History of the Australian BushrangersBoxall, George
History
History of the Australian Bushrangers
Boxall, George
Bushrangers -- Australia
On Sunday, October 24th, 1841, a man entered the house of a soldier
in Parramatta and offered to pay half-a-crown for a night's lodging.
The offer was accepted, but the host afterwards, noticing that his
lodger carried pistols, became suspicious and went to the police
station. A constable accompanied him back and identified the lodger as
a bushranger who "was wanted." It was said that he had stuck up Mr.
Frazer and several other persons just outside the town. The constable
made an attempt to seize him and was promptly knocked down. The
bushranger ran towards the river, and was followed and caught after a
severe struggle. He walked quietly back towards the lock-up until he
came to the corner of Macquarie Street, when suddenly wrenching himself
free from the two men who were holding his arms, he exclaimed "This is
my road," and "bolted." He was seen two days later at Longbottom, about
half-way between Parramatta and Sydney, and was chased, but succeeded
in eluding capture in the scrub at Five Dock.
In February, 1842, the house of Mr. Gray in Balmain was stuck up. The
bushrangers collected the watches, rings, money, and other valuables,
and then compelled Mr. and Mrs. Gray and the servants to drink
tumblers full of sherry wine to their success. They were very merry,
and drank Mr. and Mrs. Gray's healths. When they departed they took
a dozen and a half of sherry and a dozen of bottled ale with them to
"have a spree in the bush."
In the same month Colonel and Mrs. Gwynne, Major Woore, and Mr.
Thomas Woore, J.P., with the Chief Constable of Goulburn, and another
constable, were driving near Bargo Brush. The party was in two
carriages, with the constable on horseback. They were stopped by a gang
which it was said had just robbed the Goulburn mail. The constable
on horseback was the only one of the party who carried a gun, and he
bolted as soon as the bushrangers appeared, dropping his musket. The
robbers took £11 14s. and the gun, but after holding a consultation
among themselves they returned three one-pound notes and the fourteen
shillings so that "the gentlemen might drink their healths." Then,
wishing the party good-day, they departed.
In January, William Gunn and John South were arrested as runaways
from the station at Port Macquarie. It was said that they had been at
large for more than a year and had been with the Jewboy. They robbed
the northern mail near Scone and were followed and captured. They wore
black coats and vests, beaver hats and clean white shirts, "as if they
had just come from an inn or a gentleman's residence."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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