THE LATE GOLD ROBBERY, AT CLYDE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 435, 19 August 1870, Page 3

THE LATE GOLD ROBBERY, AT CLYDE.

OUR SPECIAL SPIRITUALISTIC INTERVIEWER. Arrowtown, Tuesday, Aug. 16. My commission as your Special Spiritualistic Intjrviewer I have carried out to the best of my ability, and I adhered strictly to your instructions in following up all the way from Clyde in the wake of the detectives to this place, via the Gentle Annie and the Crown Terrace. So that I might he the better able to bring ttt & satisfactory conclusion ray interviewings, I paid os. on Saturday night last to hear the celebrated Doctor Carr’s lecture, and the result is that after your readers have read all I have to say, they will have precious little more to learn about that part of the gold robbery which was enacted in this quarter. I used always to think that the Arrow was one of the quietest goldfields in the province, but so many circumstances have happened these last few years that it has acquired considerable notoriety. After pro racing apt scholars and clever legislators, it can now add daring and notorious thieves. Verily it has become a great place. However, there is nothing like being talked about, and perhaps, it is better to do evil thau nothing at all. So now to my story. Mr. George Ronnie, the gentleman who acted so prominent a part in the late gold robbery, came up here about March, 1869, having been engaged by Mr. Warden Beetham as Wardsman to the Wakatip Hospital, his wife acting as matron or nurse. He fulfilled his duties satisfactorily for some three mouths, when, uufortuuat> iy his wife die I, hj aving a baby some few weeks’ old. Rennie appears to have been a very affectionate husband, and was greatly cut up at his wife’s i eath. He took great care of the child, of which he was very fond, and placed it in the charge of a worthy oouple at Hayes Lake, with whom it now remains. After leaving the Hospital Rennie commenced business as a shoemaker at Arrowtown, and, from his unassuming and obliging manners was liberally supported. He was excellent company, and his shop used to be full of people on Saturday nights, discussing the events of the week or the politics of the period. It was his habit to ride out on horseback after church ou Sunday afternoons, not returning till the following day. I might also say that he regularly attended service at the Presbyterian Church at Arrowtown, under the Ministrations of the Rev. D. Ross. How hj : profited by them I cannot say. My opinion of the part he took in the late late robbery is that he was persuaded into it, and was not a robber by nature. The temptation to take a share in such au easily accomplished enterprise waS so great that many a stronger-minded and better man than Rennie would have engaged iu it. The robbery, as you all know, was cleverly conceived, hut clumsily carried out at the finish. To show you how Rennie stood in public estimation' 1 may say that people were astonished when they heard of the rubbery, but more so when th y .heard who was one of the principal actors in it On Sunday, the 3ist ultimo, at noon, Rennie left the Arrow on horseback, after his usual fashion, He informed his friends that he was merely going for a ride, and the circumstance attracted no attention whatever. The robbery, of the gold mrier charge of the Escort at Clyde was doubtless conceived about the Ist of June last, as at that time Rennie ami M'Lellan (who was here on furlough) went down to Clyi.e together. M'Leunan was a shipmate of Rennie’s, and they appeared to be no intimate terms, and Rennie had enquired of one liuterviewed ifhe could lay him on to a good raining speculation, as he had a friend most anxious to engage in a speculation of that sort. Between the Ist of June last and the date of the robbery Rennie again visited Clyde, when, no doubt the mbbery was finally planned, only awaiting an op. portunity to he carried into effect, The horse he rode was as old bay one, called Speargrass, and he purchased it on the 17th of March last at auction, of Mr. George Fachc, auctioneer, of Clyde, for the sum of £5, at the sale of the offsets of Mr. George Barker, late proprietor of the National Hotel. This was the same horse that he rode from Clyde, and which Knocked up with him at the tea-mile Shanty, ou the Crown Range, and the real Cause of the dir * covery of the robbery. From what I can learn, Rennie had great difficulty in bringing the horse along the last few miles before reaching the shanty, or rather the place where the shanty once Stood, and when he got there the animal would proceed no further, and he was compelled to abandon it. In a thicket of scrub close by he lit a fire, and changed his clothes, burned the the suit he had worn, also the head portion of the bridle. He appeared not to have succeeded Very satisfactorily in destroying the leather and clothes, as a little further on towards the Arrow he lit a second fire After this he probably put the notes and and gold which he had been carrying into the lining of the saddle, slinging the load on his back by the bridle reins. The saddle and the reins have not turned up as yet, so far as lean learn, but these are facts which lead to the discovery. On Monday morning, between eight and nine o’clock, Harry Cook, a man who owns some cattle and a store on the bank of the Eawarau, about a quarter of a mile from the site of the old ten-mile shanty, fancied that he smelt a peculiar smell of something burning. He went to see, and at a short distance from his house saw a fire, while a a horse, evidently very much exhausted, standing close by. A man was also there, Cook made towards the man, who was going in the direction of the Arrow, an 1 i between font and five hundred yards off He followed in tho direction the man had I taken, and shortly came upon him in a Uljtlo hollow, lying down hip lao? to-

wards the ground. Re was dressed in <* dark coat and trowsers, and looked like a drunken digger. Cook seeing the but-end of a revolver under hia coat, passed on without speaking, and returned home. On the following day, Tuesday, he saw the horse feeding alongside the road, but did not see ion Wednesday. Cook, living in such in exit of she way place, did not hear of the robbery, therefore his suspicions were not roused. He saw the remains of burnt clothing, but concluded the man had merely burned an old dirty suit which, was probably full of vermin. On the Saturday following a man called at Cook’s store, and rested to boil his billy. From him Cook first heard of the Gold Escort robbery. He then b(dd the man what he had Seen on Monday, relating all the circumstances. The same man came ibtd Arrowtown, and went on Monday last to Messrs. Hallenstein’s store to purchase a shirt. He then related to Mr. Innes, the storemanwhat Cook had told him. Mr. Innes promptly communicated with the Police who Saw the man, but denied his statement to Mr. Innes. Mr. Innes saw- the man again the next day, and enquired why he denied what he had told him to the police. The man replied that he did so because he thought his statement might get him into a scrape. He left the Arrow shortly afterwards fortbe purpose of going to Moke Creek, via Arthur’s Point Bridge; Mr. Innes wrote at once to Constable M'Gann, at Queenstown), informing him of the circumstance. Mr. Arndt, Messrs. Halleustein’s Manager at Arrowtown, also saw the man, w'ho informed him thathe denied to the Police what he told Mr. Innes because he was afraid of getting into a scrape. When MrArndt sawConstableM Gann at Arrowtown. Shortly afterwards he informed him of the circumstances of the man, and suggested a search on the Crown Terrace, which was made, and the remains of two fires found also the charred remains ■ f the head stall of a riding bridle, a paif of moleskin trousers, a piece of the rim of a felt hat, s false moustache made from the hair of a horses’ tail, and bound up with a piece of shoemakers wax end, false whiskers made of curled horse hair, the same as used for •luffing saddles, also a mixed tweed coat of a greenish hue partly burnt, and underneath a stone was found a bit. From these circumstances Bennie was suspected, and efforts were made to identify him with the property. On Saturday morning last, Mr. James Garroway, of the Royal Oak Hotel, was called into Bank of New Zealand by the police, and asked if he could identify the remains of the bridle found. He could not do so. On passing Rennie’s shop, on his way home, Rennie called in Mr. Garroway. and enquired what the Police wanted and what information he had given, when he described the cirumstances of the burnt bridle. Mr, Garroway noticed that Rennie changed color greatly. Mr. George Barker from the description given by the Police believed he could identify the bridle, and upon its production, with the bit, by Constable M'Gann recognised lo as a portion of a bridle once hanging up in Mr. Haine’s sa tiler’s shop which he (Rennie) had charge of. Mt. Barker then went to Camp and saw the remains of the clothes, which he could not positively identify, but he said that he believed he had seen the coat worn by a tall policeman (meaning M'Leunan. now in custody at Clyde), The Police then went to Rennie’s shop, who denied all knowledge of the Robbery, but from facts that alterwarda transpired, they went to his promises again about four o'clock, and informed him that he must consider himself in custody. They then kept a strict watch over him until between ten and eleven P. M., when they arrested him. and took him to the lock-up. They tried hard to induce him to confess, but failed. About one o'clock on Sun lay Rennie made a confession, when he left shortly afterwards in charge of two Policemen for Clyde, and to point out the whereabouts of the gold and notes. The rest of course you know. No o 'e appears to have seen Rennie return to Arrowtown on the of th<rrobbery, but shortly after noon, he was seen working at his trade in his shop On the Saturday following, Rennie danced a Highland-tiing at the Library Hall, at a benefit given on behalf of the Library funds. His conduct generally up to his arrest did not leave room for the least suspicion that he was implicated in so great a crime.