SERGEANT O'MALLEY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8157, 11 June 1906, Page 5

SERGEANT O'MALLEY.

EXCITING EXPERIENCES. AFTER THE BUSHRANGERS. THE MAUNGATAPU MURDERS. Yesterday Sergeant O'Malley, who for over nine years has been in charge of the Mastertnn Police Force, severe.d his connection with the; Polioe Force, retiring on a neqaJQR, In conversation with a Wwapap?* Age reporter Sergeant Q'MaUe? ' • heoansQout to New &sa»- dald be was twenty yeara " - a * when I 1 „«.„,. /in- - a ge, and five ? e .""i II p ( - e ]3th - 1865 ) *>e joined the.P olloel< . oroa afc ohrlgt< j oQarca '. under Commissioner Shear- : man. About that time gold was ICund on the West Coast of the South Island, and a rush set in. Inspector Broham went over to.the ! Coast in charge of a number of policemen. Shortly afterwards JftWtffter contingent of men, in%<4R4foff Sergeant O'Malley, were ttokitika from Ohristohuroh. They" 'had. to .go by steamer to Hokitika, JMid ' oalled at Wellington, Pioton aflfi-. iVrJaon on the way. The voyage in those d'a'js'used to ocoupy a month. EARLY DAYS ON THE COAST. Gold had also been discovered at that time at Kanieri, about four miles from Hokitika. .MoMakJn's boats, ■which plied betwoen Melbourne and Hokitika and Sydney and Hokitika, brought thousands of miners to the West Coast. "We used to call Hokitika a suburb of Melbourne and Sydney in those days," said the Sergeant. Revell street, named after Mr Revell the warden there, soon extended for a distance of two miles. Buildings! ; Well, Hokitika might appropriately , have been called Canvas Town be-" , cause all the buildings were of can- . vas. The polioe station was off ( Revell Street. It wasn't a very , elaborate "building," and was simply a framework of wood cov* ' f ered with calico and lined with l carpet drugget. The lookup was roughly built of logs. There was . no gaol at Hokitika, and prisoners t charged with serious offences had , to be taken to Ohristohuroh by boat , and tried at toe sessions. Witnesses bad to be taken as well,, and , this cost a considerable sum of : money. About a year after the ] gold rush broke out a gaol was , built at Hokitika, and Judge Grea j , son, of Canterbury, held sittings , there. The West Coast r in those J days was a part of the province of Canterbury.

BURGESS AND HIS GANG. "The most notorious bushrangers on toe Coast in those days," said the Sergeant, "were Burgess, Kelly, Levy, and Sullivan." had been discovered at Blur Spur, Waimea, Stafford Town, and other places, and rushes bad set in. Burgess ana bis gang had a bogus claim at Kanneiri. They used fco work on their claim about an hour each day. It was supposed that they put in the rest of their time planning and carrying out robberies. Almost every day the bodies of two or three men would be found on the beach. A verdict of "Found Drowned" was always returned at the inquests, but it was generally considered thatthe men had met with foul play, and suspicion fell on the Burgess Gang. There was' never any real evidence to connect the gang with the deaths of the men found on the beapb. The supposition was that the men ware garrotted and thrown into the Hokitika River. Their boiies would be carried down the river to the sea, and then washed up on to the beaoh. It was. estimated that hundreds of bodies were thrown into the river during the early days of the gold rush.

THEIR PREVIOUS RECORD. The gang first came under the notice of Detectives Howard and Dyer and Acting- Deteotive Oarr. Previous reoords showed, that Burgess, Kelly, Levy and Sullivan were tioket-of-leave men from Australia, They came from Otago to the West Coast, and were, of course, as tiokefc-of-leave men, under the direct notice of tbe police. The gang had been suspected of being engaged in other work than gold mining. It was soon ascertained that tbeir claim was a bogus one, and they were "marked" by the police.

' THE RUSH TO ROSS. A rush to Jones' Creek (afterwards called Ross) set in, and ten thousand men were soon on the field A sergeant and six men, including Sergeant O'Malley, were sent there. This new goldfield was about twenty miles below Hokitika. Tbe'rolioo quarters were the usual canvas "building," The "lookup" was a "bell" tent, in the centre of which was stump. To this stump was fastened a bullock-chain. Refractory prisoners were handouffed to the bullock chain, and a policeman kept guard night and day. The banks wore all built of wood and oanvas. Every evening the bank authorities would bring their gold to the police station, there to be guarded by the police. Between 5,000 and 6,000 ounces of gold were brougnt to the station eaoh night.

AIDED BY A DETECTIVE. One evening the uniforms and revolvers belonging to the polioe at Hokitika were stolen from the police station. It was suspected at the time fthat Burgess and his gang bad something to do with the matter, but the puzzling part of the business was how they managed to secure the uniforms and revolvers without the police knowing. The mystery was solved afterwards wheu the gang was captured. Sullivan, who turned Queen's evidence, stated that AotingDeteotive Oarr, who was stationed at Hokitika, had handed the uniforms and revolvers to the gang while the policemen were at tea. Oarr was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Two other men, named Chamberlain and De Laoey, who were also in league with the gang, were tried at the same time. Chamberlain ieoeived fourteen years' imprisonment, while, De Laoey received a heavy sentence too. Chamberlain died a few weeks ago. Shortly after the uniforms and revolvers had been stolen, * Mrs Qußdri gave informs*

tion to Inspector Brobam that the gang intended to dress np in the. uniforms and rob the banks at %ss. Acting on this information In,speofcor Broham oommunioated with the sergeant at Rosa, Nothing heard of the gang for some time, and it seemed as it they h,ad, disappeared. Sergeant Q'MaHay, who was at Ross, at the. waa eont tf* a 'gpJd.Qel4 about miles fyom, Uoag, No f xoar be foo,njflf Utoju"- _, aoß coulcl UPd. U *ft«. *>• , jg at DonahueV iPne vsk /•- nought that they had keo>-' mother direction. A storer nfc Donahue's informed Ser- . geant O'Malley that he had soon one of the members of the gao£. Word was then received bv the police that » the gang intended to "stick W a , Mr Kerr, a hanker, and rob him. , After conversing witu Inspeotor . Broham, Mr Kerr 'agreed to go , / through to Donahue's, carrying with , him a large sum of money. It was decided tnat a posse of police, dressed as miners, should follow in a straggling line behind Mr Kerr, However, the bushrangers did not put in an appearanoe. Nor was the gang met with on the return journey. Why the gang did not "stick up" the banker is probably explained by the fact that Levy went into a storekeeper's at Donahue's and asked the owner of the shop, "Who is the foxy-looking oove on the grey horse with the gang of miners who haro just oome in?" The storekeeper replied, without thinking, "Oh, that's the Sergeant of Polioe from Boss." Needless to say, the gang did not trouble Mr Kerr 1 after that as they evidently "smelt a rat." A NARROW ESCAPE That the gang were qot far from Donahue's, and that Kergeant O'Malley hud had a' narrow escape from being shot was shown at the trial of Oarr, De Laoey, and Chamberlain, Sergeant O'Mallny ,was in the Court during the hearing of the obarges against the three men. Sullivan was the obief witness, and. in the oourse of hia evidence, said, "That constable (pointing to Sergeant O'Malley) passed within fifty yards of our camp on a certain day (naming the day). We were on oar Way to Donahue's and were camped at the time the oonstable passed.. We saw him,, and Kelly, recognising Constable O'Malley, raised bis gun and was about to fire when Burgess stopped him. 'What are you going to do, yon fool!' said Burgess, 'he'll be missed and the whole force will be out looking for hitr.' The oonstable was then allowed tu go by." Sergeant O'Malley afterwards visited the spot indicated by Sullivan, and found the remains of a camp and also a bullet mould. A MAILMAN "STUCK UP." During the time Sergeant O'Malley was at Rose, the mailman was "stuck np" and robbed by two men. They wore masks made of sugar bags. The letters were afterwards ' found in the bush, all money and valuables having been taften out of them. Inspector Broham, two detectives, and several constables, including Sergeant O'Malley, laid in wait for the gang when the mailman came along again, bat the latter was not molested. THE END OF THE GANG.

The gang disappeared from the Hokitika district, and eventually. tamed up in tbe Nehon district. Dobson, a surveyor, was murdered by tbe gang up tbe Arnold River. It is thought tbat tbe gang intended to [[murder a Mr Fox, a banker, and matook Dobson for him. Dobson's body was found ab jut eleven days after the deed was done. The gang followed up tbe goJd rushes in tbe Nelson district jand at Wakamarina. They again disappeared for a time, and then the whole district was horrified at the news of the Maungatapn murders. Four gold buyers and a swagger named Battle were murdered by tbe gang. Shortly after this tbe Nelson police captured the gang. Sullivan turned Queen's evidence. Burgess, Kelly and Levy were hanged. Sullivan was, imprisoned for life. He was sent out of the colony afterwards, and went to America, fie was hunted out of Amerioa ana came back to Auckland. He was again sent out of the colony. Nothing more was heard of the last member of tbe notorious Burgess gang.

CONCLUSION./ Sergeant O'Malley was stationed about two years at Rcss and then returned to Hokitika. He had many exciting experiences. In 1875 he was promoted to sergeant. On the abolition of Provincial Government in 187.7 the police forces of the colony were amalgamated with tbe armed constabulary. In 1878 Sergeant O'Malley was transferred from Hokitika to Napier to take charge of the Napier police force. After being five years at Napier he was transferred to take charge of the Waipawa district. In conjunction with his other duties there, he acted as Clerk of the Court. After being five years at Waipawa he was transferred to Ohrjstohurcb, and t was eighteen months there. Sergeant O'Malley was then plaoed in oharge of the Lytteltoa police. After about six years service there, he was transferred to Wellington. He was stationed about six months at Blenheim, and spent nearly three years in Wellington altogether. He was then transferred to Masterton, where ho has served tor nine years and three months. Sergeant O'Malley had been, nearly forty-one years in the service, having joined on June 13tb, 18G5. He has been a sergeant for thirty-one years.