“EARLY DAYS IN CENTRAL OTAGO.”

Otago Witness, Issue 3995, 7 October 1930, Page 7

“EARLY DAYS IN CENTRAL OTAGO.”

TO THE EDITOR.

Sib, —I read with great interest in your columns “ Early Dayo in Central Otago," by Mr Gilkison, touching on old times and old-timers, many of whom are well known to nie —Captain Jackson Barry, Vincent Pyke, James Hazlett, and many others. Also letters by Messrs T. Fitz Gibbon and Richard Norman referring to the Clyde gold robbery. I was at Cromwell at the time it took place, in 1870. Well do 1 remember the incident. I was a small boy playing about in Cromwell. Like most boys, we heard of the robbery whispered from one boy to another, and we were terrified. The robber was heard galloping across the Cromwell bridge at midnight, and excitement ran high throughout the goldfields. My father, Sergeant John Cassels, was in charge of Cromwell at the time. Early in the morning a mounted trooper named Constable M'Lennan or M'Lellan rode from Clyde. He came with a despatch to my. father to take a hand in the game. He was sent by Inspector Dalgliesh, but my father happened to be 60 miles away at Cardrona. It was not known at the time that this mounted

•trooper was the man that engineered the' plot. Mr Norman . states that Sergeant Smith, of Queenstown, made th-' firi—s: , That is not correct. It was Sergeant

Hunt,, of Arrowtown. Then again, the burnt bridle was part of the clue. The real clue, however, was found in the halfburnt saddle. The wax-end stitching in the saddle was proved not to be saddler’s stitch, but that of a bootmaker. Rennie became afraid and gave the show away At the trial Rennie got five years, Inspector Dalgliesh was dismissed, and M'Lennan. the chief actor, got off. Ser-geant-Hunt and second party got the reward. Thus ended the greatest gold robbery in the history of Central Otago. For I am one of the olden times, , And may be thought too slow. But give to me. those good old days Of fifty years ago. —I am, etc., W. Cassels. Papanui, Christchurch, October 1.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —In your issue of September 23 Mr Richard Norman quotes “ F. A. C.,” . whoever he may be, as giving him a slightly different version from mine of. Rennie and the gold robbery. Of course Mr Norman is entitled to his opinion, but with all due' respect to him, it took something stronger than a waxed thread to connect Rennie with the gold robbery. Then he says it was a Sergeant Smith, of Queenstown, who got his first information from, a man i named Cowan' or Cowie, who kept a' small pstore and bakery across the Kawarau

River from Gibbston, and who also had a chair across the river for the use of the miners to get their supplies from there. Now, in so. far as the statement of the chair and store is concerned, he is correct, but the part relating to Cowan or Cowie and Sergeant Smith is quite the opposite. In the first place it was, as I stated in my last letter, a man named Cook or Harry _ Cook, as he was better known at that time, who kept the store, and not Cowan or Cowie. In the next place it was Sergeant M'Gan, who was stationed ’in Queenstown at the time of the robbery and not Smith. I was well acquainted with both Sergeants M'Gan and Hunt of the Arrow in those days. When the robbery was discovered, of course the police all over, the country were notified about it. Sergeant M'Gan left Queenstown immediately to watch the Morven ferry punt on the Kawarau River for any suspicious persons who might be going that way without result, as we know that Rennie did not come that. way. That is all the Queenstown police had to do with it.

When Sergeant M'Gan left Queenstown he was stationed in Cromwell, and before leaving for the latter place he presented me with his photograph taken in his trooper uniform when escorting the gold to Clyde, which I enclose to copy into the Otago Witness with your kind permission. 1 Afterwards I lost the run of him entirely. When Sergeant Hunt left Arrow he got a

billet up at Nelson as sheriff. He also Jiresented me with his photograph when ic was going awpy from here, but unfortunately I lost that.

Now about John A. Miller. I was also well acquainted with him when he was president of the Miners’ Association in Arrowtown. He was Lake- County correspondent for the Otago Witness in those days. He also wrote “Chats with the Farmers ” when here, and a tale that he called “The Lake Wakatipu Maiden,” I think for that paper. He could write some good articles, but being a foreigner he had not a good command of the English language, and I think his writings were subject to a good deal of correcting before being printed. I also took him to be a man who used to draw a good deal from his own imagination. He could write or tell you where gold was or should be. Yet, he never could find sufficient enough to lay aside for his old age, as he died poor in Arrow Hospital, and I have reason to believe he was not in Arrow when Bully Hayes was supposed to be there. To conclude these few notes, I beg to state 1 did not intend to enter into a controversy with anyone, and I decline to do so now. I merely stated what I knew concerning the Arrow portion of the “ Early Days in Central Otago,” and now, Mr Editor, I thank you.—l am etc., T. Fitz Gibbon. Arrow Junction, October 1.