Page:Banking Under Difficulties- Or Life On The Goldfields Of Victoria, New South Wales And New Zealand (1888).pdf/104

Rh “Gilbert, during a career of over three years, perpetrated one murder, was accessory to another, and he also committed sixty-eight robberies (gazetted) under arms, the most notorious of which were the sticking-up and plunder of the gold escort near Eugowra, in June 1862; and that of the Araluen escort on the 13th March, 1865. In the first affair gold and notes were taken by the robbers to the amount of £13,000, and only £4000 of it was ever recovered by the authorities. Where the remaining £9000 went to is a mystery. For this Manns, the least guilty, was hanged, or rather slowly strangled, and Bow and Fordyce, through the unsupported and uncorroborated evidence of an accomplice (Charter), got fifteen years each. Gilbert was shot dead by a party of police in the bush near Binelong, about fifteen miles from Yass. He was a Canadian by birth, and was for many years a stock-keeper at or near Marengo, among the inhabitants of which he was a general favourite, because of his good temper and inoffensive habits. He quitted stock-riding and the Marengo district in the year 1861, and was lost sight of for two or three months, and then reappeared with John O’Meally, flashly dressed and flush of money, turning off with a jest or laugh all questions thereon. It was during the above-mentioned two or three months that he fell into the society of, and was seduced by Gardiner, the founder of modern bushranging.

“Dunn, who was guilty of two murders, twelve mail robberies, and fourteen robberies under arms, was convicted and executed.

“The Weddin Mountain district was considered as the headquarters and stronghold of Gardiner and the other scoundrels who carried on their nefarious calling, and for years rendered travelling in the bush so dangerous as to seriously retard the progress of the colony. All this is changed now. The lawless vagabonds that haunted the recesses of these mountains have all been shot, hanged, or banished, and in place of diggers armed to the teeth, or the timid travellers that once passed in fear and trembling through these evil-reputed solitudes, we see the plodding ploughman, the gentle shepherd, or the brisk commercial traveller, with his natty buggy and smart turn-out, passing on his peaceful mission unconscious of peril, and untroubled by thoughts of evil-doers. Pence and plenty now reign where once all was terror and turmoil.”

Owing to the prevalence of bushranging, hardly anyone in those days carried any money with him. This habit once placed me in an awkward predicament.

In November of this year (1863), I took a trip to Melbourne, via Sydney, in the ss. Madras. When I went on board I had only ten shillings in my possession, which I thought would be sufficient for me until I landed in Melbourne. The day after we sailed a subscription was made by the captain (Pascoe) for some widows’ and orphans’ fund. I was asked to subscribe, and not