“BULLY” HAYES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 65, 12 March 1912, Page 3

“BULLY” HAYES.

DEATH OF NELSON RESIDENT WHO (ARRESTED HIM. SOME REMINLSOENCES. It is not generally known tha “Dully” Hayes once visited Ndso. nearly half a century ago and anchor ed his ship in ‘the Croixelles Harbour Captain “Bully” Hayes, of worhl-wid. piratical fame, says the Nelson Mail who has frequently been set up as ; hero of (romance by Australian writer, of fiction, and who will probably, a, time rolls on, be guilded with posthu mous glory, belonging to the rapidly vanishing past. Another link whicconnected the present generation wit that of the past was severed by < th death on February, 2nd of Mr Georg. Britt, of Washington Valley,, who,pan sed away at the ripe age of 82. Mr Britt was the only survivor o the boat’s crew that sailed dow. Queen Charlotte Sound in the hit summer of 186 b, armed with a' w:ii rant to arrest Hayes, who was “wan; cd” for running off with a cutter fro: Akaroa. and for abducting a girl. T;; boat’s crew comprised Alfred Bragg; George Britt, and Captain Hebberleall of whom were sworn in as specia constables ,aud were under the eon. maud of Constable Overend, of Picton. Captain Hebberlcy, who wa: nicknamed “Wprscr” by a Maori girl has given his name to Worser Bay, h Wellington Harbour. Hayes used 1 boast to his cronies, and not wilhou reason, that one ol his best point: was picking up a ship and a steward ess oji the cheap. It is worthy o note that two late Nelson residentf Air George Britt and Mr William Ak ersten, both outwitted the redoubt able “Bully.” Air Akersten com I manded the boat’s crow that seize-i Hayes’ schooner, the Black Diamond in the Croixelles, just after the h meutable drowning of Hayes’s fa-mil in that harbour in 1861. The Rlac? Diamond was sold by auction in Nel son under a Sydney warrant, and wawrecked soon afterwards on tlho Wan ganui bar. / When the warrant from Akaro; reached Constaldc Overend at Pirtoj ho made inquiries about the Sound and learned that a strange craft ha< been seen anchored behind Pickersgd Island. Fortunately for their enter prize Ha yes bad been put in hi; I bertji that night in a. state of intoxi cation. Ho a.woko from a drunke] sleep to stare into the muzzle o Constable Overond’s revolver and wit Britt and Hebberlcy pinioning hi a.nns. (As usual, however, ho wa: clever enough to escape the meshes o the law. Hayes blustered when re leased, and declared ho would get tin best lawyer in the colony and com mcnco an action for ,Gooo damages Ho hinted (unsuccessfully) that if the; handed him over the cutter and store; ho might bo induced to let the actioi drop. Mr Britt, who had an excel lent memory, remembered one cnrioui circumstance—that the picturesque desperado had a pair of curling-tong! among bis belongings in the cabin that were evidently' in constant use. “He was a had looking man,” sail Air Britt, when d welling on his re minescences. “A line, wolj-lmilt man lint there was something had a.lion 1 his eyes. Von could not,move without their following your slightest move.” Several who were well acquainted with Hayes have lived in Nelson. One was ii, man who had sailed with him to Sydney in the forties, when Ilaycr was first mate of an emigrant ship, and who used to relate the incidents of the voyage. The late Hon. Richard Reeves once auctioned a cargo for him, and often told how cleverly Hayes evaded a. warrant in Hokitika. There is also Air James Garrett, who tells to-day his experiences of Hayes at Wanganui; and Air Bond, sour., who still vividly remembers Captain “Bully” Hayes’s sensational visit to the Colonist office in 1801 with a horsewhip, with which he threatened to castigate the late Air D. AI. Luckie, then editor of that paper. All's John Humphrey, of Rangitikei

Street, is a daughter of the late M Britt.