Suddenly, as if his self-control had finally given way William Westwood yelled "Follow me! We will kill all the " and seizing a hatchet he rushed from the yard, followed by a dozen or so others. "Follow me and you follow to the gallows!" he yelled. Some held back, but a press of others crowded out, grabbing billets of wood, axes, spades and hoes, anything that came to hand. A constable barred their way and Westwood struck him down. Stephen Smith, the overseer, hid behind the cookhouse door but Jacky-Jacky Westwood had seen him, rushed in and with a blow, splattered his brains over wall and floor. "On! On!" he shouted as he reached the gaol gates and sighted a constable's hut with door partially open. Crazy for blood, he split one man's skull, attacked the other still in bed and rained blow after blow, until he, too was dead in a pool of blood.
The upshot was that Stephen's widow (name I don't know) and daughter, Susan, had to travel back from Norfolk Island to Dublin when Susan was just a babe-in-arms. This illustrates my Australian roots... thanks to Pat and David for doing the research!
There is a picture of his grave: the tombstone reads:
Sacred to the Memory of Stephen Smith Æ 40 Native of Dublin.Overseer at Norfolk Island who was barbarously murdered by a body of prisoners...July 1846 whilst in the execution of his duty to the Settlement...leaving a wife and a child
