VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 11, 5 July 1851, Page 4

VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

The ' Melbourne Morning Herald ' of April, S'th, in its summary of news from the above place, gives the following specimens of outrages committed by bushrangers, which shew the dangers that life and property are exposed to in penal settlements :—: — Boa Vista, the residence of the Rev. J. G. Medland, was visited by two men on SaturcU^y evening last, one of whom was armed with a gun, and another with a piece of iron. They first attempted to ■**se<rtite the man servant, but the entrance of Mr. Medland interrupted them, and he became the object of attack. One of the female servants got to the front door as Mr. Medland was thrown down, and dreading discovery, the villian decamped. The other escaped by a back door. Bushranging.— A passholder named Hunt, who is an absconder from private service at" Brown's River for two months back, has been recently perpetrating several felonies in that locality, and about the neighbourhood of Mr. Baynton and Mr. Proctor. It is supposed that the fellow doffs his apparel from time to time as a codge to his pursuit: that he changes his haunts is evident from what has already reached the knowledge of the police. -He is reported to be armed with a large knife, which is attached to the end of a long bludgeon, and may be considered a rather formidable weapon. Singular to remark, the man has never yet been officially announced in

the Hobart Town Gazette as an absconder, although he has now been at large for two months. The Bushrangers.— As the Rev Mr. Medland was riding on horseback to Boa Vista, on Saturday evening, two nien darted from the road side, and one of them discharged the contents of a loaded musket at the reverend gentleman, who fortunately escaped unhurt. Btohranging.— Man Shot!— We have just received intelligence of the capture of a man named M'Kay, who, according to his own statement, has been "at large in the bush for the last eighteen months. It appears that on Wednesday last he robbed a hut, at a place called Water-meetings, district of Great Swenport, occupied by two young men named Haughey and Thomas Gilbert. The three men were returning home, and saw M'Kay leaving the hut with a bundle ; suspecting that he had been robbing it, they immediately challenged him, but he refused to stop. They followed him, and the bushranger then stopped short, and pulled out a doublebarrel gun, and said he would shoot the first man who came near him. Gilbert replied ' Shoot, you can only kill one of us !' and attempted to close with him. M'Kay then fired one barrel, the ball from which passed through Gilbert's cap. Finding that he had not wounded him, the bushranger immediately fired the second barrel, the ball from which passed through Gilbert's throat, and killed him on the spot. The two brothers then collared the bushranger, and a desperate struggle ensued between them to get possession of the weapon. After a fight of nearly three-quarters of an hour they rested the gun from him, and M'Kay becoming weak from beating and loss of blood, they threw him down, and secured him by tying his hands behind him with a handkerchief. One remained to guard him, while the other returned to the hut for some cords to secure his hands and feet. Having so fastened him,as to prevent his making escape, one went to Mr. O'Connor's farm for a horse and cart to remove him to Swansea. Having returned with the cart, they secured M'Kay with ropes in thebed of the cart, and conveyed him to Swansea gaol. An inquest was held upon the body of the unfortunate man Gilbert, and a verdict of wilful murder returned against M'Kay, who has been forwarded to the Oatlands gaol to take his trial. This is the second time M'Kay has been in the bush, having on a former occasion been seven years at large before he was captured.