THE NEW SOUTH WALES BUSHRANGERS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 279, 5 December 1879, Page 2

THE NEW SOUTH WALES BUSHRANGERS.

Late steamers from Australia bring the following additional news relative to the performances of the gang of bushrangers recently broken up in New South Wales : — The bushrangers business at Wantabadgery has been the principal feature of interest. The four prisoners and the two men shot dead were taken on to Gundagong, where an inquest was held, and a verdict of justifiable homicide was returned. Constable Bowen, who was so badly wounded, died on Sunday. At thcinqueat a verdict of wilful murder was returned against the prisoners, who will be forwarded to Sydney and tried there. The whole proceedings have been read with great interest. The following will afford some idea of the encounter, which was carried out with great skill and bravery. The only wonder is that no further casualties occurred. The country facing the house is elevated, and the police, on coming over the brow of the hills, deployed in front of the house. The encounter commenced, and was carried on gallantly. The bushrangers' horses having been frightened away, the police advanced from tree to tree. The boy Weruecke held the slip-panel corner in a plucky manner for a considerable time ; he shot Constable Berry's horse, 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 Constable Berry. In falling he cried out, " Oh, God, I am shot, and lam only fif ceen." His name is entered on the police records as nineteen, but his appearance was that of a mere boy. Constables Berry and Bowen then entered by the Blip-panel and made for the kitchen, a detached building at the rear of the house, to which the remainder of the gang had retreated. Constable Bowen was shot through the neck by the bushrangers, and fell down alongside the boy Wernecke. Sergeant Carroll then moved cautiously round the gable of the house, and rushed the \ kitchen, and the encounter terminated as has already been described. There are bullet marks on several trees behind which the police stood, and six in the face of the front pole of the house. The windows of the kitchen and its front wall are riddled, while many bullets are sticking inside the wall. The member of the gang named Coognn, who managed to elude the police when Moonlight surrendered, was captured by Mrs M'Glede next morning underneath a bed. He had at first concealed himself between the mattresses, and during the night went underneath altogether. Finding a heu'B nest with

six eggs underneath, he feasted on them, sucking every egg dry. On his discovery, information was given to the police, and he was duly arrested. Moonlight ig a thorough scoundrel, and hss led hte unfortunate companions into the scrapi. 1 . The boy Wernecke was the son of a hotclkeeper in Melbourne, and Wi Hams is said to be identical with FraLk Johns, of Ballarat. Great sympathy is felt for Constable Bowen, who is the son of a vicar in Pembrokeshire. The excitement in Melbourne, which wa3 very great, has now cooled down. In the charge against the bushrangers, before the . Magistrate, it was proved that the superintendent o£ die Wantabadgery station three limes was in great risk of his life. Moonlight offered him a long knife and revolver, and challenged him to fight. He afterwards seized him by the throat and threatened to kill him, and subsequently selected a tree, and got a rope to hang him. It was only the screams of the women that made him relent. He displayed an ungovernable passion, and killed a brood mare because the animal would not stand still after lie had called upon it W do so thtee times. In Court he closely cross-examined the witnesses, his efforts being directed entirely to save his companions, and take all the blame on himself. Moonlight belongs to a highly respected family in the Auckland district, and it is asserted that he is insane. A representation to that effect has been Bent to the Governor of New South Wales'.