Charles Plant

221

D Wong on 22nd March 2014

Charles Plant was 20 years old on arrival. He was the brother of William Plant (Asiatic 1843 VDL). Charles was transported for stealing a bundle of stockings from Mr Mitchell of Macclesfield. Charles was 5'4 3/4" tall, could read and write, single, protestant, fresh complexion, dark brown hair and eyes, tattoos. Family in 1841: Duke Street,Prestbury,Maccesfield,Cheshire. James Plant,55,Lab,Y Mary Plant,45,Y James Crinks?,25,Y,Silk Weaver Samuel Plant,20,Y,Silk Weaver Eliza Plant,20,Silk Winder,Y Charles Plant,18,Silk Weaver,Y. Charlotte Plant,16,Silk Winder William Plant,10,Y. Sarah Plant,7,Y. Mary Plant,3,Y. Charlotte Plant,35.Y. 9/5/1848: TOL 8/6/1849: COF 5/4/1851: Steerage passenger Launceston to Melbourne (Free by servitude). FROM THE STAR, DEC. 7. ARREST OF A SUPPOSED MURDERER. - On Saturday night Mounted-trooper Dowling stationed at the Springs, Mount Bolton, arrested a man who is supposed to be one of the two men who murdered William Selby and John Barnett, at Carr's Plains, on the 16th October. The man arrested is supposed to be Charles Plant, alias Martin, alias James Payne, a ticket of-leave holder, who was transported to Van Diemen's Land some twenty years ago. He is described in the Police Gazette as having the third knuckle on the left hand cut off. The person arrested corresponds to the description in every particular, and has the third knuckle cut off the hand, as described. He is a stranger at the Springs, where he was apprehended. December 1863: Tbo Ballarat Star, of Thursday, says :-"The man arrested at the Springs, Mount Bolton, by trooper Dowling, turns out to be Charles Plant, supposed to bo implicated in the murder of Barnett and Selby, at Carr's Plains, in October last. He was brought before tho Learmonth Bench on Monday, and remanded to Stawell. He states that he was in the district after the murders, was aware of the horrible outrage, but had no hand whatever in it." 17/12/1863: The Star Ballarat: THE MURDER AT CARR'S PLAINS. - The Stawell Police Court was much crowded yesterday, in con-sequence of a charge having been brought against one Charles Plant, as being one of the supposed murderers of Bennet and Selby. Our police report will show that the accused man has been honorably discharged. The description of the second man in the Gazette certainly, in some instances, agrees with his appearance, but in others it does not; and the report about the crippled knuckle is all imagination. If Plant's account - as given to a large crowd of persons after his discharge - be correct, there was little or no cause for his apprehension by the police, at the Springs, Mount Bolton. He says that he arrived at his residence Kangaroo Flat, on Friday night, a fort-night ago, and was arrested on this horrible charge on the following evening at his own place, although he had lived in the neigborhood for three years. He was of course well-known, and as he says, is a hardworking man with a wife and family to support. It appears that he went away from home four days after the murder, seeking work, and among other places, visited the neighborhood of the Plains, returning to his home on the day stated. When arrested, he asked to bring witnesses from where he lived, to show that he did notleave home until after the perpetration of the crime;but this was not granted, and the man was sent to Stawell. If this statement be correct, it is a hardcase for him, and the magistrates at Lake Lear-month might at least have made, or caused to bemade, the necessary enquiries. Plant says he has a wife and two young children living, three having just died, and that he is without a shilling to take him home. Certainly we think that Government might supply a small fund for such cases, to be placed at the disposal and discretion of the presiding magistrates, who in some instances have to discharge a person from custody, who has been, as in the present case, taken a long distance for identification. Since writing the above we find that the sum of £2 15s 6d has been collected by a few sympathisers, in order to enable the poor man to reach his family.