CAPTURE OF THE MOONLIGHT GANG.

Kumara Times, Issue 992, 4 December 1879, Page 3

CAPTURE OF THE MOONLIGHT GANG.

Further Particulars. The bushVanging business at Wantabadgery has been the principal feature of interest. The four prisoners and two ineri shot dead were taken on to Gundagai. There an inquest was held, and a Verdict of “ Justifiable homicide” returned. Constable Bowen) who was so badly woUnded, died on Sunday. At the inquest a verdict of “ Wilful Imurder” was returned against the prisoners. The prisoners will be forwarded to Sydney and tried there. The following particulars will afford some idea of the encounter, which was carried on with all the skill and bravery of an engagement, and it is a wonder that no further casualties occurred. The country facing the house is elevated, and the police coming over the brow of the hill deployed in front of the house. The encounter com- . tnenced and was carried on gallantly. The bushrangers’ horses having been frightened away, the police advanced from tree to tree. The boy Wernecke held the slip-panel corner in a pluckey manner for a considerable time. He shot Constable Berry’s horse dead, and Sent several bullets unpleasantly close to Berry himself. So eager was the youth for the fray that he was continually endeavoring to find a new Vantage point, but in changing his position he was eventually shot through the side by Berry. In falling he cried out, “Oh God, lam shot! and I am only fifteen. 1 ’ His age is entered in the police z'ecords as nineteen, but his appearance was that of a mere lad. Constables Berry and Bowen then entered by the slip panel and made for the kitchen, a detached building at the rear of the house, to which the remainer of the gang had retreated. Bowen was shot through the neck, and fell down alongside the boy Wel-neCR. Sergeant Carrol then moved cautiously round the gable of the house, and rushed the kitchen, and the encounter then terminated as has been already described. There are bullet inarks on several trees behind Which the police stood, and six in the face of the front wall of the house. The windows of the kitchen and its front wall are riddled, whilst many bullets are sticking inside the wall. The member of the gang (Logan) who managod to evade the police when Moonlight surrendered was discovered by Mrs M'Clede next morning under her parents’ bed. He had at first concealed himself between the mattrasses, and during the night went underneath altogether. Finding a hen’s nest with six eggs underneath, he feasted on them. On his discovery, information Was given to the police, and he was duly arrested. Moonlight is a thorough scoundrel, and has led his Unfortunate companions into this crime. Wernecke was the son of a hotelkeeper in Melbourne, and Williams is said to be identical With Frank Johns, of Ballarat. Great sympathy is felt for Constable Bowen, who was the son of a vicar in Pembrokeshire,