Smith, Superintendant Horace
Horace Smith, Superintendent of Police in the early 1860s, regularly investigated strenuous, often violent relationships between settlers and First Nations in Victoria and the surrounding islands.1 Notably, Smith was involved in the investigation of the murders of Frederick Marks and his daughter, as well as William Brady, who were killed on Saturna Island and Pender Island, respectively.2
While officially a man of the law, Historian Robert Louis Smith describes Horace Smith as a rum runner.3 Beginning in early 1864, suspicions of Smith arose; and the same year a trial for charges of bribery and corruption began. In a letter from Governor Kennedy, details and suspicions surrounding Horace Smith, his trial, and concerns of corruption within the police force as a whole are articulated, including the reception of bribes on a large and systematic scale. As Kennedy notes, the Acting Attorney General [had] advised that Mr Horace Smith, Superintendent of Police should be indicted for misdemeanour for having received numerous bribes to permit gambling in various public houses and for other immoral purposes.4 After two unsuccessful trials and an inability to come to a conclusive agreement on the part of the jury, Smith resigned from his position.5
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People in this document

Brady, William

Kennedy, Arthur

Marks, Frederick

Places in this document

Pender Island

Saturna Island

Victoria