The Last of the Bushrangers: An Account of the Capture of the Kelly Gang — John Shaqi
The Last of the Bushrangers: An Account of the Capture of the Kelly GangHare, Francis Augustus
History
The Last of the Bushrangers: An Account of the Capture of the Kelly Gang
Hare, Francis Augustus
Brigands and robbers -- Australia; Kelly, Ned, 1855-1880
The first thing we did was to ask Power to give us something to eat,
as we were starving. He said, "If you go to that tree," pointing to
it, "you will find some fine corned beef;" and so it turned out. We
also found some tea, sugar, and bread in his tent. We threw away the
water that was boiling, for fear it might have been poisoned, refilled
the "billy," and made some tea. When the black-fellow saw the bread
and meat he exclaimed, "Oh, golly, what a feed we shall have!" And so
we did. Power tried to eat some breakfast, but complained that we had
taken his appetite away. The only money we found in his tent or gunyah
consisted of the three five-pound notes with my initials on them.
The spot on which the gunyah was situated was a most commanding
position, and it would have been almost impossible to approach it
without observation, had Power been awake. It was within half a mile
of Quinn's house. I found out afterwards that the signal given by the
Quinns when danger was near was the crack of a stock-whip, which meant,
"Be on the look-out." The dogs and peacock were also signals, but, as
luck would have it, appeared to be off their guard that night.
The place where Power was captured was about fifty miles from the
nearest watch-house, and after breakfast we started on our journey.
The first difficulty we had to contend with was how the two of us,
viz., my brother officer and myself, were to pass these desperadoes at
Quinn's house without an attempt at a rescue. The clerk had aroused the
Quinns when he had passed to secure the horses, and when we were within
sight of the house, we saw six or eight men standing at the door, and
the dogs were barking at a great rate, and the peacock shrieking. My
brother officer went in advance with Power, revolver in hand, while I
remained some distance in the rear armed with Power's double-barrelled
gun, so as to protect them if an attempt at a rescue had been made, but
no attempt was made, not even a remark while he passed. Of L---- we
saw nothing more; after we found the hollow tree he returned to Greta
as fast as he could, without, as far as we know, being seen by any
one. We mounted Power on the black-fellow's horse until we were able
to secure another for him, and at seven o'clock on Sunday night we had
him in the Wangaratta lock-up, safe and secure. During the journey he
related many of his exploits, and seemed quite proud of his doings.
Many of his stories were most amusing, and whenever we met any one on
the road he called out, "They have got poor Power at last, but they
caught him asleep."
On arriving at Wangaratta, we found the inhabitants were all going to
church; in some way it became known that Power was captured, and in a
few moments the churches were emptied, and every one flocked to see the
notorious bushranger who had kept the whole colony in such a state of
excitement for so many months.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account