GARRATT THE BUSHEANGER.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 193, 13 March 1868, Page 3

GARRATT THE BUSHEANGER.

The Melbourne Argus gives the following account of the career of Garratt the bushranger, and of his adventures since his discharge from the Dunedin gaol:—

The following particulars of a case which was heard at the City Court, on Saturday, are curiously illustrative of the wavering fortunes attending a. bushranger's career, and point with unmistakable clearness to the'doficient working of our present penal system. Henry Grarratt «Zz'as Bouse, was charged with being a prisoner of the Crown illegally at large. Garratt had been '" forwarded" from New Zealand in •charge of two detectives, and in accordance with instructions issue'l by Police-commissioner Branigan at Otago. During the year 1854 Garratt's name ngured conspicously in Victorian bushTanging annals. In 1855 he appeared as ringleader of a band of desperadoes 'who robbed the Bank of Victoria at Ballarat. Soon after the perpetration of that outrage he was arrested, tried, and sentenced to ten years penal servitude in Pentridge Stockade. In consequence of his good conduct while in confinement, he was granted a ticket-of-leave in 1861. According to his own ■account, he w r as then advised by the heads of the police department to leave the Colony without loss of time, or else he would be subjected to the endless persecution of the police. Acting upon the suggestion, Garratt started on foot from Melbourne on an overland trip to Sydney, with a floating capital of one shilling and a halfpenny in his pocket. After enduring many pr : - vations and surmounting numerous difficulties,he arrivedat his destination. By friendly assistance a passage was secured for him in a sailing vessel bound for a New Zealand port, and in the course of a few weeks Garratt once more felt firm earth and a virgin soil beneath his tread, and his individuality in a great measure screened from the prying interference of the Victorian detectives. Whatever chances of social prospeaity and peaceful occupation Garratt may have been revolving in his mind at this period of his history appear to have been completely dispelled by the first sight of the waving forests and sunny slopes of the Mauugatua Eanges. His old spirit of lawless returned with renewed vigor, and by way of speedily establishing for ihitnself a local habitation and name, he " stuck-up" 23 persons during one day. His capture soon followed, and he was sentenced to eight years' penal servitude in Dunedin Gaol. His exemplary prison conduct again brought him under the notice of the gaol functionaries, and on the expiration of the sixth year of his term His Excellency the Governor granted him a free pardon. About a fortnight ago he was discharged from custody. Shortly before his discharge, and while at work in the quarries, Garratt sustained a severe injury in the knee, which necessitated his going into hospital after leaving the gaol. While under medical treatment he received a message from the chief commissioner of police, inquiring if it was his (Garratt's) intention to remain in the colony. Garratt replied that he did intend to remain in Otago, because he could secure an honest Hvelihood in New Zealand; but that hia well-known character in Victoria would debar him of all chance of remunerative employment. He likewise expressed his willingness to go to America if the Government would guarantee his passage. This answer seems not to have dovetailed with the police-commissioner's arrange-. ttents, and ho accordingly proceeded to the hospital, accompanied by eight

subordinates, arrested Garratt, refused him an interview with his medical advisers, bundled him into a dray, and subsequently shipped him, in the custody of two detectives, on board the steamer Auckland, which was about sailing for Melbourne, at which city he was to be charged, under the Convict's Prevention Act, with being a prisoner of the Crown illegally at large. When placed in front of the dock-on Saturday, Garratt persistently protested against being remanded. He mentioned, that he had no desire to remain in Melbourne, where " people would set their dogs upon him ;" and that he preferred returning to otago. He further insisted that the offence with which he "was charged was a compulsory one, and had been pressed upon him by the malevolent course adopted by the New Zealand police. In fact, he was guiltless of the charge. The Act provided a penalty of two years' imprisonment for any felon landing in this colony who had not exercised the privileges of a freeman for two years previously. One of the detectives who accompanied Garratt from New Zealand informed the Bench that the prisoner had been arrested without a warrant. Superintendent Lyttelton read a letter which had been received by Captain Standish frcm the police department at Otago, intimating that the time of the Auckland's sailing prevented the issuing of a warrant, and -that the prisoner had been " forwarded" without the document. Mr. Sturt censured the course Mr. Branigan had taken in the matter. The prisoner was allowed seven days to leave the colony, otherwise he "would be sent back to Otago. Garratt said if the Government would not grant him a rpassage he would "be knocked about like a shuttlecock" between the police functionaries of Otago and Victoria. He was told to bring the matter before ithe -Chief Commissioner in Melbourne.