Room 101 Pros And Cons

Every Queensland police officer received a copy of the police manual. Within the pages, the authors addressed every contingency they felt a policeman might encounter. When first appointed officer in charge of the Cairns district in 1904, Inspector Durham instituted evening classes. Once a week, his men stayed after work for instruction on the manual and standard police procedure. Possibly Acting-Sergeant McGuire and First-Class Constable Murray missed the lesson dedicated to Page 92: Regulation 1 which stipulated strict abstinence from alcohol during work hours.

According to procedure, McGuire should secure the scene, attempt to identify the deceased and write an accurate description of the surroundings. He should document the precise position

In the right-hand trouser pocket, he found an empty wallet — no five-pound note — and in the left, a pocket knife. The knife had no blood on it. In fact, despite all the blood on Peter's head and upper body, there was not a drop below the waist. In the sand under his butchered head, Murray found a broken chunk of false teeth.

11:40 am

Another cab arrived, this time bringing A.W. Chisholm, editor of the Cairns Argus newspaper. Chisholm went straight to Le Vaux. "Poor old Peter," Le Vaux said, "I should never have allowed him to come out here. This is terrible. We were only here on Sunday. I was here last night with Marston Mayers."

Near the tent, Seymour discovered a blood-splattered tomahawk with a loose head. "That is my tomahawk," said Le Vaux, "I lent it to Peter on Sunday as he told me his own was broken."

"Was it in that condition when you gave it to him?" asked Seymour.

"No, it was not," replied Le Vaux, who walked away, but then returned, "I think Mrs Le Vaux killed some fowls with that tomahawk on Saturday."

Joining the search, Murray stumbled across the head of a second tomahawk. Another policeman, Constable Twiss, reported for duty.

"When did you last see Peter alive, Mr Le Vaux?" Seymour