The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-05-15

| Mine was an Abbott" newly imported
| from Concord, n. H."-not q cheap arti-
Gle by any means, but a very good one.
| And a week afterward-my visit to Sgd
ney too soon over, for l had sold thou
sand head of store cattle to a Victoria
man, to be mustered and delivered a
hundred miles down the road, and had
not many weeks to do 1t in-I was on my
way home, with Mrs. Hayes housemaid
by my side, in the buggy.
l had driven one of my horses myself /;
about the other there existed a tradition,
on the station, that some one had once
seen him in harness. He certainly, at
first starting seemed to have forgotten his
| early experiences. Nv companion, how
ever, treated his eccentricities as matter
of course, merely remarking that she was
used to horses. 1t was evident that she
| had good nerves The young woman in
dulged in one good cry during the journey,
much to my alarm, but, otherwise, took
| the many strange sights and sounds she
saw and heard very quietly She spoke
| good English and seemed nice in her
ways, and was, she told me, the daughter
OF Devonshire farmer and cattle dealer,
and after her parents death had been for
a while in service in London.
Jim Curtis, the Wyalla stockman, met
| horses, and / handed over my charge to
J Mrs. Kaye, after a prosperous journey.
| Jim was q fine, tall, handsome young fell
/ low. type of an Australian "Cornstalk, :"
slim and broad-shouldered, with curling
| fair beard and hair and good-tempered
| eyes. \ splendid rider and hOrse-breaker,
a real good stockman, either in the bush
or in the yard he was well liked every
where. and q model to be initiated by all
the Jackaroos and new chumS in the dis
triCt. And, in clean white shirt and
| moleskin trousers, neat boots and little
cabbage-tree hat, with his handsome
brown face and perfect seat on horseback,
| he looked the beau ideal of a daring
stOckman, and was celebrated for various
exploits among cattle and horses. In
deed, il needed a good man to follow
him among ranges or in scrub or to
back up to him after mob of wild cat
tie. Jim was the son OF a small farmer,
Singleton way his father and mother had
probably both come to the colony under
government" as the phrase used to be.
Well, to shorten my story, | went home,
mustered my cattle, and, in a couple OF
months time, again found myself guest
at Wvalla. /, of course, inquired for and
saw my hOusemaid; she had recovered
from her mosquito bites, and was, unde-
nlably, very handsome girl. Mrs. Kave
liked her, and praised me for the way in
which / had executed her commission.
The next news that heard, some months
later. OF Mary Lawson was that she was
engaged to be married to jim Curtis, but
the event was not to come off until ''after
shearing," an interval of some months.
Then came evil tidings. Jim had got
mixed up with some horse-dealing trans
actions, had yielded to the temptations to
which all stOckmen are exposed where
stray horses abound had been tried for
horse stealing, and had been convicted of
illegal possession" of a certain mare
and foal, which is about the utmost
of which bush jury will find man
guilty. SO Curtis, instead of marrying the
pretty new chum, had before him the
prospect of nine months imprisonment
in Berrima Jail.
NY friends at Wyalla, where Jim was a
favorite, were very sorry for him. Here
was a young fellows whole life ruined
for what might only have been case of
soldering" or a mistake about brand
and here, too, was Mrs. Hayes favorite
parlormaid crying her eyes out for her
lover, and vowing that she would marry
jim as soon rs he come out of prison.
About that time 4 sort of epidemic of
bushranging, or robbing under arms, had
set in. Peisley, Gardener, Morgan, the
Clarks and many others had made the
country ring with their desperate deeds.
Many men had been shot, and robbery
under arms bad been made a capital Of
Tense. In the partial y-settled districts of
New South Wales there was growing up a
class of young men, many of them of con-
vict blood, lawless, and very. ignorant,
preferring ah IDLE lille diversified by
little hOrse-planting or downright horse
and cattle stealing to steady work. From
this TO bushranging IS but step, and to
such young men these brigands seemed
heroes.
These men were good bushmen, splen-
did horsemen, and were sympathZed with
by the small settlers, many of whom have
a hereditary hatred of a policeman. To in
form against these men was to court death,
and they flung about their stolen sovereigns
with lavish recklessness.
When a bushranger said to a man,
"Bail up, you. or I'll shoot you, hemeant
what he said, and often did it. Thus the
terror they inspired was great and their
example contagious. Banks, gold escorts,
mails, stations and travellers had been
stuck up without number. and the rob-
bers seemed to have the gift of fern-seed,
and there was a certain amount of un-
eaSlness pervading our district, though as
yet we were free from molestation.
About twelve months after Jim Curtis
trial We heard that he had been seen
about Wyalla cattle station. And news
came, too that Mary Lawson had left Mrs.
Hayes employment rather suddenly, and
that lady had little doubt that the girl IN
tended TO carry out her intentions of mar
rying the dashing ex-stockman, despite
all that had happened. But We visitors at
Wyalla had soon more important matters
to discuss than the vagaries of n servant
girl. Bushrangers were here in our midst.
Mail after mail had been stuck up and
robbed on both sides OF the border, the
robbers being tall man and boy; and,
as climax, a bank had been entered. in
broad day, in the main street of a neigh
boring township; two men had walked in,
bailed up the accountant with revolver,
found the manager in his bath, and, with
out giving him time 10 dress, made him
open the safe and hand over noble
booty IN notes and gold, the while man
had guarded the door and a boy stood
holding the horses in the street Then
the party bad vanished into the air, leav-
ing not trace behind. The leader of the
gang became known as Thunderbolt; the
name was in the mouths of great and
small, and men who had seen him said
that Thunderbolt was no other than Jim
curtis, late stockman at Wyalla.
I'm. I,I --~oo H..