SHEEP THIEF’S BIDS FOR FREEDOM

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27374, 12 June 1954, Page 3

SHEEP THIEF’S BIDS FOR FREEDOM

MACKENZIE COUNTRY

A Conflict Of Evidence ESCAPES FROM LYTTELTON GAOL II (Specially Written for “The Press”)

[By

W. VANCE]

Mackenzie was not long in prison before lie began making bids for freedom. Here there is a conflict of evidence, as the “Lyttelton Times” reported two escapes, but Sergeant Seager said that Mackenzie escaped from prison three times. There is also confusion about the time and places of the escapes as well as about the recaptures of the prisoner. Seager did not write his account until 45 years after Mackenzie’s trial. It would therefore be reasonable to assume that the contemporary reports of the “Lyttelton Times” are the more accurate. However, one of these' escapes might not have been reported in the newspaper, and even if Seager is wrong in his dates, he is likely to have remembered the details of what he regarded as the most important eyent in his experience as gaoler.

In the “Lyttelton Times” of May 12, 1855, there appeared the following notice of Mackenzie’s .first escape:— £5O reward SHERIFF’S OFFICE, LYTTELTON. MAY 11th, 1855. Whereas the prisoner, James Mackenzie, sentenced to a term of imprisonment at the last session of the Supreme Court for sheep stealing, did on the 10th inst. succeed in making his escape and is still at large, the above reward will be paid to any person or persons who may succeed in apprehending him and handing him over to the proper authorities. DESCRIPTION OF MACKENZIE:—Height about sft Ilin; hair light; eyes small and grey; nose large and acquiline; face long and thin; body spare and muscular. At the time of effecting his escape he had on a brown wideawake, cloth waistcoat, check shirt marked with a broad arrow and numbered corduroy trousers; pair of worsted socks; no boots or shoes. He speaks English imperfectly and feigns generally that he understands only Gaelic. He has a peculiar habit of putting his fingers behind him and snapping his fingers. (sgd.) Charles Simeon, SHERIFF. On the day the advertisement appeared, May 12, the “Lyttelton Times” reported: “The prisoner Mackenzie, as was fully anticipated, has escaped. He was employed with other prisoners at the cutting in Oxford street on Thursday morning (May 10) when, taking advantage of the temporary absence of the policeman from the portion of work he was engaged on, he started for the mountains, and, although pursuit was instantly commenced by the whole of the police force, he has not yet been recaptured. A reward of £5O, as will be seen in another column, has been offered for his apprehension. Recapture of Prisoner

“After the above was in type, a rumour reached us that Mackenzie was captured this morning* at Mr Lake’s station, about 25 miles beyond Christchurch.” This report was amplified by a further report on May 16, reading:— “The - rumour which reached us late

on Friday evening respecting the capture of Mackenzie turns out to be correct. It appears that the police had tracked the prisoner along the foot of the hills by Mr C. Wilson’s (Cracroft Wilson’s Cashmere property) taking the plain in the direction of Mr A. Lake’s (Milton) station, evidently making his way south. He called at the station about 7 o’clock on Friday morning (Mdy 11) apparently exhausted, as the men were sitting down to breakfast. Several friends of Mr Lake’s happened to be visiting him, some of whom immediately recognised Mackenzie. He was at once arrested, but allowed to refresh himself. Afterwards he was brought on towards the port by Mr C. Russell and some of the workmen. About midway between Mr Lake’s station and Christchurch, Mackenzie attempted to escape. Mr Russell called upon him to stop, but as he paid no heed to the warning, Mr Russell fired, and wounded him in the thigh and back. Mackenzie hesitated for a moment, putting his hand to his thigh, but again started a great pace. One of the men accompanying’ Mr Russell then unharnessed one of the horses «from the dray, and literally ran Mackenzie down. He was rebound and brought on to Christchurch on the dray,

whence he was conducted by the police to the goal in Lyttelton.” Further information about this escape was given by Philip Laraman, Templeton, who, speaking at the anniversary celebrations in 1909, said that he was present when Mackenzie was taken after breaking out of the lock-up at the Selwyn (presumably Lake’s station). Laraman said that Mackenzie arrived at the Selwyn in bare feet and was carrying a pickhandle. John S. Caverhill, of Motunau station, recognised him. Laraman said that the £5O reward should have been shared between Charles Russell, Charles Ward, and Tom Morant, but that Russell did not claim his share and this third share was still held by'the Police Department.

Mackenzie’s Second Escape The second escape was reported in the “Lyttelton Times” of June 20, 1855, when it was stated:—“Mackenzie has again escaped from the vigilance of his keepers. He broke away from the goal between five and six last' evening, taking portions of his irons with him.” On June 23, 1855, the “Lyttelton Times” stated: “Mackenzie has been again captured. He was brought into Lyttelton on Thursday evening by two Maoris. It appears that this time Mackenzie did not extend his excursions beyond Rapaki. We understand that he was discovered in the bush above Rapaki endeavouring to free himself from his shackles.”

Sergeant Seager, in' “Canterbury Old and New,” wrote that Mackenzie’s first escape took place four months after his conviction, Mackenzie ran up Oxford street, Lyttelton, towards Mount Pleasant, but was captured next day and sentenced by two Justives of the Peace, J. T. Cookson and Fitzgerald, to three months in 181 b irons. Seager relates that, one afternoon, within three months of Mackenzie’s first escape, the prisoner was seen to knock off the handle froih his pick, drop his irons, and race up the hill towards Sumner Valley. The guard fired but missed and the police were soon in pursuit. Next morning the searchers found Mackenzie’s iron anklets, the rivets of which had been cut through with a jagged tin. Beyond White’s accommodation house, near Courtenay, Mackenzie was overtaken, bound with a tether rope, put into a dray, and escorted to Christchurch. Seager continues: “When the party had gone a few miles it was -discovered that Mackenzie had once more made his escape. Chase was given, and he refused to stop, one of the men fired at him, and, striking him in the back with a slug, brought him down. He was then taken back to Lyttelton gaol and heavily ironed.”

Third Bid For Freedom The thibd escape, according to Seager, took place four months later when Mackenzie escaped from a hardlabour gang. The police unsuccessfully searched the country for miles around. After seeing smoke rising from the bush near Cooper’s Knobs, Seager offered a reward of £lO to the Rapaki Maoris if they captured the prisoner. Within the next few days they brought in Mackenzie “trussed up like a fowl, and tied to a pole with flax.”

Sympathy For Prisoner

The capture, trial, and escapes of Mackenzie created much interest throughout the colony, as well as gaining sympathy for him. When the Governor, Sir Thomas Gore Browne,

visited Christchurch in January 1856. the case was officially brought to his notice, and he remitted the remainder of Mackenzie's sentence, provided he left the country and did not return. The granting of this pardon drew comment from Samuel Butler, who, in “A First Year in the Canterbury Settlement.” wrote: “Mackenzie is a man of great physical strength and can be no common character, many stories are told about him, and his fame will be lasting. He was taken

and escaped more than once, and finally was pardoned by the Governor, on condition of his leaving New Zealand. It was rather a strange proceeding, and I doubt how fair to the country which he may have chosen to honour with his presence, for I should suppose there is hardly a more daring and dangerous rascal

going. However, his boldness and skill had won him sympathy and admiration, so that I believe the pardon was rather a popular act than other*

Mackenzie was released immediately after the pardon was granted and the “Lyttelton Times” of January 12, 1856, reported: “We understand that Mackenzie has, since his liberation, paid his passage money to Melbourne.”

From then on nothing was heard of Mackenzie, but this has not prevented a mass of stories and legends being built around his name. Almost every fact about him—even his name—has been disputed. Seager called him “Jock;” others referred to him as “John,” and he is officially referred to as “James.”

Controversy About Route The route along which he drove his stolen sheep from “The Levels” station to the Mackenzie Country has also been the subject of controversy Both Sidebottom and Rhodes identified Mackenzie, so he must have been known at “The Levels” and probably had worked as a shepherd on the station. Each evening the sheep at Taiko flat were driven into a yard (folded) for safety during the night. Mackenzie, who would know of this Sractice, probably was in hiding when shepherds folded the sheep and left for “The Levels.” As soon as they were' out of sight, he would start driving the sheep up Mount Misery (1800 feet), and would probably continue driving them throughout the night. This start would get him well away from Taiko flat before morning. • After crossing Mount Misery, Mackenzie drove the mob along the Pareora river-bed to the Pareora gorge, then probably on to the Opawa Downs, keeping to the higher ground to avoid swamps, wash-outs, and the heavy growth nt scrub and flax on the flats. Near Mona Vale he would turn westward until reaching the Dalgety range, then drive the sheep along this range to its western ridge, whicii ends in a steep face overlooking the junction of the two streams where now stands Mackenzie’s monument. If he used this route, he did not, as is generally .supposed, come through Mackenzie pass. Sidebottom, who followed Mackenzie’s tracks, says in his report: “On looking down a very abrupt hill, we saw the sheep,” and later, “up this awful hill we started at about ten o’clock, by moonlight.” From this, it would appear that the sheep returned by the route they came—along the Dalgety range—as no par. of the Mackenize pass can be described as an “awful mH.”

“Sheep Handled Famously Well” The sheep were evidently stolen on the night of Wednesday, for on Thursday, March 1, the less was reported to Sidebottom. On Friday, Sidebottom and the two Maoris reached the Pareora gorge, and on Saturday they probably camped in the ’ hills that later became part of Opawa station. Here the Maoris waited until Sidebottom went to the Cave out-station and returned with ipore food. On Sunday they continuea tracking the sheep and in the evening sighted Mackenzie’s camp and the # sheep. T. D. Burnett said: “Mackenzie’s raid from first to last occupied some four days/ in which time the sheep travelled approximately 40 miles. Considering that the greater length of the route would be unhurried and in its rough primeval state, the average mileage per day, some ten miles, was extraordinarily good. Mackenzie must have got the utmost out of the sheep arid probably travelled far into the night, but withal must have'handled the sheep famously well, because Sidebottom,, in his report, makes no reference to having come up with any exhausted sheep.”

(To be continued.)