[James Hughes, escaped convict, found dead] [19 January 1806]

[Editor: An extract from the news section of The Sydney Gazette, and New South Wales Advertiser, 19 January 1806.]

[James Hughes, escaped convict, found dead]

Last week a native informed Tarlington, a settler, that the skeleton of a white man, with a musket and tin kettle laying beside him, had been seen under the first ridge of the mountains. The settler accompanied the native, and found the skeleton, &c. as described; the bones of which being very long, leads to a more than probable conjecture, that the remains are those of James Hughes, who absconded from Castle Hill the 15th of February, 1803, in company with 15 others, most of whom had recently arrived in the Hercules, on the ridiculous pretext of finding a road to China, but in reality to commit the most unheard of depredations: the consequences of which were, that the whole except Hughes were shortly apprehended, and 13 capitally convicted before a Criminal Court, of whom two were executed, and 11 pardoned.

Hughes was an able active man; well known in Ireland during the rebellion that existed in that country for his abominable depravities; and it is hoped his miserable end will warn the thoughtless, inexperienced, and depraved against an inclination to exchange the comfort and security derived from honest labour; to depart from which can only lead to the most fatal consequences!

Source:
The Sydney Gazette, and New South Wales Advertiser (Sydney, NSW), 19 January 1806, p. 1