The Bathurst mail was stuck up and robbed on February 2nd, 1866, near Pulpit Hill, by two young men named Seymour and John Ford, who were followed and captured next day.
On the 14th of April, 1866, Sergeant John Healey, with Constables William Raymond, Edward William Mitchell, and Andrew Kilpatrick, left Berrima in charge of eleven prisoners, whom they were to take to the gaol in Sydney. The prisoners were seated in the body of the coach, and were connected together by "a marching chain," to which their handcuffs and leg irons were attached. The police were armed each with a short carbine and a revolver. The three constables sat in the body of the coach with the prisoners, while the sergeant sat on the box seat with the driver and a passenger named Whatmore. The coach stopped for change of horses at Bargo Brush, and the prisoners were taken out of the coach into the public-house yard. One of them, Thomas Berryman, produced keys with which to unlock the handcuffs from his pocket, and asked Webster, another prisoner, whether he would be one to "rush the police." Webster said "No," as he had only twelve months to serve, and was then threatened with vengeance if he informed the police, and was called "a—— hound," and a coward. Webster therefore promised to say nothing as to what the other prisoners proposed to do. After the halt the prisoners were again placed in the coach, and when they had travelled about three miles they made a sudden and combined rush on the constables. The prisoners who engaged in this mutiny were James Crookwell, William Lee, Thomas Berryman, John Owens, and Michael Slattery. Five others, Webster, Bland, Foster, Hindmarsh, and Smith, sat still and helped neither party. They had refused to join in the attempt at escape, but had promised not to give warning to the police. Crookwell snatched a revolver from Constable Raymond's belt and shouted, "Shoot the ——." Raymond had been seized by two of the prisoners, but he shook himself free and jumped out of the coach. Sergeant Healey was also seized by some of the prisoners, who attempted to drag him backwards into the coach. He also got free and jumped down: he ran to the side of the coach and called to the prisoners to surrender, and as they did not do so, he pulled the trigger, but the rifle missed fire. Crookwell had got a revolver in his hand, and was struggling with Constable Kilpatrick, and Healey made a blow at the convict with the gun but struck an iron bar in the coach and smashed the stock. Healey then threw away his rifle and drew his revolver. He fired and wounded Slattery, but at the same time Constable Raymond fell. Bland and Slattery were also wounded, and then the prisoners gave in. The passenger, Mr. Robert Whatmore, a publican at Bargo Brush, had got on to the coach when it left his place to go to Picton. He had his coat torn in the struggle. When it was over he borrowed a horse and rode to Picton for a doctor. The body of Constable Raymond and the wounded prisoners were put into the coach, and the sergeant and constables walked until they were met by the police from Picton. When tried, the prisoners denied having shot Constable Raymond, and said that he had been killed by the fire from the police guns. This, however, was denied by all the witnesses in the case. The six prisoners named were found guilty of murder, and were all sentenced to death.
Sergeant Grainger and Constable Carroll chased a young man on the Carcour Road on suspicion that he was a bushranger. When asked by the sergeant where he was going, he replied, "Looking for work." The sergeant made him unstrap a coat which was fastened across the pommel of his saddle, and a small revolver was found in it. "What do you carry that for?" inquired the sergeant. "For protection," was the reply. The sergeant then snatched away the coat and saw that the man had a large revolver in his hand. He was told that if he attempted to raise this weapon he would be shot at once, and seeing that escape was impossible he surrendered and allowed the police to handcuff him. Then the sergeant opened his vest to ascertain what caused a protuberance there, and found a pair of false whiskers and moustaches. He was identified as John Miles, who had raided the Chinese Camp at Mookerawa, besides committing several highway robberies on Evans' Plains and in the neighbourhood of Orange. He was sent to gaol for ten years, the Judge saying that the prisoner had used less violence than was usual with bushrangers, and had not ill-treated the Chinamen further than by taking their gold.
Henry Evans, a settler at Little Plains, near Burrowa, was stuck up by two armed men on January 7th, 1867. When asked to give up his money he said that he had none. He never had more than a few shillings in the house. This was disbelieved, and the bushrangers threatened to take him out and shoot him. "Shoot away," he replied coolly, "I can't stop you." They tied him up and ransacked the place, breaking the furniture and even stamping on Mrs. Evans's best bonnet. Being unable to find any money they made a bundle of some clothing and strapped it on a packhorse. Evans complained that the rope with which his hands were bound was cutting his wrists. "Serve you right," exclaimed the bushranger, "you deserve no better."
Mr. Kelly's store on the One Mile Creek, Emu Creek Goldfield, was stuck up by John Kerr, alias Maher, and John Shepherd. Kelly, with his wife and children, and a man named Gibbons were locked up in a back room while the robbers were making a bundle of clothing, drapery, and other articles in the store. Gibbons, however, succeeded in forcing open a back window, without being heard by the robbers, and making his escape. He ran to the police station and gave information, but the robbers discovered his escape before the arrival of the police, and decamped without their booty. This, however, did not save them. They were followed and captured by Sergeant O'Donnell and Constable McGlone. They were convicted of more than one robbery on the Cowra Road.
On Saturday night, June 8th, Cummings, while awaiting his trial for highway robbery, made an attempt to escape from the Bathurst Gaol. He filed a link of the chain of his leg-irons with a small pocket knife, which he had somehow procured, tore up two boards from the floor of his cell, crawled under the joists and scraped away the mortar so as to loosen several bricks in the gaol wall. The opening was only about ten inches square, but he contrived to squeeze through. Of course, when his cell was found empty on the Sunday morning, the excitement in the gaol was very great, but Mr. Forbes, the head gaoler, soon found the prisoner seated in the summer house in his private garden. "Here I am," cried the bushranger; "I did my best, but could not succeed." The prisoner had found some pieces of scantling in the outer yard, but they were not long enough to enable him to reach the top of the wall which encloses the gaol yard. An examination into the state of the gaol showed that the boards were quite rotten, and that the walls themselves were not very strong, the bricks being quite soft and rotten.
Several bullock-drivers were stuck up by John Egan and Patrick Ryan on the Orange Road, in August, 1867. On the 16th Robert and John Tait, father and son, and Edward Barrell were camped together when the bushrangers rode up and ordered them to "fork out." The robbers took all their money and some articles from the drays. On the 19th they repeated the operation on some other bullock-drivers. They were followed by Sergeant Rush and Constable Lawrence and arrested about forty-five miles from where the robberies were committed. At the Bathurst Assizes the prisoners called seven witnesses to prove an alibi, but they contradicted each other under cross-examination, and on the prisoners being found guilty his Honour, Judge Hargrave, directed that they should be prosecuted for perjury. The prisoners were sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment. Another bushranger, John Foran, who was convicted on three charges, was also sentenced to fifteen years.
Patrick Fitzgerald, alias Paddy Wandong, was charged at Wellington on October 21st, 1867, with having on the 21st December bailed up Thomas Goodall, a free selector, on the Castlereagh River. The prisoner rushed into the house in the night and ran into the bedroom. Mr. Goodall was sitting in another room and heard his wife scream and cry "Don't kill me." The prisoner, who was a half-caste, seized her by the throat and pulled her out of bed. The other man, Ted Kelly, stuck up Mr. Goodall. The prisoner said he was at Curbin, five miles away, but as he was positively identified and was well-known in the district he was convicted and sentenced to fifteen years' hard labour. The judge said that Kelly had been tried for his share in the crime and had been sentenced nearly twelve months since. Circumstances connected with bushranging had greatly altered since then, and this would naturally induce him to be less severe; yet, having passed a sentence on one man, he could not now pass a lighter sentence on an accomplice who was no less guilty.
On the 24th of November, 1867, a party of forty or fifty shearers and others had assembled at Mr. William Whittaker's store on the Willandra Billabong, about a mile and a half from Mossgiel station, for the purpose of holding a race meeting, when they were bailed up by John Williams, William Brookman, Edward Kelly, and John Payne, and robbed of a considerable amount. Afterwards Michael McNamara, a constable stationed at Booligal, about sixty miles from Mossgiel, but who was at Mossgiel on duty at the time, was talking to Mr. Dobbins on the verandah of the store, when Williams and Brookman came up, and asked Dobbins if he was Constable McNamara. Dobbins replied "No." Brookman then turned to the constable and asked him the same question. The bushrangers each had a revolver in his hand, and so the constable also said "No," and made a rush at Brookman. In the struggle they got inside the store, and Brookman's pistol exploded, the bullet shattering McNamara's wrist. Brookman was shouting for help, and another shot was fired, wounding Constable McNamara in the back of the head. Mr. Peerman, overseer of the Mossgiel sheep station, and Mr. Edward Crombie rushed up and secured Williams and Brookman, who were placed in a hut and watched by Messrs. F.G. Desailly, Robertson, and others. The two bushrangers had five revolvers all loaded, except two barrels which had recently been fired. Williams had £82 1s. 10d. and Brookman £34 8s. 8d., making in all £116 10s. 6d. The two bushrangers were charged on January 14th, 1868, at Deniliquin, with having wounded with intent to kill Michael McNamara, a constable in the execution of his duty. Williams, it was said, was a bullock driver, who had recently sold his team for the purpose of turning bushranger. Brookman was under seventeen years of age, and very boyish in appearance. Mr. George Milner Stephen, who appeared for the prisoners, pleaded hard for a light sentence on Brookman on account of his youth, and also because his family were respectable people. The Chief Justice said that in a recent case of a bushranger who put a pistol to the head of an advancing constable, the jury had found that there was no intent to kill, for what reason no one could tell. In the present case the arresting constable had not been killed, and the jury must decide as to the intent. With regard to the youth of one of the prisoners, it was an ascertained fact that lads when they became bushrangers were more bloodthirsty, brutal, cruel, and fiendish than grown men. The prisoners were sentenced to death, and the boy when he heard the sentence said "Thank you." His sentence was afterwards commuted to imprisonment for life.
Edward Kelly and John Payne pleaded guilty to the robberies at Whittaker's, and to two other charges of bushranging. They had been followed by the police, and Payne was captured while Kelly got away, but not without a wound. Subsequently Payne led the police to the camp, and thus assisted them to capture his wounded mate. For this act of humanity, the judge sentenced him to ten years' imprisonment on two charges, the sentences to be concurrent; while Kelly was sentenced to two terms of fifteen years each, or thirty years in all.