THE CAPTURE OF EIGHT BUSHRANGERS AT THE TAIERI.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume II, Issue 59, 21 November 1863, Page 6

THE CAPTURE OF EIGHT BUSHRANGERS AT THE TAIERI.

Commissioner Branigan last week received information that several cases of " sticking up" had occurred on the road to the new rush at the West Taieri, and that storekeepers and miners had the pockets cut out of their trousers while asleep in their tents at night. In one case a Mr Mackintosh, a storekeeper, lost nearly £IOO, and many others still larger amouuts. In fact the intelligence proved that plunder and lawlessness were rife in the streets of the township. A body of police, under the charge of Mr Inspector Sincock, was therefore despatched to the locality, and the result has been the arrest of eight notorious ruffians. On arriving at the rush, the suspicions of the police fell upon a gang of five men, and an attempt was made to apprehend them. Resistance was offered, and a fearful struggle ensued. One of the men named George Smith, stabbed Sergeant Nagle (the officer in charge of the force there) with a pair of large scissors, completely through the cheek and tongue, and inflicted other severe wounds over his nose and under his eye. Ultimately they were all captured, when their names proved to be George Baxter, William Sydney Elgin, Edward J ones, alias John Croft, George Smith, and George Bozzon. The gang were brought up before Mr Warden Williamson, at the Warden's court, in due course. The evidence against the first five men captured was not strong enough to justify a sentence, but the suspicious circumstances connected with their arrest, and the number of articles found upon them such as "neddies," scissors for ripping up the tents, ropes, &c., suggested the probability that they belong to the same gang that committed the recent robberies at Lowe's accommodation house at the Hogburn, and also the stickingup of Mr Acton. They were, therefore remanded for seven*days, and in the meantime brought to town in order that they might be identified, if concerned in these robberies. Edward Shirlock and M'Carthy were charged under the Vagrant Act, with being idle vagabonds, and they were sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment with hard labor. They were also brought to town last night, in company with prisoner Wilton, who was sentenced to pay a fine of £l2, or three months' imprisonment, for being concerned in the assault on Sergeant Nagle. Much credit is due to the police in this matter. It appears that Detective Farrell, who was one of the officers engaged in the arrest, has displayed considerable discrimination in the course of his duty in visiting the outlying gullies. His suspicions fell upon two men who lived in a tent together. After watching them he discovered that they slept in their tent all day, and were absent during the night Being single-handed, he watched his opportunity, and seized one of them when he went out of the tent alone, and conveyed him to the lock-up. He then retraced his steps and arrested the other man, and conveyed him also to the camp. On searching under the long grass of which the beds in their tent was composed, he discovered several black caps, with falls to conceal the eyes, two small coils of rope, evidently for the purpose of tying up their victims, and a " ueddy"

covered with clotted blood and tufts of human hair. The names of these men are Edward Shirlock, alias Teddy Kane, and Francis M'Carthy. Another man named John Wilson, a well-known old hand from Tasmania, was also arrested, charged with having been concerned in the assault on Sergeant Nagle.Evening Star.

THE BULLER DIGGINGS. (From the Daily Telegraph.) Schooner Fawn, Croissel's Blind Bay, Nelson 28th October, 1863. Dear Sir—l prospected Lake Wakatip tip as far as the Dart, and reported the Twelve Mile Creek to Mr. Warden Wood at Queenstown. He accompanied me in our own boat and we showed him twenty ounces of gold* the produce of two paddocks in the bed of the Creek. After that was washed out, a party of us went from Queenstown to the Lyall River on the West Coast. On the 17th of July we reached the canoes at the mouth of the Buller. The river here is one mile wide, and we had only gone a short distance, when the rain fell heavily, and continued until the 10th, when we got up eight miles. On the 21st and 22nd, we had to go over several falls, pushing and dragging the canoes across them in the water up to our waists. There are a great many " cement" hills on each side of the river here. Timber and bush very thick. There are a great many limestone boulders, and some few of quartz. The remainder is hard sandstone and granite. I noticed several specks in crevices on the bare rock, but the canoes could not stop any length of time to give it a trial. The old diggings on the Bulier are half way to the Lyall, and only extend over one and a half acres of wrought ground altogether; they only pay small wages. After crossing thirty-eight falls, we arrived at the Lyall. Everything we had was completely saturated with wet and sand, owing to the constant rain and climbing along the sides of the river which we had to encounter. Nothing but timber and scrub met the eye everlastingly. We found the Lyall flooded, it being a narrow neck, and rockbound, with large granite rocks and sandstone, with some quartz boulders, and a slate bottom. A few of us agreed to go out and prospect a few miles above the Lyall, taking with us provisions sufficient for each of us for seventeen days. We could trace fine drift gold all the way, but we could only get a prospect of about 15s. per diem. We went on until the gold became coarser, and a change in the rock was perceptible, but our provisions ran short, so we returned to the Lyall once more. It is utterly impossible to use a packhorse here, as it is most thickly timbered, and the creeks are deep and rock-bound. We tried to get something to shoot in order to aid our commissariat; but in consequence of its being a birch country, it starves both man and beast. Eight miles a-day here in the bush is equal to thirty in Otago, because you have to cut your way, if you get off the track, — that is, if there be any. About twenty-five of those who came with me left for the Arrow and the Lake District, and tried hard to induce me to accompany them, but I determined to try the terraces up the Lyall for a few miles before I left. So Paddy Connor and some * good men of the Otago goldfields took their final departure from the Province, through the want of provisions in the interior of the country. I worked for seven weeks, and cleared £SO. I then came down to Nelson, in order to make a proposition to the Superintendent, with reference to prospecting a portion of Province, where I know that gold exists far from the Lyall, but hearing that Mr. Baines required a hand to complete his party for the survey of the Jackson's Bay portion of the West Coast, I availed myself of the offer, for which many others were candidates. The gold in the Lyall is coarse ; but few are making wages. The river bed cannot be worked until tlie dry season. The passage up the Lyall in a canoe cos's two pounds, a distance of forty miles. Coming down, the charge is one pound, and the passage occupies four hours. The river is very deep and broad in some places. While I was there, twentyfive men were drowned in this river, at different times. I have observed portions of sheets and driftwood fifteen miles above the Lyall on the Buller. The Government track is not used by the miners, as it is on the wrong side of the river, and only runs for two-thirds of the way up. The diggers are obliged to depend upon the canoes for supplies of provisions. Sometimes the Buller River rises forty feet above the regular level. Ihe departure of the Fawn prevents my sending you all the particulars connected with the Buller country, as far as I have seen them, which are carefully registered by me. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant. Robert Stewart. October 28, 1863.