Do not consider report of Everill's massacre true. Papuans are deserters.
Telegram not found. The text given here is from '’The Rumored Massacre in New Guinea: The Latest Information’, in Herald (Melbourne), 12 November 1885, p. 3. It is preceded by:
The steamer City of Melbourne arrived here this afternoon from Thursday Island, and brings intelligence that two Papuan boys have arrived at the island, and state that the whole of Captain Everill's party were encamped on a tributary of the Fly River, 137 miles from the coast. They trusted entirely to the natives, and kept no regular watch at night. One night the natives, who had been mustering from all quarters, crept on to the camp in large numbers, and rushing the sleeping men murdered everyone of them on the spot. The two Papuan boys in the confusion, and aided by their color, escaped, and made their way down the Fly River, travelling by night. There is a general feeling that some one should be sent to look into the matter. Captain Armit is now at Cooktown, and as he knows more of New Guinea and the natives than any white man excepting, perhaps, the Rev Mr Chalmers, he is naturally indicated as a fit man to lead a party.
In contradiction of the above, Baron Von Mueller this morning received the following telegram from Captain W. E. Armit, at Cooktown:
Please cite as “FVM-85-11-12a,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on