Boxing was a main attraction in Mount Isa and many talented pugilists found their way to the city knowing there was a quid to be earned.

One such boxer was Ernest John “Slackie” Maher from Newcastle. Maher was known as slack because he used to drag one of his feet when he walked, with one observer describing it as “like a horse digging its toe into the ground.”

It didn’t affect him in the ring though and at one point he held the Queensland and New South Wales’ featherweight title. Regarded as a rugged lightweight his most impressive performance was a knock out win against Jack Roberts, who later became lightweight champion of Australia.

In 1930 he fought three times in Mount Isa for a win and two losses. In his first fight in May that year he demolished fellow New South Welshman Clem Reynolds. Slackie put him down in every round and twice in the fifth, which was when Police entered the ring to stop the contest. 

He fought Vic Whyte twice, going down both times. In the first fight Whyte dropped Slackie in the fifth with a short right to the point of his chin. Slackie rose at the count of eight but was still groggy and Whyte dropped him with another short right to end it.

Maher lost more than he won and in later life had constant shakes because of nerve damage. In an cruel twist of Slackie’s son said the only time his father’s hands stopped shaking was when he put his hands up as though ready to fight. His voice was also slurred, and he was hard to comprehend; even more so when he was excited.

21 years after fighting in Mount Isa came an extraordinary tale of early-day loan sharks, illegal two-up rings hidden in bushland, and murder.

21 years after fighting in Mount Isa came an extraordinary tale of early-day loan sharks, illegal two-up rings hidden in bushland, and murder. The Great Depression of the 1930s saw the rise of many shanty towns across Australia. Places where unemployed men and their families eked out a makeshift existence.

Lambton, a suburb of Newcastle in New South Wales, had a camp that was known as “Hollywood”, a sarcastic reference to its far from glamorous state.

Slackie was an invalid pensioner who lived in Hollywood and made his living at the nearby two-up school. He would lend money to those losing and collect it (with interest) at their next pay.

He carried between 30-50 pounds to the game which was in those days a considerable sum; it was also undoubtably the reason for Slackie’s murder.

Slackie Maher was shot dead on 11 July and dragged via horseback to an old 30-foot mine shaft mine and dumped. Two days later his body was found with a gunshot to the head and 12 days later his brother Mick Maher was charged with his murder.

James Minter told police he was on his way to the two-up game when he saw the brothers near the Jesmond football ground and heard them arguing loudly over money.

He said he heard Michael Maher say, "I want money urgently, and I don't care how I get it."

He then said he saw Michael Maher put a .22 rifle to his shoulder but Slackie had turned to walk down the track. Minter did not see Mick fire but heard a shot and glanced back.

He turned around again and walked away but when a second shot rang out four seconds later, he glanced back again and saw Michael Maher going back towards Hollywood.

Though he concluded that Michael Maher had shot his brother he told nobody what he had seen.

The following day when Michael Maher asked him whether he had seen Slackie the previous day. Winter replied he had not seen him but had heard his voice raised in the bush and then two shots.

It was not until two weeks after the body was found that Minter went to police and told them what he saw and heard.

"I didn't tell the police because I didn't wish to be implicated in it at all. I was frightened of Mick Maher.” Minter said. "I finally told the police my conscience was playing up me and I couldn't sleep at night."

He said at the inquest that the day after the body was discovered Michael Maher visited him and told him to keep his mouth shut.

Earlier on the day of Slackie’s murder he and his son Keith were chopping wood in scrubland near the settlement when they were attacked by several magpies. 

Keith went back to his house and brought back a .22 calibre rifle and shot the magpies.

When he returned to the house about lunchtime he placed the gun on a bench in his garage.

That rifle was produced at trial by the prosecution and Keith confirmed he had lent his uncle Michael about six weeks before with 12 rounds of ammunition. Michael returned the rifle the following day with no ammunition.

Though the rifle was produced at trial it was not determined if it was the rifle Mick, according to Minter, had raised to his shoulder and fired.

Intriguingly during the search for Slackie his brother Michael approached Detectives with Minter and, because he was innocent or he was laying a false trail told them,

“This man tells me that he was coming into the park at about three when he heard 'Slack's' voice raised, as if excited and arguing, and then heard two shots.”

Mick Maher went to Detective William Pollock’s house and told him Slackie had not been seen since he went to a two-up game at Jesmond the day before. Some people he spoke with said he was there and others said he wasn’t.

“I think he has been bumped off.” Mick told him and then produced from his pocket a 22-calibre revolver. He then told Pollock to come with him and he would show him the doings. When Pollock asked what he meant Maher replied,

'Where I found the revolver.'

Mick led the party on to a track into the bush until they arrived at a large tree.

“This is where I found it.” Mick said and pointing out some marks on the track about the size of threepence, which appeared to be bloodspots. He also pointed out a mark on the track, saying he believed it was 'Slack's' footprint.

When Pollock asked why Mick replied, 'Slack used to drag his feet when he walked as though his toe was stuck in the ground.'

At the trail Police Sergeant Meredith said he was at the mineshaft when 'Slack' Maher's body was recovered. Before it was brought to the surface he said Michael Maher leaned over the opening of the shaft and said:

'I will make a long forecast that when he comes up he will have two slugs in him. It shouldn't be very hard to find the culprit. He loaned a bloke £30 at the two-up game on Tuesday and was to meet him in the park on Wednesday when he was to pay him back.

'There is no doubt that he met him and paid him back with a slug through the head.'

Sergt. Meredith said that before the body was recovered there had been no mention of a bullet wound being found in the head.

Slackie’s son Keith and his friend Ian Dowse found bloodstains on an old tramway track during the search. They followed a blood-trail indicating something had been had carried and dragged for a mile through bush to the mine shaft.

The rim of the shaft was broken away and the boards covering it had bloodstains on them. Police descended and found Maher's body almost submerged in mud, shot in the back of the head.

The prosecutor stated at trial there were blood spots found in the vicinity of hoof marks, inferring that Mick used a horse to carry the body. Mick did in fact own two horses, one a bay and a grey pony that did tricks at Mick's direction.

Dowse however testified he was a couple of yards behind Mick with others searching waterholes and bushes near a lagoon when he walked past a mine shaft.

Dowse stopped at the shaft because he saw footprints on the edge of it and signs that something had been pushed down it. He said Maher could have led him to a lagoon 20 yards away if he had wanted him to miss the shaft.

The biggest piece of evidence against Mick was his alibi because when first asked by the police; he didn’t have one. However, he turned up later and gave a blow-by-blow description of what he had done on the day.

He said he had helped a mate with a house, including going in a truck to get cement and mortar. After that he went to Carroll’s Hotel at Lambton until closing time, arriving home about 7pm and said he had at least two blokes to vouch for him under oath.

The forensic pathologist had determined that Slack Maher was killed between noon and 6pm.

At the trial John Burwell, the man whose house Mick worked on, gave evidence that Maher and James Buxton were helping him in the morning.

After lunch at Maher's place they left in a truck and went to the lime and cement works at Georgetown to get some mortar. They arrived back around 3.15 p.m. and worked on the house until about 5 p.m.

He could not swear that Michael Maher was with him all the afternoon and could have been away for 10 or 15 minutes. However, he added he was not conscious of Maher being away during the afternoon.

The prosecutor read from a statement Buxton previously made to the police, in which he said: 'As far as I know, Maher and Burwell never returned after leaving at about 12 o'clock until I joined them about 4 p.m.'

When Buxton was asked what made him change his mind he answered that he had had time to think it over and wanted to alter his statement. When it was suggested somebody may have refreshed his memory he replied no.

An ice vender Clifford Anderson gave evidence that he met Michael Maher and Burwell about 3.15 p.m. on July 11 and they had discussed a bag of cement.

Anderson was definite about the time and that it was not a guess though he did admit he had previously made a statement where he said the time of the meeting was 3.30 p.m

Questions arose of Winter and why it took him so long to tell anyone what he allegedly saw.

And if he did think Mick shot his brother why he continued onto the Two-up game?

Questions arose of Minter and why it took him so long to tell anyone what he allegedly saw. And if he did think Mick shot his brother why he continued onto the Two-up game?

One of the key pieces of evidence came from Slackie’s son Keith that put Minter’s testimony into doubt.

Minter told police he heard Michael demand money and heard Slackie reply, 'I have given you money before and you haven't paid it back.'

He said Michael Maher replied, 'I want some money urgently and I don't care how I get it.'

However Slackie’s son Keith told the court that it would be impossible for Minter to understand what was being said by his father at the distance he was from the pair. He said no one could understand his dad and it was even more difficult when he became excited, even at close range.

It was the slurring, that resulted in his brother Mick being acquitted of murdering Slackie.

In the face of so much conflicting and uncertain evidence from witnesses the jury returned after 40 minutes deliberation and found Mick Maher not guilty.

Perhaps the best indication of who murdered Slackie Maher came from crane driver Stanley Shumaker who was at the two-up game the day before the murder.

'Slack' Maher loaned £30 to a man,” said Shumaker, “and I told Maher that he had been a fool, as the man had not been to the game for a long time and might not get it back.”

Slackie was supposed to meet him in the park the next day to be paid back. The 48-year-old was paid back, with lead.

In a strange turn of events Maher became the third ex-boxer murdered in New South Wales in three months. However the first two were connected with the Sydney Gangs who controlled illegal casinos, brothels, SP bookmaking, drug trafficking and protection rackets.

Ex-boxer William “Bobby” Lee was involved with a feud with rival standover man, Chow Hayes over an assault of an associate of Lee. On 1 May, two months before Slackie’s murder, a gunman, presumably sent by Lee, shot dead Hayes' nephew and young boxer, Dennis "Danny" Simmons.

It was thought it was a case of mistaken identity with Hayes the real target. A month later Hayes did not make a mistake and shot Lee at the Ziegfeld Club in Kings Cross in the early hours of the morning.