CAPTURE OF CAPTAIN MOONLIGHT.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1161, 4 December 1879, Page 2

CAPTURE OF CAPTAIN MOONLIGHT.

Waiirafl from G-undagai on the 23rd tilt, the special correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald says:— . "Yesterday afternoon I leftCrundagai on horseback for Wantabadgery station and McGrlede's farm, and this morning examined the scenes of the two encounters with the bushrangers, and of their general proceedings. The Wantabadgery homestead is almost concealed in trees, and the paddock through which it is approached is studded here and there with trees and tall thistles: Looking at the place generally one is impressed with the thought that there could scarcely be a locality more favorable for attacKon theparfc of the police, if the attack were well directed; but, from the failure of the "Wagga police on Sunday day morning, it is evident they had no idea of the serious nature of the'expedition they were on, and neglected to take proper measures to ensure their success, Wantabadgery still retains about it signs of the bushrangers' visit. The laundry in which the Messrs Macdonald and Mr Baynes were confined still contains some of the rations which the bushrangers served out to the prisoners," Several accounts represent the bushrangers as having been very abstemious at the station, but there is some good evidence that Nesbit took too much, and that He fell asleep so soundly that it was only' by kicking him and shouting to him that the police had come, that Moonlight was able to bring him to his senses and make him sober. Grog was freely given to any of the prisoners who cared .for it, and so much was imbibed in this way that great fear began to be felt by the station authorities that intoxication would result in. some of the prisoners committing acts more reckless and destructive than those committed by the bushrangers. Mr Baynes begged at last that no moro grog might be brought in, and Moonlight consenting that the question should be put to the vote, it 'vas decided that only tea and coffee should be furnished, and the danger was thus avertedl The" kitchen in which the women and married men were imprisoned is next to the store room, and immediately in front of the kitchen is the yard where Mr Baynes was to "be hanged, and where the blood mare was shot by Moonlight, because she was skittish and would not stand still. It is difficult at this time to conceive the horror of the scene when Moonlight, with the ferocity of a fiend, was proceeding to carry his determination to hang the station superintendent into effect; but, in speaking of the occurrence now, Mr Baynes and the Messrs Macdonald express their belief that had the execution proceeded as far as an attempt to pinion the arms of the superintendent preparatory to putting the rope round his neck, and stringing him up to the tree, the result would have been that the three of them would have been shot, for the superintendent would have resisted, and he would have been supported by bis j two companions. I The dining:-room, which is a very comj fortably-fumished apartment, contained I so many persons who had been taken prisoners by the bushrangers that some of them were fearful of being smothered from want of air, but Moonlight quickly got over that difficulty by, ramming the butt end of his gun through the upper panes of the window, which he refused to hare open, and the broken panes are still to be seen* It was while the people were confined in this room that Moonlight and another of the bushrangers went away to stick up Patterson's public-house, and bring the people found thereto the station. "About half-way on the road between Wantabadgery and McGrlede's farm the carcase of the horse that belonged to Mr Andrew John Beveridge is lying, and here is the spot where Mr Beveridge was tried for his life by Moonlight, who, when about to take the life of the station superintendent, declared he would be ' Judge, Crown prosecutor, jury, and executioner—all in one.' Mr Beveridge, hearing that Wantabadgery had been stuck up, armed himself and some shearers, and determined to go to the assistance of those at the station, but on his way he and those with him were by stratagem • captured by the bushrangers, and kept prisoners like the rest. Moonlight immediately levelled his revolver at Beveridge, and demanded who he was. Beveridge told him, and was 1 compelled to admit why he was there. Moonlight then arranged to shoot the lot of them, and Nesbitt was ordered to make preparations for the execution. The three men—Beveridge, Muller, and Eobinson—were ordered off their horses and placed in a row to be shot, when just as this seemed about to be done, Beveridge's shearers appeared in sight. They .were made prisoners with the others. Moonlight then said he would try the three men who just before were to be shot. He would appoint a jury and have a trial, and whatever the verdict of the jury was he would carry it out. Everybody was then arranged in order, and the jurymen were directed to seat themselves on a log, the prisoners being stood opposite to the juryi The proceedings of the trial commenced by Moonlight saying he would have, tq acli as judge and prosecutor, and then he made a statement that these men, having come to shoot him, he was justified in shoot ing them. 'But' he went on to say C I will

now act as judge, and any of the prisoners can make any statement they like.' Beveridge was the only man that' said anything, but when he had finished Moonlight directed the jury to bring in their verdict. Old McGlede, one pf the bushrangers, and another went together for a consultation, and one suggested bringing the prisoners in guilty, and appealing for, mercy on account of their not knowing whom, they had been going after, and because, having heard that their friends were in difficulties they had naturally come to release them, They agreed to that, and the foreman of j the jury made the statement to Moonlight He answered, 'Not Guilty, and to let them off with a caution.' Then he said, 'Bveeridge, bring forward your horse.' JBeveridge did so, and Moonlight immediately sent a bullet through the horse's head from his revolver. When this was done he was ordered to take some of the firearms he and those with him had brought, fire them off and break, them up, and the fragments were afterwards burnt in a fiite which one of the shearers was directed to make ' This having been done, Moonlight ordered all the prisoners in a row, so that they might come before him in rotation and be kicked Each man was ordered to come forward and to kneel and beg his pardon, and as they rose from their knees he kicked them and ordered them to one side. When it came to Ueveridgea turn, to be served in this way he "knelt.down and begged, the bushranger's pardon ; but as he was getting up he looked <slyly over his shoulder to watch the bushranger's foot' as it was about to kick him, and sh-inking to one' side at the 'moment that the boot was coming at him, Moonlight missed his aim and nearly fell over. His rage at this was excessive, and, pulling out a knife about 14 inches long, he seized Beveridge, and threatened with such violence to chop off his nose arid commit other atrocities that Beveridge did not Shrink from the kicking a second time.

" It was Soon aftar this incident that the bushrangers' party resumed their journey towards McGlede's farm, on the way to which they fell in with constable Wiles. The farm-house, or hut, lies a little off the road, a distance of perhaps a hundred yards, and in front of the hut is an enclosed garden aontaining some fruit trees and some plants, but to a considerable extent overrun with weeds. So the left of the hut and at the back is an extensive wheat paddock, and on the right is an enclosure which is divided from, the garden by a log- fence, and which is entred by mean's of Blip-panels.. The hut itself is an ordinary slab one, with wooden chimney and zinc roof, and with a verandah. There are four rooms in it, the two at the back being very small skillien rooms, used as bedrooms. It was into these rooms that the police made their way, and shot at the bushrangers in the kitchen. The kitchen is a slab one with bark roof, arid stands immediately behind the hut, at a distance from it of no more than about 15 er 20 feet. When the police appeared coming down a grassy slope in front of the hut, the bushrangers W«re> outside the garden fence, having refreshed themselves at the hut with a drink of milk, and being about to continue their journey along the road, but no sooner •was it apparent that there was to be fight than the gang entered the slip-panels and gradually retreated that way towards the kitchen. Eiring commenced previously to the slip-panels being passed, but it was not long before the bushrangers were in the Mtchen. Kogan, it is tolerably certain, was under the bed, where he was afterwards found, from a very early period of the battle, and, notwithstanding what has been said of Moonlight's coolness and courage in walking out of the kitchen and r firing at the police, there was not nearly so much risk in that as there was to the police from the places where they fired, for some acacia trees and a portion of a fence near the right side <sf the hut must have afforded a very convenient cover for Moonlight, quite sufficient to baffle the aim of anybody firing at him, while the police had to make their way towards the hut across a space where there was little or no cover; and, without doubt, some of them—Bo wen for instance—were standing in the open without any shelter at all. The kitchen is riddled with bullets. Ihrough the window-panes the bulletholes are almost as cleanly cut as augur holes in wood, and slabs, and kitchen utensils show evidences of where ballets have struck. Poor Mrs , McG-lede, who was compelled by the bushranger Nesbib to remain in the kitchen, because he believed that, if it were known she was there, the police would not fire into the place, must have had a>perilous time. One bullofc came through the window from a bedroom of the hut, and, flying past her face, penetrated a tin funnel that was hanging against the wall near where she wan standing. In the window of one of the bedrooms is the hole made by Nqshit's bullet fired at Constable Gorman, as he was stealthily holding up the window - blind to see whereabouts in the kitchen the bushrangers were standing j and in tho window of the kitchen immediately opposite is the hole made by the bullet from Gorman's revolver, which ended Nesbit's career by crushing through his head.

"The young bushranger fell near a spring-cart, behind which he was sheltering himself while engaged firing at the police. He appears to have been shot in two places, but it was some little time before he died. He lay on the ground in agony, crying, « Lift me up, lift me up ; I would do the same for you ; I am only 1-5.' But the excitement of everybody at the time was too great for assistance ta be given to anyone, and the boy remained where he fell. Poor Bowen fell within a few yards of him. According' to Mrs McG-lede a shot struck Moonlight upon the ankle, but did not penetrate some leather casing which he wore, and he merely shook hin leg after it, saying,' I am shot, but it's all right.' 'i he chimney of the hut behind which Senior-Sergeant Carrol Stood when he aimed his rifle at Moonlisrht, and when it,twice missed fire, is so close to where Moonlight must have stood that the bushranger could not have been more than a few yards away. Looking around the place and noting the manner in which the police advanced, one cannot help feeling that the fight was splendidly managed by the police, and that while they showed remarkable determination at bravery, they neglected nothing in the way of spreading themselves out and advancing from different points. Once into the hut, which the busrangers made a great mistake in not defending, and the fate of the gang was sealed, as the bushrangers in the kitohen soon discovered, but it is a singular faot that the bushranger Rogan must have been hidden under the bed in the room, from which Constable Gor-man shot bit at the time the fatal shot was fired, and that Rogan remained there without making any attempt to escape or sign of his presence until he was found the nest day. The McGrledes have suffered considerably through what ocourred, not only in regard to the terror they were in, but in injury done to their property, and some memorial will probably be forwarded to the Government with the object of obtain* ing for them some compensation fox> the loss they have sustained, Scott is a man of commanding presence, is highly educated, and his manners are gentlemanly and winning. Brave to the verge of recklessness, cool, clearheaded, and. sagacious, and with a certain air of chivalrous dash, ho is the beau ideal o$ a

brigand chief. He is a man who would exercise soverign power over untrained and uneducated, and especially youthful minds, while the fascination of his manner would Becure him adherents and friends anywhere.