The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-02 00:00:00

A BUSHRANGER STORY.

The following account of a rubbery of a mail coach
running between Gympie and Maryborough is furnished
by the passengers :—" The coach for Maryborough left
Gympie at about half-past six o'clock in the morning, and
when about 300 yards beyond the wooden culvert, about
three-and-a-half miles from Nashville, three men suddenly
appeared from behind some trees, and ordered Harry, the
driver, to ' bail up.' Two of the men had double-barrelled
guns, and the other an old single-barrel in a dilapidated
condition. The men had handkerchiefs on their faces, with
holes cut in them. On the coach stopping the driver was
ordered, under the usual bloodthirsty penalties, to drive
the coach into the hush, which he did for about 150 yards.
The mail bags were then dragged out, and the three bush-
rangers applied themselves diligently to the occupation of
tearing open the letters and abstracting the bank-notes,
which they stuffed in their pockets, cheques and drafts
being tossed aside as useless. The bushrangers politely
informed the two lady passengers—Mrs. Thatcher and
Mrs. Farley—not to be alarmed, as they would not be
hurt, and they did not rob ladies. Strange to say, the
ladies were never even asked for their money. Mr.
Power, the other passenger, handed out a note and
some silver, declaring that he had no more ; but, not being
satisfied with this assurance, they took the precaution to
feel in his great-coat pocket, and, altogether, they took
£25 from him. The examination of the letters occupied
nearly three-quarters of an hour. As the three bush-
rangers were close to the passengers, they were seen to
take out quantities of notes from the letters. After
examining the contents of the mail bags, they felt under the
back-seat cushion, but forebore touching the seat where
the ladies sat, beneath which Mrs. Farley had hastily
thrust about £l5. They then ordered the coachman and
Mr. Power to gather up the fragments of their literary
meal, and warned Harry not to stir from there for half an
hour, and then he was to drive in the direction of Mary-
borough, and not Nashville. They informed him they
would be on the watch to see he did so. Shortly after
Harry drove on at full speed to the Stockholm Hotel,
which is nine miles from Nashville, and, procuring
a couple of saddle horses, he and Mr. Power drove
to Nashville and gave information to the police. Before
leaving, the bushrangers presented Mr. Power with
9s. Mrs. Thatcher had in her possession diamonds
worth upwards of £lOO. Messrs. Thatcher and Farley, in
company with the inspector of police, Detective Hitches,
and a black tracker, visited the scene of the outrage. The
black, with unerring sagacity, tracked the wheels of the
coach to where it stopped, also discovering a powder-flask
nearly full, some hobble-chains, and a new felt wide-awade.
He also pointed out where the men had camped, and the
trees to which their horses were tied. Mr. Thatcher, on
looking over the d6bris of the mail bags, discovered a
registered letter addressed to `Mr. Edwards, Gladstone,'
containing £ll in notes, which the robbers had overlooked.
On questioning a little girl and a boy, who lived adjacent
to the spot, they said they had seen five men at about six
that morning alongside the bushrangers' camp fire."