SHOCKING MURDER NEAR SANDHURST.

A murder of a dreadful character was committed on March 30, at Break o' Day, near Kangaroo-flat, in the Bendigo district. The scene of the crime was a store kept by a man named Charles Smith. Smith had a wife, and amongst the visitors to his place was a Frenchman named Pierre Borhun. This man came to see the woman, and there is reason to believe that a criminal intimacy existed between them. Some terrible quarrels took place at the house sometimes, and in one of these Borhun gave Smith a tremendous beating. He was advised by a constable to keep away from the house, or otherwise something serious would happen. The caution, however, was fruitless. On Sunday, the 30th March, he went to the house, and asked for some drink. Smith refused to give it, and after trying to get him away, pushed him out and shut the door. Borhun then began kicking in the door, and broke in the lower part. Smith was afraid, and ran away, telling his wife that he was going for the police. Before getting away more than 200 or 300 yards he heard a shot, and then heard his wife scream. He hesitated what to do, but finally continued to run on, fearing, as he said, that he would be shot if he went back. Presently he met Mounted-constable Lee, and returned with him to the house, where they found the poor wife dead, with a bullet-hole in her chest. No one else was then in the place. The constable looked for the murderer, and ultimately found him at Briggs' Hotel. He seized Borhun, who made a desperate resistance, but was overpowered and handcuffed. He caught sight of the pistol with which he had fired the fatal shot, and said to the constable, "Ah ! I see you've got my — pistol." As Lee was taking him towards the station he said, "'You've seen the woman, then?" and added, "I shot the woman, and I'll swing for it." He made one or two furious struggles in the attempt to escape while being taken to the watchhouse, and appears to be a desperado of the most violent character. The deceased woman, it seems, was not married to Smith, but had lived with him since she was deserted by her husband. At the coroner's inquest a verdict of wilful murder was returned against Borhun, and the jury passed a high tribute of praise to the promptness and intelligence shown by Constable Lee in the arrest. The prisoner stands committed for trial.