“But now that it has been conclusively proved that he is innocent, the question arises in every one’s mind, ’Who is the murderer of Oliver Whyte?’ The man who committed this dastardly crime is still at large, and, for all we know, may be in our midst.  Emboldened by the impunity with which he has escaped the hands of justice, he may be walking securely down our streets, and talking of the very crime of which he is the perpetrator.  Secure in the thought that all traces of him have been lost for ever, from the time he alighted from Rankin’s cab, at Powlett Street, he has ventured probably to remain in Melbourne, and, for all that anyone knows, he may have been in the court during the late trial.  Nay, this very article, may meet his eye, and he may rejoice at the futile efforts which have been made to find him.  But let him beware, Justice is not blind, but blind-folded, and when he least expects it, she will tear the bandage from her keen eyes, and drag him forth to the light of day to receive the reward of his deed.  Owing to the strong evidence against Fitzgerald, that is the only direction in which the detectives have hitherto looked, but baffled on one side, they will look on the other, and this time may be successful.

“That such a man as the murderer of Oliver Whyte should be at large is a matter of danger, not only to individual citizens, but to the community at large; for it is a well-known fact that a tiger who once tastes human blood never overcomes his craving for it; and, without doubt the man who so daringly and coolly murdered a drunken, and therefore defenceless man, will not hesitate to commit a second crime.  The present feeling of all classes in Melbourne must be one of terror, that such a man should be at large, and must, in a great measure, resemble the fear which filled everyone’s heart in London when the Marr murders were committed, and it was known that the murderer had escaped.  Anyone who has read De Quincy’s graphic description of the crime perpetrated by Williams must tremble to think that such another devil incarnate is in our midst.  It is an imperative necessity that such a feeling should be done away with.  But how is this to be managed?  It is one thing to speak, and another to act.  There seems to be no possible clue discoverable at present which can lead to the discovery of the real murderer.  The man in the light coat who got out of Rankin’s cab at Powlett Street, East Melbourne (designedly, as it now appears, in order to throw suspicion on Fitzgerald), has vanished as completely as the witches in Macbeth, and left no trace behind.  It was two o’clock in the morning when he left the cab, and, in a quiet suburb like East Melbourne, no one would be about, so that he could easily escape unseen.  There seems to be only one chance of ever tracing him, and that is to be found in the papers which were stolen from the pocket of the dead man.  What they were, only two persons knew, and one knows now.  The first, two were Whyte and the woman who was called ‘The Queen,’ and both of them are now dead.  The other who knows now is the man who committed the crime.  There can be no doubt that these papers were the motive for the crime, as no money was taken from the pockets of the deceased.  The fact, also, that the papers were carried in a pocket made inside the waistcoat of the deceased shows that they were of value.