THE BUSHRANGING ERA IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 3356, 10 January 1879, Page 4

THE BUSHRANGING ERA IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

(JVom Hit Anjun.) &ofar as tho origin of the bushranging -•yetem hi New South Wales was the work of •single n>»u, its author was Frank Gardiner. Jung before the days of Gardinor there had, v* course, been bushrangers in all tho Aus-»-tralian Colonies, and especially in those possessing u convict population. But it was Cferdiner who first aawhow much might be -clone by bandiug together, by securing the test of horses and equipment, and by crganinng a thorough system of information by the *' bush Ids 'raph. 1 ' Gardiner firct came into j»rointnciio3 as n bußJirangcr in lb6o, when after his release an ft tickot-oMeiwe,ho joined with Peisloy ami three or four other oriminals, And. systematically robbed on the highways. I'eiuley wne captured early iu 1862, and • fthough he escaped while being taken to Sydney, and shot and wounded several people, L<j was again taken, conyicled, and hanged. • lost no time in getting together another gang, fill of- them mcro youths, and numbering nearly a dozen men. The bushranger Gilbert held the post of second in command, and tho band, bosides being well arened and excellently mounted, were dressed iu some pretensions to uniform. In June 1862, the band committed the act which first xnjuto the name of Gardiner notorious through *iU the colonies. Tliis waß the robbory of the "Western gold escort at Engowra Creek. As itue jx» ice escort was passing along tho creek At was suddenly fired upon by » party of 11 men, who had been planted in ambush. The * -ihusurangcrs fired in regular volleys to the word of comnv.ind, and tho police wero so .entirely taken hy surprise that resistance was aseless. Several of these were severely Mminded, and the robbers got possession of Alte whole of the gold and money, amounting in value ti> ftbout £14,000. Some of the Accomplices wore afterwards captured, and Bomo of the gold was recovered, bat the ringleaders of the party evaded pnrsuit. For some time utter this the touebrangera were supreme, and _ scarcely a <iuy passed without some act of violence and ■uVpredatiou being committed. The bushrangwu tiewa was » regular item iu the Sydney tcUWome, and u week seldom passed without out being told "Gurdiner and Gilbort 3topped and robbed the • mail. Sir Frederick Tollinger and tho police are in active puvsuit." ft was, if we recollect right, about this time ihnt our local I'unch had a cartoon ot " The 3?uthurst mail nrrived at its destination : tho bushrangers suiting the letters." It was somewhat later that a London paper which had turned its attention to fcho extraordinary state «rf';hiflg3 in tho adjoining Colony was surprised to find that, in tho midst ot thene acts «f desperate violence normal life went on iu ate usual jog-trot fashion, and that a journal published in one of tho infested districts, which in its telegraphic column 3 narrated HBToral acts of desperate brigandage on the rond close by, could discover nothing more immediately interesting to discuss in its leading columns than a reported proposal to abolish Greenwich Naval Hospital. Uno day lowards the end of 1862 a single bushranger atuolt up tho Mudgcc mail with four pawn- j gerd, anu afterwards stopped ar.d bound to a ireo three travellers. Soon afterwards five j snore travellers came up, and hud. to undergo I the same treatment. Tho bushranger then j calmly waited for the mail towards Sydney. | which he robbed of gold and money. Six months afterwards Gardiner and companion hold possession of the road near Carcoar for aororal hours, and robbed everyone who /pissed. Fights between tho bushrangers and the police, often leading to fatal results, were «f frequent occurrence, aud tho robber gene:<m!ly managed to get off safely, owing to the' fact of their Grat-class horseiiesh. Still, in epite of many indecisivo encounters, some of the bushrangers were, on several occasions, elicl or captured, when those agninst whom . any acts of blood could bo proved were liangeu, aud the others sentenced to long Serms of imprisonment. Three of the men, or rather lads, concerned in tho escort robberies were, early in 1863, captured and convicted. One was hanged, and the capital sentences passed on tho others were comau'fd to terms of imprisonment. This fleemud for a time to have the effect of dispersing tho gang. The leader, Gardiner, made his way lo Queensland, where, under a different came, ho kept a small bush public-house. The disappearance of Oardiner, however, had littlo effect on his associates. They soon re-assembled, and their acts, under tho leadership of Gilbert, O'Meally, and Bon Hall, were more audacious nod bloodthirsty than over. Prominent in the gang were the two Burkes, one of whom ■was captured by the police, and another was eome time afterwards shot dead by Mr Keightloy, gold commissioner, near Rockley. The gang were attacking Mr Keightley's house when he shot tho bushranger, but tho force against him being too great he was overpowered and made a prisoner. One of tho bushrangers (Vane), loaded his pistol, and ewore that he would shoot Mr Keightlcy as veugeauco for the death of Burke, and flhere is little reason to doubt that he would have dono so, but for the entreaties of Mrs Keightly, who rushed in front of the pistol aud refused to stand aside. The band at length consented to hold him a prison or till a J* fansom of £500 was taken to their camp, and they insisted that it should bo brought by "Mrs Keightley alone. This brave lady obtained the money, and took it to the bushrangers, thus "saving her husband's life. After this affair tho Government offered a reward of .-£4OOO for tho the capture of the four ringleaders, aud £100 each for the others of the party. I'oi- sorao time the coarse of affairs went steadily against tho bushrangers, although on one duy in Wov. 1863, three of thorn held tho highroad- for a whole clay near Gunning, fV'fiking up 30 pooplo, whom they roli'u'd of about £150. In the same month Vane, upj»rently moved by remorse, voluntarily suvjrrndercd to a Catholic priest, ut King's Plains, Michael Leary was captured, Lynham wu.* arrested by Sub-Inspector Stephenson, while robbing Mr Sitwoll's houso near Goulbnra, and O'Meally was shot dead while attacking Mr Campbell's house at Goimbla. Tn the beginning of 1864 tho same predominance of the polico was shown, and Mackie, Johneon, Purcoll, tUo two Lauuts, aud Lowric, •were tuken on different occasions, the lastnamed being shot dead. It was in March of the same year that Gardinor was trucked to liis retreat at Peak Downs, Queensland, arrested and taken to Sydney, where he was tried and convicted on several charges, and sentenced to terms amounting to 3:J ycara' lard labour. This run of good luck, however, did not continue without serious interluptioHs, und somo of tho most audacious and successful of the robberies committed by the Gilbert, Hall, and Dunn gang took place during the next 12 months. Of course these rutlians could not have had «o long a career of impunity but for the faot that in tho parts of tho Colony in which they mainly eonilnod their dcprodalions they received a great deal of countenance and assistance from tho lower classes of the population. Many of tho shepherds and other station bands belonged to the convict chs", and thoir sympathies wero wholly on the side of tho ]>u3hrivngcra, who only dM what they would willingly have done but for the danger. The robbers, too, did all in their power to encou:rago this feeling, and like brigands of all times and all countries, made a rncrit that. " fclioy never robbed the poor man, and only robbed the rich to^ give ( to tho poor." The oloniont of truth in this 's that they seldom meddled with swagsmon aud such persons, from whom nothing was to be got ; and stories were told of somo of them, with generous anagnauinuty, aftor robbingatravoller of all his gold and note;, returning him a little silver. But such " rich men " as farmera returning from market with the proceeds of a fow loads of whoat, representing the return for tho labour. of months, or storekeepes going to tho nearest. town to pay a sum of mjney to meet an ■obligation, wore robbed without scruple. The jjcoundrols at times feltt'ieinselvca sufficiently secure to indulge in gallantry, and a kind of of a very robber patten*. r £h\X9 on oue occasion Gilbert's gang visited un inn i*t Canowindra, stuck up all the persons they found thero, " stood treat all round, and compelled tho daughters of the publicau to pltiy dance initsio on the piano while thoy danced. However, before leaving they did not forget to take nil the monoy they could lay their hands on. 4a anothor timo tho same rufliana wont to a ball that was taking place at Binda, mid took part, armed as they were, in tho festivities. JL lol'ul storekeeper named Morris could not aubinit quietly to this dcgr.irlatiou, and tried to arrango for thotr capture, but some information of his intentions was given to tho bushrtingora. Gilbort tried to shoot him, but xsile 1, .'"and he made bin escape, and tho 10Lhtve, determined to" be revenged, went to his turned his wife and children out of

doors, plundered the place, and then set lire to it, waiting to see that no attempt was made to extinguish the flames. In May, 1865, the band was suddenly suppressed. Ben Hall was shot dead at Billabong Creek on the sth of the month, and a week afterwards Gilbert was shot. Dunn was wounded, but escaped, but was again shot, wounded, aud captured in tho following December, and though he escaped from the Dubbo police station, he was re-taken four days afterwards, and ended hiß career by being hanged at Darlinghurst. Though bushranging was by no means ended, this formidable gang, at any rate, was not only dispersed, but most of its members were killed.

Up to thia point we have made no reference to perhaps the most murderous and bloodthirsty bushranger ever known in Australia. This was the infamous Morgan, who has made his name a terror in the Colony by his wantonly cruel deer's. Morgan, in this differing from the others, usually kept by himself, and his most daring and atrocious acts wero performed single-handed. In November, 1863, he visited Vincent's station, near Wagga Waggit, Btuck up all the station hand3 and other persons, 21 altogether, and tied Mr Yincent to a tree to look on while he burned down the homestead. In tho following June he wept to Mr Houty's station at Round-hill, about dO miles from Albury, bailed up the company present, called all tlie station men together, and after handing drinks to them all round, he, while riding away, fired among them from pure wantonness, wounding one man in the hand. As a reply to a remark from one of tho gentlemen present, Morgan tried to shoot him, and then began firing indiscriminately among the crowd. He fracturod tho leg of young Mr Heriot, a neighbouring settler, a*nd then, after giving permission to Mr M'Lean to go for a doctor, Morgan shot him just as he mounted his horse, and he died soon afterwards. He oxchanged shots with the police a few days afterwards, and shot Sergeant M'Ginnity dond. Some months afterwards he shot a Chinaman while robbing the Albury mail coach. In April, 1865, he crossed into Victoria and stuck up soino persons at King River and near Benalla. The police were on ! the alert, a number of volunteers turned out, a cordon was drawn around the place, and Morgan was run to ground while robbing Peechelba Station, about 20 miles from Wangarntta. The house was surrounded, and when Morgan went out in the morning and walked towards the stockyard to get a horse, lie was shot dead by one of the station men named John Windlaw, and the career of this most ferocious of the banditti was thus brought to a suitable end.

After the dispersal and nearly complete destruction of the Hall and Gilbert gang, tho buehranging regime was continued in New South Wales by the bushranger Ward, known us Thunderbolt, and the gang known as the Clarke?, from two of its prominent members being brothers of that name. One of this band was shot by a lock-up keeper named O'Grady, at Wallis's public-house, on the road to Bega, but tho poor fellow paid for his oourago with his life. Soon afterwards— ■ we arc ttoW in April, 18(50, and the bushranging era has lasted more than four years — Orooitwell, a prisoner, while being taken from Berrima to Sydney, managed to snatch a gun from one of the constables, with which ho ehol Constable Raymond dead. Ee was subsequently hanged. A bushranger named Michael Reilly, while on his way to join Clnrko's gang, was shot by Detective M'Glone, and an outlaw, named Pat Connell, was shot by the police shortly afterwards. In November of this year Burke the bushranger succoeded in getting over to Melbourne, where he spent some days. He was making his way up through the Plenty district, when he shot dead a young farmer named Hurst, who tried to capture him, and was then taken by the othor mombers of the family, tried, convicted, and hanged in Melbourne Gaol. In December, 1856, Mr Grenfell, Commissioner of Crown Lands, was shot and killed by bushrangers near Narraiuine.

In January the following year took place a trup.edy closely comparable witli that of the last few weeks in the Mansfield district. Allured by tho large rewards offered for the apprehension of the Clarkes, a party of four special constables left Braidwood determined to make the attempt to capture these ruffians. Thoy had assumed the character of hawkers, and were well armed. There is no doubt that information as to their character and intentions was conveyed to the Clarkes. The purty spent a night at Jingden, and nothing more was seen of them alive. Their bodies were afterw... is found in a group a little way from the road. They had evidently been surprised, and shot dead by the Clarkes, aided by a confederate, known as the Long Tailor, but named James Dorvcn. This ruffian was himself found murdered a few weeks afterwards, he having been despatched by his mates to prevent him from giving information to the police. In April tho Clarkes were tracked by the police to a hut at Jingera, and surrendered after a long fight. They wero convicted and hanged, and tho rest of their gang soon afterwards fell one by one into the hands of the law. The last of their party was sentenced in September, and had it not been for the continued immunity of Thunderbolt from capture, buslnanging would by that time have, been stamped right out. This ruffian, after a wontu'ilul aeries of escapes, lasting for some years, at last was shot by Constable Walkei 1 in May, 1870, and his death ended the buehranging era in Now South Wales.

It had lasted over nine years. If we set aside tho single case of Thunderbolt, and regard the bushranging period, as wo fairly may, as ended with tho suppression of the last organised band of marauders — that of the Clarke^ — it has endured from 1861 to 1867, upwards of six years. I'uriug that timo the number of persons murdered by the bushrangiv.» 20. The bushrangers shot or hanged numbered 23. This represents tho loss of human life in this lawless period. We have no ostimate of tho amount of property stolon, but even if we had it is apparent that this would convey no indication of the pecuniary loss to society occasioned by their depredations, and the fooling vi general insecurity they produced When we go a step further, proceed to leßs material considerations, and think of the ruinous demoralisation occasioned by the view of armed ruffians engaging weekly, and often successfully, in pitched battles with the police, a certain section of the population actively sympathising with them, we then see that wo are dealing with evil consequences of this state of things which cannot bo assessed by any standard of value. The practical moral of the whole story is that in such matter the iirat loss is the least, and that it is in ovory way cheaper to stamp out tho beginnings, at any cost of money, and labour, and temporary inconvenience, and auerificG, than to incur the risk of having to contend for years against such a canker proying on tho vital parts of society.

Holiday Tbains. — Tho railways were heavily work'd in Otago on Boxing Day. One train from the Clutha contained 23 carriages crammed, and another from Port Ohalmera had 20 carriages.

The Government o>- tui: Matjkitius. — "Thcro is a good deal of covert irony," remarks tho Newcastle I'ilot, "in a paragraph that has been going the round of the colonial Press respecting the removal of Sir George If o wen from Victoria to the Mauritius. Sir George is told by the Mauritius organ that although ho will suffer in salary by the exchange, ho will gain in a variety of respects. Tho society ho will Cnd on the sugar cane island wili bo very superior to that which ho has had to endure in Victoria. Ho will live in a Crown Colony whero he will be free from the harraes or' responsible Ministers. He will have, like the Viceroy of India, his residence on tho lulls for the summer, and at St. Louis during the part of tho year in which it is ju-t possible to exist in that city of plague, pestilence, malaria, and other evils. We can only wish Sir George joy at the prospect there is before him. Probably the society he wili find will bo of a higher character than that of; Mr Berry, Mr Woods, ov Mr Lalor. But then this iB not saying much for it. He might bo amongst Colonial brethren of a far higher typo. Tho disciple of Confucius, who has just translated Professor Darwin's celebrated book for the benefit of his countrymen, and who ia engaged on Butler's lnatchlOBS Analogy, is a philosop.er compared with Major Smith. But what we know of St Louis is that lew people care to live there longer than thoy can help. All Europeans leave it as early as they can conveniently do! so. Samoa, Tonga, and many islands in the South Seas aro looked upon as Gardens of Es!en coin parod with tho country to the Gyvcmorahip of which Sir Gcovgo Bowen haa been transferred from Victoria."