in late march or early april he appeared before a local magistrate in the district, captaing.v.butler, who committed him for trial. in may, butler wrote a letter to charles hervey bagot, a member of the south australian legislative council, in which he listed the victims as one "old man blind and infirm", three female adults, two teenage girls (aged 15 and 12 years), and three female children (aged two years, 18 months, and a baby). upon hearing the case, butler stated that there was "little question of the butchery or the butcher". nevertheless, brown avoided trial, though few doubted his guilt, because the provisions of the aboriginal witnesses act which determined that the evidence of an "uncivilised person or persons" was considered insufficient unless corroborated by other evidence - that the court could not base the conviction of a white man on the testimony of an aboriginal witness. butler remained unconvinced about the strength of the prosecution, but given "great suspicion rested on the case", he gave the prosecution a further extension of time, and released brown on bail of £500.