An Eventful Career.

Hastings Standard, Issue 190, 7 December 1896, Page 4

An Eventful Career.

LIFE AND DEATH OF BAYLEY. The (loath of Bayley was announced a few days ago in our cables. The following account of his career will be found interesting by a number of our readers:— Bayley was a Victorian native, and went prospecting in North Queensi land when only 16. He battled round | the Tower, Hughenden, Normanton, Croydon, and the Palmer. He landed in Western Australia with 80s, tramped , to Southern Cross and earned a little money, which he lost iu the Bunbiiry ! tin-mines. Then he walked back to ' Roeburn, and, with a mate, walked j barefooted to the Ashburton, 280 i Bailee, in nine days. He did well,

went to the Murehison and did better, and had a trip homo to Victoria. Then lie return'., d to Western Australia, roachod tlio C'oelfjarilie district, and with Ford, dropped on the Reward after a good many months' unprofitable hunting. They had pegged out a prospecting area when Ilanuan and Keadv, two other well-known prospectors, appeared 011 the scene. Bay ley and Forde did not relish being disturbed, and at this, Bayley, with characteristic cnteness, showed Ilannan a few fair specimens of gold and earnestly advised him that it was good enough for him (Ilannan) to stay and try the show. Ilannan took the bait so readly that for fear of himself being tracked to a good show of his own he struck camp and moved oft with all haste the same night. Bayley and Ford were mad with delight to find in the morning no trace of their visitors. Some few days after this, however, an accident occurred to the pair but for which the iind would not have been made public for at least another two months. A dingo stole all the bacon fat they had in the camp. Their only means of substance was on tinned meat and damper, and j great store was set by their bacon. There was literally nothing to shoot, and scarcely a living thing except li/.ards and aborigines to be seen. It was a case of a trip of 1-10 miles into Southern Cross (the nearest town) for stores, so oft they went. On their way back they again met Ilannan anil Heady on Hunt's survey track. Ilannan and Heady, in turn meeting another party, were able to tell them, in answer to their questions, that Bayley was on ahead. These men proved to be trackers from Southern Cross, sent out by a small j»s syndicate for the express purpose of tracing Bayley, who, from his continuous spell in the district and his occasional call for stores, the astute syndicate reckoned must be on something surprisingsy rich. Owing to Ilannan and Ready's timely guidance the trackers found out the show. Bayley and Ford showed their prospecting area duly pegged and warned them oil' the ground. But it was of no use. and it was found that a tier digging a trench as near as possible to the boundary as a blind, these men had prospected on the area with so much success that they had exposed the cap of a magnificent reef from which so much was afterwards won. They were forced to disgorge 200oz admitted to have been taken from this iind, and no doubt this was not the whole. It was now high time for Bayley and Ford to set to work, and, "leaving Ford behind, Bayley journeyed into Southern Cross, reported'the iind, and took out a lease. So rich was the cap of the reef where exposed that the first stroke of the pick by Ford dislodged a lump of ore 70oz. 'in weight containing -iOoz. of pure gold, and they cut out with a tomahawk a piece containing 140oz. Afterwards 50()owere dollied out in three days, and the Gcwt. of tailings, which already had yielded 1,7500z. of pure gold, when treated gave another 27*oz. Bayley and Ford's troubles now began in earnest, as, besides having to continually risk their lives to save the gold in their possession from theft, they had to keep a very close and constant watch on the claim. Also, they had the pleasure of hearing of rushes planned on every hand. At this stage the utter fearlessness of Bayley stood him in good stead. Olio morning Bayley, returning from a short distances found that Ford had been unable to prevent a score of men from assembling on the ground. Bayley was wroth and expostulated with the men to some good purpose, but the ringleader, a big burly man, was immovable until Bayley, stripping to the waist, offered to fight him for SOft. on the line of reef as a stake. The fellow at first was eager for the fray, but eventually withdrew, whereupon several others begin to mutter their willingness. Bayley saw trouble in store on these terms, and, quickly producing two revolvers, he declared that he would shoot down like a dog the first man who moved a step nearer. The next episode was a jumping case in which the principal actor admitted when under examination by Warden Finnerty that his employers were a lot of the "leading" men of Perth. The principal witness was one of the original trackers, but under cross-examination his evidence broke down and Bayley and Ford won the day. It was also attempted to be shown that the claim was on the ground of the Hampton Plains Syndicate, who have exclusive mining privileges over a large area. W hen an offer, therefore, of £6OOO cash and a sixth interest was made to Bayley and his mate it is no wonder that they closed. From the Reward claim the present company in the first six mouths of its operations took 52,000 odd ounces of gold (over £200,000 worth). Bayley died at Avenel, Victoria, of congestion of the liver, aged 31 years. He leaves a widow, but no family.