Mathew described him as being '5ft 3in in height' and weighing 40kg, with 'thick, long, wavy and tangled' hair and attired in 'a blue serge shirt gathered at the waist by a saddle strap.

[3] In 1871, Campbell and Nelly became estranged after an incident in which he beat her and made her dive into a waterhole to retrieve his tomahawk.

[7] He was taken to Maryborough and, in October 1871, was sentenced to ten years penal servitude for assault and attempt to commit rape.

[13] On 3 August, an Aboriginal woman attended the Kilkivan police barracks and reported that Campbell had visited her hut the previous night.

Campbell attempted to convince an Aboriginal man named Wild Toby to procure grog for him.

The party fired at him and gave chase, and during their pursuit encountered three mounted marsupial scalpers who had lost sight of him.

In the evening of the same day, Campbell reportedly rode up to another hut near Cinnabar, belonging to an Aboriginal shepherd, and attempted to kidnap his daughter.

The police arrived two hours later to track him, and he was reportedly spotted at the Rise and Shine Inn in Kilkivan that evening.

Campbell got away and was next seen in early November sticking up an outstation at Durundur, where he stole a double-barrel shotgun and 19 shillings an hour after trackers hunting him had departed the station.

[20] On 13 November, it was announced that the Colonial Secretary, Arthur Hunter Palmer, had declared Campbell an outlaw and offered a £25 reward for his capture.

They received a report that Campbell had robbed a property 30 miles south of them, rode all night, and arrived at the spot the next morning.

Campbell was hopping between boulders to hide his tracks and constructed spouts out of bark to collect rainwater in the absence of waterholes.

He asked a farmer's wife, Mrs Stewart, and her sister, 15-year-old Jane McAlister, for matches and leaned on a wagon talking to them for some time.

On 14 March, he slept at a house in Tewantin, and the next morning was captured by two Aboriginal men in a paddock, who tied him up with a clothesline.

On 3 April, he faced court before Judge Blake and was sentenced to 14 years penal servitude for robbery under arms.

On 10 May, he was committed for trial without bail on the rape charge in the Ipswich Circuit Court, with Jane McAlister, Dr. Alexander Mackintosh MD, Flora Macdougal Stewart, and Samuel Bolden called as witnesses.

The prosecution argued that Campbell had pointed a pistol at Mrs. Stewart and asked for 'a scrape' with her sister, Jane.

Campbell was reported to have said prior to the sentencing, "There's some story there; I did not do such thing; that woman tell lot of lie on me; I’m not supposed to be guilty; he [referring to female witness] says a lot of stories about me putting revolver to his head; I was standing by Creek and he called me down himself; before that he asked me how much money I had; I'm not supposed to be guilty."

"[28] On the day after the execution, Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay, known as the 'Moon Man', removed Campbell's brain and photographed it for study.

After two months the preservation process was completed, and he had the body sent to Professor Rudolf Virchow in Berlin for further study and dissection.