St. Landry democrat., 1879-04-19

| LIE pusuIaHgeEs EubuCu lOG luS NO1Eoe
which had broken away in the melee
CO aght them, and decamped; 'but Pear
son was seen 10 drop his revolver and t.
be staggering, and, IS was subsequently
discovered, was shot through the wris
and the shoulder. McCabs was down
MORALLY wounded, and the first carr
seems to have been for him, circum
stance which explains the almost unmo
Tested escape OF the bushrangers.
1t was at this juncture that the over
seers, McNall and aDuch, came upon thu
scene, and, without further delay, armed
themselves with poor McCabe's rife ane
revolver, and, accompanied by the un
hurt trooper and his native boy, went il
pursuit. Following the tracks, they
reached the head station, Delalie, where
they learned that Pearson and his mate
had been before them, had he'll ,ed !hem
selves to two of my best horses, abandon
ng their owu, and, leaving the road, had
struck out Iue west across the bush
This occasioned some surprise, as Ruther
ford, who knew the ground, must have
been aware that such route, If persisted
in, would necessitste seventy miles with.
out water, and that, too, with wounded
comrade.
Occasionally across the wide olaias the
fugitives were sighted, riding leisurely
along, little suspecting how closely they
were followed; and our men had to
check their pace, as their tactics were to
keep them in ignorance of pursuit, with
the hope of being able to take them by 8
night surprise, when, as was naturally
expected, they would ego into camp
McNsll has described to me how, on one
occasion, where the plains were smaller
and the clumps Of timber more frequent
they we're able to get within rife.shot
and he was sorely tempted to show them
as little consideration as they had shown
the poor sergeant, and fire; but Couch,
who, before he came to my employment
had been sub.inspector of police, and
had had much experience in hunting
down bushrangers, was bent on taking
them alive, and would not risk Che
chance of long shot. These cooler
counsels prevailed, and they ste Oily and
stealthily followed on. ~They were
doomed to disappointment in the end
for, almost incredible as itemay seem
with wounded man to en6are such
heat and fatigue, these hasdy desperadoe,
made1no halts. As night came on our
men, on the other hand, were obliged to
camp, as they could no longer follow the
hoofmarks of the fugitives' horses with.
out risk of losing them altogether. Sc
soon, however, as the moon was up they
were again on their tracks, and followed
them till soon after daylight, when,
worn out with thirst and fatigue, they
reached Mr.. Vincent Dowling's Yanta.
bulla station, on the Cuttaburra river.
Here they were mortified to find that
the bushrangers had again been too quick
for them, had run the station horses into
the yard, helped themselves to fresh
ones, and were away with some hours
clear start. It was then decided to
abandon the pursuit. There were st
that time lew stations further west, and
sooner or later starvation would com pei
the runaways to return to inhabited
parts. The troopers were left to watch
and endeavor to pick up further informa-
ton, while NcNall and Couch had reluc-
family to return and look to their seation
4 \ x n
At the time when bushranging was
rife in Australia there were parts of the
country where, among q certain class of
small farmers and publicans, sympathy
was shown for bushrangers, and what
the police had to encounter before they
ultimately succeeded in extirpating the
evil was the great difficulty in getting
reliable information of the movements OF
these marauders, who on the othes hand
were themselves kept posted in the
movements of their pursuefs, and the
"ofice' being given, were harbored or
assisted to escape by secret allies, who
seemed above Suspicion. In the far in
terror, where We lost sight of Pearson
and Rutherford, this was fortunately not
the case; here they would hnd no
/" cover" either from the nature of the
country or the disposition of the inhab-
tants. They could not hold out long
outside the occupied country, and when
forced to return, the population was 30
and sympathisers none, that
hopes of escape were slight. Added to |
his, the excellent police force of the |
colony was on the alert, and border
pa rolls active and vigilant. Notwith-
for upward of a month there
vas no sign; till one day Pearson was
lighted on foot in range of hills near
Fort Bourke. BE was easily captured,
md, when brought before the bench, was
laggard and worms out with fatigue.
This unfortunate man was of com.
'aratively gentle birth, had been med
cal student j. England, and being sent
'ut to the colony to seek his fortune.
lad, as is too often the case where d
,oung fellow Ia ahipned off withnntI