robbery; January 27th, twenty-five lashes for absconding; June 22nd, fifty lashes for being illegally at large; October 12th, six months in irons for forging an order and uttering the same; November 23rd, fifty lashes for absconding. 1830. — April 12th, fifty lashes for absconding. 1831. — May 21st, three days in the cells for being out after hours ; May 31st, twenty-five lashes for neglect of work; July 30th, six months in an iron gang for absconding ; October 29th, one hundred lashes for absconding and making away with a government blanket; December 17th, seventy-five lashes for running away. 1832.— January 27th, fifteen lashes for absconding ; February 21st, thirty-five lashes for making away with his leg irons ; March 21st, fifty lashes for absconding; April 14th, fifty lashes for absconding ; May 10th, thirty-six lashes for absconding; November 1st, tried at the Sydney supreme court for highway robbery and transported to Norfolk Island for seven years. 1834. — March 22nd, seven days in cells for rioting; May 17th, seven days in cells for disorderly conduct. 1835. — July 1st, three hundred lashes for dishonest and disorderly conduct. Returned from Norfolk Island November 21st, 1839. 1840. — May 7th, tried again before the Sydney supreme court for highway robbery, convicted, and transported for life to Norfolk Island. 1841. — July 3rd, four months solitary confinement and four months in gaol for attempting to escape from the Island; December 21st, three months imprisonment for cutting the bars of his prison. 1842. — May 7th, twelve months in irons for making a canvas boat and absconding therewith. 1843. — March 21st, twenty-five lashes for proceeding to hospital unnecessarily; March 24th, imprisonment till further orders for absence and threatening language. Returned from Norfolk Island as an invalid the 27th March, 1844. 1844. — July 13th, tried at the supreme court, Sydney, for having on the 26th May— two months after his arrival as an invalid – committed wilful murder on the body of James Noble, of which he was convicted, and cast for death. THOMAS BURDETT arrived in the colony, per Florentia No. 2, the 15th December, 1830, having been convicted and sentenced to transportation for life at the Middlesex Gaol Delivery, for burglary, 18th February, 1830. Punishments in the colony. 1832. — March 30th, two months to an iron gang for disorderly conduct. 1834. — December 10th, twenty-five lashes for being out after hours. 1835. — August 24th, tried at the Bathurst quarter sessions for cattle stealing, convicted, and transported to Norfolk Island for life, from whence he was returned as an invalid the 31st January, 1844. 1844. — July 13th, tried before the Supreme Court of Sydney for the murder of James Noble on the 26th May, convicted, and cast for death. JAMES MARTIN arrived in the colony, per ship Norfolk, February, 1837, having been tried, convicted, and sentenced to transportation for life, for burglary, at the Sussex Assizes, 23rd July, 1836. Punishments in the colony. 1838. — April 10th, ten days in cells for absconding; June 7th, fifty lashes for insolence and drunkenness. 1841. — February 2nd, tried at the Supreme Court, Sydney, for housebreaking, and sentenced to ten years transportation to Norfolk Island, from whence he was returned as an invalid the 27th March, 1844. 1844. — July 13th, was admitted an approver on the trial of the murderers of Mr James Noble. RONALD [sic; should be Robert] MALCOLM arrived in the colony per ship Lloyds the 18th December, 1843 [incorrect – it was 1833], having been tried, convicted, and sentenced to fourteen years transportation, for stealing a watch, by the Court of Justiciary, Stirling, 16th April, 1843 incorrect; 1833]. Punishments in the colony. 1834. — April 21st, fifty lashes for pilfering, 1835.— February 12th, was tried at the Bathurst Quarter Sessions for cattle stealing, convicted, and transported for life to Norfolk Island, from whence he returned 27th March, 1844, as an invalid. 1844. — July 13th, was admitted an approver on the trial of the murderers of Mr James Noble. JOHN RANKIN arrived in the colony per ship Layton on the 9th November. 1829, having been tried, convicted and sentenced to transportation for life, at the Edinburgh Court of Justiciary, 15th December, 1828, for receiving stolen goods. No colonial offence recorded against him; and on the 1st March, 1838, he obtained a ticket-of- Leave No 38-400, for the district of Sydney. 1844.— July 13th, was tried before the Supreme Court of Sydney as an accessory before the fact to the murder of Mr. James Noble, committed, and cast for death.

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1844, 27 July: After the trial, the Guardian editorialised on the flaws of the British colonial penal system in this two-page article… “POLICE HISTORIES of Vigors, Burdett, Martin, Malcolm, and Rankin, the parties connected with the murder of Mr James Noble. We have been enabled to procure an outline of the police histories of the parties concerned in the late murder, which has spread so much excitement and horror throughout the city; and we lay it before our readers, confident that whilst it will excite wonder and disgust, it will lead to yet graver reflection on those systems of punishment and reformatory discipline, the efficacy of which have been so loudly and repeatedly vaunted. In looking over this record of sustained infamy, the first fact that strikes us, is the enormous expense to which the colony has been subjected by the career of crime, to which it has been exposed by the transportation of these men. In the case of Vigors, we perceive that he has been dealt with by the various tribunals not loss than thirty times, three of which were before the supreme court of the colony; whilst for each of the other minor offences, the colonial paid services of the constabulary, scourger, and police magistrates, have been called into requisition, with all the expensive machinery by which they are accompanied. Truly, if any illustration of facts were wanting to enforce the argument, of the injustice of Great Britain saddling this colony with the expenses of police and gaols, for restraining the outcasts sent here, the narrative of this man's colonial life would afford a most powerful one. Of the five individuals connected with the murder, Rankin is the only one who has not subjected himself to a second conviction previous to the commission of the awful crime, for which three of the number, now await the last penalty of the law. Far beyond this question of expense, however, is the feeling of shame, and fear, and horror, that such beings should have been allowed to be thrown into communication with the people of a British colony; and we find, notwithstanding the audacious and persevering villainy which characterised him, that no less than sixteen times was Vigors punished for being illegally at large. Will this serve to explain to the obtuse faculties of the Colonial Secretary and the upholders of the city prison establishments the moral contamination which has been spread by these men? Will this serve to show how often the lives and property of the colonists have been placed at the mercy of a man whose every feeling of moral restraint seems to have been deadened? The list which we present is of the crimes only for which he was convicted: Who can furnish an account of those which evaded the eye of justice? Who can tell what deeds of bloodshed and savage ruffianism, now hidden in oblivion, may not have been committed by this man — a man so reckless that neither the fear of punishment or a knowledge of its pain, could compel him into even a semblance of obedience to the law? There is one other point of view in which we cannot refrain from noticing this record — the disgusting, the revolting, amount of corporeal punishment it exhibits forms to us the solo cause, on which the mind can rest, on inquiry into the reasons which could have impelled so long, so pertinacious, a career of vicious habits — the Lash: the degrading and torturing instrument of brutality is blazoned in this record in fearful characters, and the result has shown its utter inefficiency as a corrective to the evil dispositions of man! We have no morbid sympathy with the criminals; we have no pity for their sufferings; but we fear for the feelings of others, when they can know that such enormities are perpetrated on their fellow men. We believe that the boasted discipline of the prison establishments of this colony has been nothing more than this unsparing use of the lash: that terror, debasement, and savage irritation have been nurtured in them; that it has been unnecessarily used — that it has been unfairly used. We admit there are men of that brutal order which may be coerced by the lash, but the control of these minds may be achieved by other means. Whilst we are quite sure that no reformation, nothing but minds seared to crime in its deadliest aspect can result from confinement in a dungeon where the sound of the scourge, and its attendant groans and curses, is constantly heard. Let the reader read the following detail and judge for himself.

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Several witnesses were called, including the two approvers – James Martin and Robert Malcolm. Each testified in a similar vein to their statements at the committal hearing. The Court adjourned at 11.45pm. On Monday, the case continued. This report is from The Guardian, 20 July, p247: “…the defence was resumed by Mr Purefoy (on behalf of the prisoner Rankin) who spoke upwards of three hours, and called the Rev Dr McGarvie as a witness to Rankin’s character. “The defence having closed, the Attorney-General replied in a most powerful speech; in the course of which he paid a well-merited tribute to Mr. Keck, governor of the gaol, for his public spirited conduct in the investigation of this painful case. “His Honor then proceeded to charge the jury, in an address of nearly three hours, entering most minutely into all the details of the evidence. “The jury retired for about half an hour, and returned with a verdict of Guilty against all three prisoners. “The judge then proceeded to pass the awful sentence of the law upon the prisoners.”

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1844, 13 July: The Murder Trial ran over two days – Saturday 13 July and Monday 15 July. This extract is from a report of the first day by the Sydney Morning Herald, 17 July, p3: “George Vigors, labourer, late of Sydney, was indicted for the wilful murder of James Noble, late of Clarence-street, Sydney, by stabbing him with a knife on the evening of the 26th May last, thereby inflicting a mortal wound, of which the deceased died on the following day; and Thomas Burdett, labourer, late of Sydney, was indicted, for being present, aiding, and abetting the said George Vigors, in the committal of the said murder, and John Rankin, late of Sydney, labourer, was indicted us an accessary before the said murder, by hiring, counselling, commanding, or otherwise conspiring with the said George Vigors and Thomas Burdett, previous to the committing of the said murder.” The three accused pleaded not guilty. Both James Martin and Robert Malcolm appeared as “approvers” – witnesses for the Prosecution. The Attorney General told the Court (Judge and Jury) he wanted to “call their attention to the fact that at the time that Martin turned approver, he had had no opportunity of ascertaining whether Malcolm had said anything or not. Martin was in the custody of the police, and not allowed to communicate with anyone, but the stories of Martin and of Malcolm, when compared, would be found exactly to correspond. Both would be brought before them as approvers and to the evidence of both he invited their most serious attention. They had had no opportunity of communicating with each other before they made their statements; but when a Jury had to decide on a case which rested principally on the evidence of two approvers, they must be satisfied that the details of the stories told by these approvers agreed, and at the same time that the agreement was not previously concocted; in this case he thought that the Jury could entertain no doubt…”

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The newspaper report continued: “The prisoner [James Martin] was then sworn to the truth of the above statement. The prisoner Martin, having been committed on the day of the inquest, was remanded to his cell. The other two prisoners, Vigors and Burdett, declined saying anything, and were both committed as principals in the murder. The prisoner Rankin merely asserted his innocence, and was also committed to take his trial as accessory before the fact in the perpetration of the same murder. The prisoners were then returned to their separate cells, where they had been confined ever since their apprehension.”

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The committal hearing continued on 11 June. Among the witnesses was Henry Hynes, sergeant in the Sydney Police, who deposed: “The trousers I now produce were given to me on the 30th May, as being the trousers worn by the deceased Mr Noble when he was stabbed; there is a cut in the waistband as if pierced by a knife, the inside of the lining round the cut is saturated with blood; they were in the same state when given up to me.” Robert Malcolm was recalled, and deposed: “The knife, now produced, is the one alluded to in my statements; it is the one Vigors sent me back into the room for; that is the knife; I took it out of the chair and gave it to him.” Dr George Fullerton, who treated Mr Noble after he had been stabbed, deposed: “I consider the shoemaker’s knife to be the most likely one to have pierced the trousers, but the knife produced at the inquest was one more likely to have inflicted the wound on the liver.” James Martin’s statement followed: “On the Friday previous to the murder, Vigors proposed to me and Burdett that we should go out on Sunday and do some robbery; he also said he had a ‘place put up’ where money was to be got; it was at a Mr Noble’s in Clarence street, with a brass plate on the door. Robert Malcolm, attached to Hyde Park Barracks, received a sovereign from Vigors, for which he said he had purchased three pistols, powder, and shot; two of the pistols, with a portion of the powder and shot he said he had left with a man named Rankin, in Kent-street, in order to be ready when required. He brought the third pistol he had bought into the Barracks on Saturday, and gave it to Vigors, with some powder and shot; the shot were about the size of a pea. On Sunday when the gangs went to church, we, Vigors, Burdett, Malcolm, and myself accompanied them to the church door but did not go in; we dressed in the barracks in the clothes we were taken in, but put our slops over them, we left the slops in an old privy on Church Hill. When at Rankin’s, Malcolm, Vigors, and Rankin left the room where Burdett and I were sitting, they went into a back room or yard, on their return Malcolm said it was all right, meaning that the pistols were ready, and that we could be harboured there. It was then arranged that after the robbery was done we were to come back and stop there all that night, as Rankin said he had a place down in the back yard where he could put us away, and we would be safe from the police. Rankin fetched three half-pints of rum, one he paid for and two Malcolm, paid for. We remained there till half past six by a clock in the room where we sat. Vigors said, ‘It is high time we were off, as it is getting dark.’ It was Vigors who wrote the letter that was handed to Mr Noble; he wrote it on the Saturday night; I saw him write it; he also wrote a letter to Joe Ward [This letter to Ward, a constable in the Sydney police was written at the dictation of Burdett, who had been apprehended by Ward previous to his, Burdett’s, being transported to Norfolk Island for a robbery; it contained a request that Ward would endeavour to obtain for him, Burdett, a pass to see some of his relatives, on the Sunday of the murder. Ward received the letter on Saturday, but paid no attention to it until after hearing on Monday, in the Police Office, that Burdett was one of the men concerned in the murder, when he called to mind the letter, and handed it over the same night to Mr Miles, who has it in safe keeping for the trial.] I do not think Burdett can write. “Vigors planned the part we were each to take when we got into the house. Burdett was to have gone to the back door to prevent escape, but he did not go as the alarm was instantaneous. I was to have taken charge of the front door, and Vigors was to have bailed the people in the house up with the pistol. Vigors never said to me who put up the robbery, but he said the money was kept in a chest of drawers in the sitting room, that there was a roll of notes and several 20s packages in silver. It must have been put up by someone very well acquainted with the house. When we got to Mr Noble’s Vigors knocked at the door with his knuckles, it was opened by deceased, when Vigors handed him the letter he walked towards the light, and we all then followed him. I shut the door, before Mr Noble had time to read the letter Vigors presented the pistol, and desired him not to be alarmed, but to stand. Mrs Noble then screamed, when Vigors presented it at her, and snapped it at her. I saw it loaded, it was loaded with care, the cap exploded with such a report that I thought the pistol had gone off, and when I saw the deceased wounded in the hand, I thought the shot intended for Mrs Noble had hit her husband, as they were close together after the report. Mr Noble sprang at Vigors and seized his arm; when the pistol flew out of his hand, he then seized him by the collar and held him for a short time. It was then I am certain that the stab was given by Vigors, as he had a shoemaker’s knife on his person when he left Rankin’s House. I would know the knife again - it was much worn, and tapering to a sharp point (that is the knife). “Burdett then went over to get Vigors out of the grasp of Mr Noble, and they escaped by the back door; deceased then seized me, and I became so weak from fright, thinking the pistol had gone off, that I was unable to follow, and made very little effort to get from deceased. I never knew Mr Noble was stabbed until informed of it by Mr Miles at the watchhouse. When we were leaving Rankin’s to go to Mr Noble’s, we asked him for the two pistols left by Malcolm, but he said Malcolm did not leave them there, but if we wanted arms he could supply us, on the following Monday; he told this to Malcolm before he went away; Malcolm left us in time to meet the gang coming from church, and to go into the barracks with them. Vigors was very much vexed at being deceived by Malcolm, and that we had not each a pistol; he asked Rankin to get him a few caps, which Rankin did at some near neighbour’s house, and gave them to Vigors. Vigors had twice before absented himself on Sunday from his gang by not going into church, but joined the gang as it was returning to barracks. I remember Vigors calling to Malcolm as he was going out, ‘I have dropped my knife in the room where we were, go and look for it’; he did so and brought it to Vigors, who put it in his trousers pocket, with the handle sticking out. When he left the house to go to Mr Noble’s, I observed the knife in the same pocket; I have not seen it since.” In a further statement, James Martin said he knew Joe Crossthwaite, as they were at Hyde Park Barracks at the same time, and Crossthwaite had been with him, Vigors and Burdett at the Rankin house. “We had no conversation as to what we were about to do before him,” he said. But it was a different story with Malcolm “who most positively was the person who brought us to Rankin’s, and seemed very intimate with him…Malcolm knew we were going to do a robbery, but I do not think he knew where; old Rankin well knew we were going to do a robbery, for we spoke of it before him; and we also told him we were going to do a robbery, and would be back in about an hour and a half or two hours; the son did not know of it…”

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1844, 12 June: James Martin turns “approver” A lengthy account of the committal proceedings was published in the Sydney Morning Herald, p2. Below is an excerpt: “COMMITTAL OF THE MURDERERS OF THE LATE MR NOBLE. “Soon after James Martin had been committed by Captain Innes, the Acting Coroner at the inquest, to take his trial for the murder of Mr. Noble, he was conveyed to gaol, and after being there a few days, he expressed a desire to communicate with Mr Keck, and made such disclosures to that gentleman as induced him, near the hour of midnight, on the 5th instant, to repair to Mr Miles, Commissioner of Police, who accompanied him to the house of a ticket-of-leave holder, named Rankin, residing on the west side of Kent-street, a few doors south from King-street, when Rankin and his son were instantly taken into custody; on being separately brought before the Chief Commissioner, they individually made the following statements, which were committed to writing.” [On 8 June] the statements of John Rankin and his son John Jnr were presented. John Rankin Snr said he had sold a pistol but no ammunition to a Joe Crossthwaite who had stopped at his home for two days in June. He denied knowing Mr Noble or that a meeting between a servant of Mr Noble’s and Joe Crossthwaite had taken place in the Rankin house. John Rankin Jnr confirmed that a pistol shown to him looked like one his father had owned. The newspaper report continued: “After the Rankins had been secured, Messrs Miles and Keck proceeded to Hyde Park Barracks and left such instructions with the porter at the gate as caused a convict named Mukohn, then in Hyde Park Barracks, to be secured and forwarded to Woolloomooloo Gaol…Soon after [George] Vigors and [Thomas] Burdett had been captured, they were forwarded to Woolloomooloo Gaol, and on Saturday last a Court was opened there before Captain Innes… “Mrs. Noble… gave the following additional testimony: The man who snapped the pistol is one of these men; my husband tried very much to hold the man who snapped the pistol; they scuffled together; my husband not being able to succeed in holding him, turned round and laid hold of [James] Martin, I have no doubt he is the man, and I believe he was the last man that entered the house and shut the door; the prisoner [George] Vigors is the man who entered the House and presented the pistol; he was the man my husband first laid hold of; I assisted my husband in detaining [James] Martin; I cannot swear as to any of the other prisoners. “Cross-examined by [George] Vigors:-I am sure you are the man who told me not to be alarmed, and held the pistol to me; I know your appearance, your voice, I know your face.” Other witnesses included Robert Malcolm, bond, per Lloyd, 14 years, who said on the Saturday before the murder George Vigors had asked him to purchase “a pistol or two” for him. Robert Malcolm bought one from John Rankin Snr and was told the second would be ready for him the next day, along with shot and caps. Robert Malcolm told Rankin Snr the pistols were for two men in Hyde Park Barracks, Vigors and Martin. The next day, Malcolm took James Martin, George Vigors and Thomas Burdett to the Rankin house to collect the firearms. Robert Malcolm continued: “As I was going away, Vigors said, ‘I have dropped my knife, it must be in the room where we were, go and look for it for me, I did so, and found it on the chair where Vigors had sat. It was a shoemaker’s knife with a wooden handle and worn at the point, I would know it again, I gave it to him. I am convinced that Rankin knew the men were going to do a robbery, he knew the men were all wrong, that is, runaways, for I told him they were, and but a short time from Norfolk Island. Rankin told the men he had an empty room, and he could have it ready for them, and would give them the key of it.” George Whitfield, a gunmaker, living in King Street, swore that Rankin Snr had purchased some percussion caps from him on Sunday 26 May.