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Francis, and under his care. The culprit got seven years hard labour on the roads.456

In November 1857 John Oakes brought a charge of assault against Alfred Frowd whom he
accused of an attack on his person. Frowd had been employed by Oakes' brother, Francis, but John
Oakes was supervising his work which was the building of a two-rail fence. Frowd had come to
Oakes' house and demanded to be paid for the fence although it was not complete which Oakes
refused to do. In evidence Oakes said,
'''I ordered him out of the year; he then said, 'I'll be d----d if I go without my money;' I
then took hold of him by the collar of his shirt and put him out, and in doing so he struck
me three times violently on the face; I told him he was my prisoner, he then took hold of
me by the hair and private parts and pulled me down on him; I struggled hard to keep him
a prisoner, and when he found I had him fast, he called on his mate, a man named Clarke,
to assist him; Clarke jumped the fence and came to his mate's assistance; in
consequence of this interference the prisoner escaped; as he was walking away he
challenged me to fight for two hours; I sent for the Binda police to assist in his re-capture;
I suffer even now from the effects of the assault''.

Frowd was sentenced to a month's imprisonment in Goulburn gaol.457

Several times when he was acting as superintendent on his brother, Francis' property after
Francis went to live in Parramatta, John Leigh Oakes was called upon to give evidence in cases of
cattle stealing. In January 1859 he gave evidence in a case against George Crouchman who stole
cattle from Alexander Fraser, a farmer who rented his land from Francis Oakes and who looked
after some of Francis Oakes' cattle.458

The saddest case of all occured in October 1882. By then John Leigh Oakes was
exibiting signs of eccentric behaviour, perhaps the first signs of his later mental illness. He was
charged with having obtained money by falsely representing two cheques as good ones. He
presented the cheques to a businessman, George Jessep, in Goulburn, then proceeded to Sydney
where he was later arrested and brought back to Goulburn for trail. It seems such a curious thing
for someone in his position to do. He apparently went to Jessep's shop in Auburn Street, Goulburn
and pointing to some potatoes, asked how much they were. When told they were £6 per ton, he said
he would take two tons when he returned from Sydney. He then asked Jessep to change a cheque
for him as he had no cash, intended to catch the train to Sydney and had no time to go to the bank.
He produced a cheque for £2 drawn on the Crookwell branch of the Bank of New South Wales
which Jessep cashed for him. Oakes then produced another cheque for £7/14/- and Jessep gave him
£8 because he had no change at the time. Oakes said ''O, that will do until I return from Sydney...''
and left. When Jessep presented the cheques they both bounced. For Oakes' defence it was argued
that he was suffering from insanity when he committed the offence. A nephew gave evidence
''...that several of the prisoner's relatives had had to be kept under restraint thus showing
a family tendancy to the malady. The prisoner it was supposed had inherited the failing

456 Ibid., 5 January 1857.
457 Ibid., 4 November 1857.
458 Ibid., 15 January 1859.

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