History of the Australian BushrangersBoxall, George
History
History of the Australian Bushrangers
Boxall, George
Bushrangers -- Australia
Jackey Jackey succeeded in escaping from Port Arthur and immediately
resumed his bushranging career. He was captured, however, after a
very short run and was sent to Glenorchy Probation Station for milder
treatment. Probably this attempt at reformation came too late, but
however this may have been, it had little beneficial effect. Jackey
Jackey made his escape and again began bushranging. He was captured
in a house in Hobart Town and was sentenced to death. The sentence,
however, was commuted to penal servitude for life and he was sent to
Norfolk Island, where we shall hear of him again later on.
In the meantime, Jackey Jackey's old mate, Paddy Curran, continued to
rob as before. He went to Major Lockyer's station and entered the men's
hut while they were having their Christmas dinner, in 1840. He had a
pair of handcuffs hanging at his belt, and was therefore thought to
be a constable out on the spree. He helped himself freely to the good
things on the table, and behaved generally so as to induce the idea
that he had been drinking. One of the men, however, said he did not
believe that the visitor was "a drunken trap," and Curran immediately
knocked him down with the butt of his gun. The man jumped up at once
and rushed at Curran. There was a struggle for a time, and the man
got Curran down. He was, however, too much exhausted to hold him, and
Curran got up. The other men, who were all assigned servants on the
estate, looked on and applauded the wrestlers, but not one of them
made any motion to assist his mate, otherwise Curran might easily have
been captured. After his wrestling match Curran walked out of the hut,
mounted his horse, and rode away. On the following day Curran again
went to the station, and found Mr. North, son-in-law to Major Lockyer,
and another man in the store. He called on them to bail up, and both
men held their hands up. Curran was about to enter the store-door when
he was pinioned from behind. Mr. North and his store-keeper rushed
forward, and after a severe struggle, during which the bushranger
tried hard to get his gun free, he was captured and tied. The man who
had pinioned him was the man with whom he had had the wrestling match
the day before. Curran was taken to Goulburn for examination, and was
remanded to Berrima to take his trial, "where," said the _Port Phillip
Herald_, "it is to be hoped he will be more securely confined, and not
allowed to escape, as he did before."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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