No certain knowledge as to how these men came to their death has since been arrived at. According to rumour three of them were shot by Thomas Clarke and the fourth by Bill Scott, who was afterwards wounded in a brush with the police, and as is believed killed by Clarke, as the bushranger known as German Bill had been killed by Morgan, to prevent him from falling into the hands of the authorities and being induced to give evidence against his former companions. In both cases, however, the end of the missing bushranger is uncertain.
At the Criminal Sessions, held in Goulburn in April, 1867, Thomas Cunningham, Charles Hugh Gough, alias Wyndham, alias Bennett, James Baldwin, and Harry Brown were each sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment for various acts of bushranging in various parts of the district. William Johnson for robbing and shooting at a man received a sentence of only two years. Several of these bushrangers came from the neighbourhood of Braidwood, and the Yass Courier reported that Annie Clarke, one of the sisters of the bushrangers, stayed in Goulburn during the time that the sessions lasted, her visit doubtless being one of sympathy with some of the prisoners. She was about twenty years of age, with a fine figure and good features. She was observed to change her costume four times in one day. In the morning she was very quietly dressed. Later she came out in a second costume, also very quiet and neat. But in the afternoon she walked about the streets in blood red silk with red hat and feathers to match, and later towards evening she came out in a bright blue silk dress, white shawl, and a hat with white feathers.
At Wellington, in the same month, John Kelly was sentenced to fourteen years' hard labour, the first two in irons, for highway robbery.
At this time the reward offered for the capture of Thomas Clarke was raised to £1000, while £500 was offered for his brother John, who had just "turned out." A similar sum was offered for the capture of Bill Scott, whose death had not then been ascertained, or for any other member of the gang.
On April 26th, Senior Constable Wright, and Constables James Wright, Lenehan, Walsh, and Egan, with the assistance of a black tracker known as Sir Watkin Wynne, tracked the bushrangers to a hut not far from where the four special constables had been murdered. The hut or cottage stood in a small cultivation paddock in which there was a small haystack. The constables watched the hut from behind this haystack until morning. At daybreak two racehorses were seen feeding behind the hut, and Constable Walsh, making a détour round the hut so as not to be heard by the occupants, walked down and caught these horses. He was leading them towards the haystack when the door opened and the two brothers Clarke came out of the house and fired at him. The other troopers immediately rushed forward from behind the stack and summoned the Clarkes to surrender. They made no reply, but went inside and shut the door. The police then took up positions, Constable Lenehan with Sir Watkin stopping at the stack with the horses at about two hundred yards from the hut and nearly facing it. The Senior Constable and Constable Wright went to a fallen tree about fifty yards to the right of the hut, while Constables Egan and Walsh went to about the same distance to the left, where there was no cover. The paddock in which the house stood had been recently ploughed, and the heavy rains which had fallen made the ground difficult to travel over. The hut was built of slabs, and these had shrunk away from each other, leaving interstices through which the bushrangers could point their guns and revolvers. The bushrangers kept up an irregular fire until Constable Walsh was wounded in the thigh and Sir Watkin in the shoulder, when the other four troopers made a rush, forced open the door, and entered. The bushrangers surrendered. They had two revolvers, two double-barrelled guns, two revolving rifles, one single-barrelled gun, and a horse pistol. The tracker's wound was so severe that he had to have his arm amputated, and he bore the operation with the stoical indifference of his race. He walked downstairs from the upper ward of the Braidwood Hospital to the dissecting room, and after his arm had been cut off and the stump bound up he walked up again as coolly "as if he had merely had his finger punctured," said the Braidwood Dispatch. He was supposed to be about fifty years of age, and was well-built and "handsome for a blackfellow." He was promoted to the rank of sergeant-major, and had two stripes placed on his arm, of which he was very proud. Senior Constable William Wright was made sub-inspector, and the other constables engaged were promoted and rewarded.
Thomas and John Clarke were placed on trial charged with having wounded Constable Walsh and Black Tracker Sir Watkin, while in the execution of their duty. In two years Thomas Clarke had committed nine mail robberies, and had stuck up and robbed thirty-six individuals, some of whom had been wounded. He was also suspected of having caused the deaths of at least two persons. John Clarke had taken part in twenty-six of these robberies. They were found guilty, and the Chief Justice—the late Sir Alfred Stephen—in his address said:—"I never knew a bushranger (except one who is now suffering sentences aggregating thirty-two years) who made any money by it.... I will read you a list of bushrangers ... many of them young men, capable of better things, but who died violent deaths. Peisley executed; Davis sentenced to death; Gardiner sentenced to thirty-two years' hard labour; Gilbert shot dead; Hall shot dead; Bow and Fordyce sentenced to death, but their sentences commuted to imprisonment for life; Manns executed; O'Meally shot dead; Burke shot dead; Gordon sentenced to death; Dunleavy sentenced to death; Dunn executed; Lowry shot dead; Vane a long sentence; Foley a long sentence; Morgan shot dead; yourselves, Thomas and John Clarke, about to be sentenced to death; Fletcher shot dead; Patrick Connell shot dead; Tom Connell sentenced to death, but sentence commuted to imprisonment for life; Bill Scott, a companion of your own, believed to have been murdered by you.... The list shows six shot dead and ten wounded.... Unfortunately there were seven constables shot dead and sixteen wounded in three years ... since 1863.... The murders believed to have been committed by you bushrangers are appalling to think of. How many wives have been made widows, how many children orphans, what loss of property, what sorrow you have caused!... and yet, these bushrangers, the scum of the earth, the lowest of the low, the most wicked of the wicked, are occasionally held up for our admiration! But better days are coming. It is the old leaven of convictism not yet worked out, but brighter days are coming. You will not live to see them, but others will."
Sentence was then passed in the usual form, and the brothers were hung on June 25th, 1867.
Meanwhile robberies were frequent in other districts. Mrs. Colonel Pitt, with her daughter and Mrs. Colonel Campbell, were driving along the Mechanics' Bay Road, near the Domain, Forbes, when a servant who was leading the horses at the time was knocked down by an armed man. Another robber tried to seize the reins, but Mrs. Pitt stood up in the buggy and raised them out of his reach. She brought the butt of the whip so heavily down on the bushranger's head that he fell. Mrs. Pitt shouted and whipped the horses, and they galloped up the hill and did not stop until they reached Parnell, where the police were informed of what had occurred. A couple of troopers immediately started down the road, and found the servant lying where the outrage was said to have been perpetrated. He had been severely beaten, but was still alive. He was taken without any unnecessary delay to the hospital at Forbes, where he subsequently recovered. The robbers were tracked and followed and were captured next day, March 5th, 1865. They were Richard Middleton, alias Ruggy Dick, John Wilson, and Thomas Tracey. They were tried, convicted, and sent to gaol for long periods.
On the 20th a man went into Richardson's Inn, Evans' Plains, and ordered those in the bar to "bail up." He obtained about £5. He had been travelling on foot, but when he left the bar he mounted a horse, belonging to one of the men he had robbed, and which was hitched to a verandah post, and rode straight into Bathurst, where he was captured while spending the money he had stolen in the bar of a public house.
On the 19th, two armed men rode up to Mr. Ryan's house, on the Burrowa River, and ordered Mrs. Ryan to hand out her money. She refused, and one of the ruffians struck her with the butt of his revolver. An old man named Billy Dunn, who worked on the farm, jumped up from the table where he was at dinner to protect his mistress, when the other bushranger ordered him to sit down again, adding, "I'll shoot you if you interfere." The leader again demanded the money, and Mrs. Ryan struck him in the face, when he fired and wounded her on the knee. As she fell he struck her again with the pistol. They ransacked the house, and at length found a roll containing £94 in bank notes, which the old couple had just received by the Sydney mail. They also took a nugget of gold and several rings, brooches, and other articles of jewellery. The robbers were supposed to live in the neighbourhood and to have known that the money had been received from Sydney. They kept their faces covered, however, and the police could not obtain a description which would enable them to identify any persons as the robbers.