Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central Australia And Overland From Adelaide To King George's Sound In The Years 1840-1: Sent By The Colonists Of South Australia By Eyre, Edward John
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Biddle and Brown, a party of soldiers was sent over to try and
capture the aggressors. In one of their attempts a native guide was
procured from the Eastern tribe, who promised to conduct them to where
the murderers were. The party consisting of the military and their
officer, the police, a settler, and the missionary, in all twelve or
fourteen persons, set off towards Coffin's Bay, following as they
supposed upon the track of the murders. Upon reaching the coast some
natives were seen fishing in the water, and the party was at once spread
out in a kind of semicircle, among the scrub, to close upon and capture
them; the officer, missionary, and guide, being stationed near the
centre. As the party advanced nearer, the guide saw that he was mistaken
in the group before him, and that they were not the guilty parties, but
friends. The officer called out not to fire, but unfortunately from the
distance the men were at, and the scrubby nature of the country, he was
not heard or attended to. A shot was fired, one of the natives sprung up
convulsively in the water, walked on shore and fell down, exclaiming
whilst dying, "me Kopler, me good man," and such indeed it proved. He was
one of a friendly tribe, and a particular protege of the missionary's,
having taken the name of Kopler from his German servant who was so
called.
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