THE Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 1880. THE TERRIBLE END.

Manawatu Times, Volume IV, Issue 52, 30 June 1880, Page 2

THE Manawatu Times.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 1880. THE TERRIBLE END.

" Words are things, asd a. drop of Ink falling like dew upon a thought, preducas thtt •— hich. maiee thousands, perhaps millions think."

Afteb a career of unexampled immunity having no parallel under British rule, the gang of Victorian desperadoes which have set the authorities at defiance for tho past eighteen months, have at last been brought to bay, and one by one have met the face which they so recklessly, courted.. Before, however, falling a prey to. an avenging justice, they have still further sacrificed human life to their lawlessness and revenge, and they will have to appear before the terrible tribunal of heiv>after with fresh blood upon. their hands. According to the telegrams, tne immediate cause of their defeat and capture, was not plunder, but a desirg to wreak vengeance upon a for.ine'r member, of the gang, who hadjproved a traitor and was m leagua with the police to betray them ; but there are many things m connection with the news as telegraphed which are irreconcileable. For instance, ifc is stated that Sherbett, /the traitor, was shot at Sevastopol, and that Ned Kelly, receiying'a shot m the groin, was captureo 1 ; while further on it says that rlieL.iß lying at G-len Bpyvaii: Station, mortally wouuded, Now. Sebas^opol is.a,thnving.townsliip, a suburb' of t6.e-<3ity;pl-Bal:---larafc, from which it is distant not. quif c two miles, while G-len. Rovvan is a small village midway between Beechworth and Wangaratta, iv a totally different part of the, country. Still, there would appear to be some truth, m. it, b.y the assertion that the gang were captured seventy miles from the scene, of the. first outrage. At the hour of penning this, Birne, the actual murderer of Shebbett, has paid the penalty of his crimeswith his life. Ned Kelly is mortally wouuded, while there is good raasbn to believe 'that Dan Kelly and Steve Habt have" already received their quietus. They know thatvthey need not hope for mercy, arid should they be taken alive they must suffer an ignominious death upon the scaffold, consequently they will fight like tigers at bay, asking.no quarter, nor giving none. The fate of the outlaws is that wKict they th emsel ves could- only .'have expected, for although, the masonry of crime has secured^ to them- an immunity. which enabled them to defy power and pay for so many months, their betrayal was. only a matter of time. Their career has been a long and a . bl<! o&j 6he, / a&d ; society has reason to be proud that, the earth has been, or will Boon be, rid of such cool- blooded monsters, who have cost their eblony thousands of pounds, recklessly sacrined valuable lives, and kept the country m a state ot overawe and terror for almost twenty months. With the 4ownf aU of the gang, let us tope th,as

that relict of by-gone of convictism, the bushranger, has disappeared for. ever, and that the terrible fate of those daring % but misguided ' menj. will act as a beacon of warning to t{ie rising generation. .