Evening News, Tue 10 May 1898 1
KEMPSEY SESSIONS.
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KEMPSEY, Tuesday.—The quarter sessions opened yesterday before Judge Docker.
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George Alfred Beale, [aka George Alfred Beal], aged 16, pleaded guilty to an attempt to commit an unnatural offence, and was sentenced to one month’s hard labor, in addition to receiving a whipping of twenty strokes.
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The Sydney Morning Herald, Wed 11 May 1898 2
COUNTRY NEWS.
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KEMPSEY QUARTER SESSIONS.
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Kempsey, Tuesday.
The Quarter Sessions opened yesterday before Judge Docker. The principal case was that of Booth and Lawson, charged with setting fire to a barn in 1881. Lawson pleaded guilty, and gave evidence against Booth. The jury in Booth’s case failed to agree, after being locked up all night and until dinner-time to-day. Booth was bound over to appear at the next Court. Lawson was sentenced to six months, the sentence being suspended under the First Offenders’ Act. Thomas Warton was sentenced to six months imprisonment for horse-stealing; Archie Littlejohn was sentenced to three years for horse-stealing; Thomas Swift to six months for an assault on a young girl; George Alfred Beale, aged 16, was sentenced to one month and to receive a whipping of 20 strokes for an attempted offence; John Peterson to two years for administering drugs for an unlawful purpose. The trial of Thomas Nance, charged with supplying drugs, was postponed till next Court, to enable the Government Analyst to attend.
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The Raleigh Sun, Fri 13 May 1898 3
JUDGE DOCKER.
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JUDGE DOCKER presided at the Bellingen District Court on Friday Last. Owing to the attacks of Mr John Norton’s paper, Truth, upon Judge Docker, many people were anxious to see him, and were agreeably surprised to find him apparently an affable gentleman, who displayed a great deal of patience in hearing a case in court. His Honor travelled here from New England via the Dorrigo, being escorted from Dorrigo post office to Bellingen by Senior-Constable Jordan. The trip was a rough one, the rains having made to roads bad. Owing to the cloudy wet weather, Judge Docker, who is an enthusiastic and skilled amateur in photography, was unable to get any satisfactory views on the picturesque road between here the Dorrigo. His Honor left here on Friday afternoon for Kempsey, via Bowra, being escorted half way to Bowra by Constable Allman, and thence by Constable Reynolds.
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QUARTER SESSIONS.
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The Quarter Sessions were opened at Kempsey, on Monday last, before Judge Docker.
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George Alfred Beale, a Sobraon boy, was sentenced to one month in Darlinghurst, and 20 strokes, for bestiality.
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The Macleay Argus, Sat 14 May 1898 4
KEMPSEY QUARTER SESSIONS.
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Before Judge Docker.
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The Sessions extended over Monday and a portion of Tuesday last. Mr RJ Browning, acted as Crown Prosecutor. Mr JW Wilson acted as Deputy-Sheriff.
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ATTEMPTED BESTIALITY.
George Alfred Beale, a lad just turned 16 years of age, pleaded guilty to an attempt to commit an unnatural offence.
Judge Docker severely lectured the lad. He said he was liable to five years’ imprisonment, but he did not wish prisoner to serve such an apprenticeship with crime. Whipping was the safest and most appropriate punishment in this case, and he would sentence Beale to one month’s hard labor in Darlinghurst Gaol and a whipping of 20 strokes.
1 Evening News, (Sydney, NSW), Tue 10 May 1898, p. 5.
2 The Sydney Morning Herald, Wed 11 May 1898, p. 7. Emphasis added.
3 The Raleigh Sun, (Bellingen, NSW), Fri 13 May 1898, p. 2.
4 The Macleay Argus (Kempsey), Sat 14 May 1898, p. 10.