St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-10-01
TO Be SKINNED ALIVE.
an Englishman's Adventure Among
Human Devils.
CAPTURED BY BUSHRANGERS
And Doomed to be Skinned Alive, When
aTerrible Storm Comes Up and
He Escapes.

After a voyage from Liverpool TO Mel
bourne | went up country with an
American acquaintance named Shaw for
a sort of vacation. had sailed with
Shaw while he was captain of a New
Orleans ship. filling the berth of second
mate to his satisfaction, and, as l had
saved his life on one occasion, there was
warm feeling between us. He was
now the owner of big sheep ranch on
the Murray river. and | was only too
glad TO get a run ashore and see some
thing of a country noted for its anom-
allies. This was before the days of rail-
roads and while the penal colony Was In
full blast and the bushranger king of
the road.
We were five days riding out to
Shaw'S ranch, our vehicle being a
wagon loaded with supplies and drawn
by six yokes of bullOckS, which were
almost as wild as buffalOes. | heard
very little about the bushTaugeTS until
we reached the ranch, and then Shaw
gave me such accounts of the fellows
as made me hope | should never be
Obliged to form their acquaintance. His
Immediate district had not been visited
for two OF three years. but they had
come in 10 the north and west of him
and INDUCED in many
ROBBERIES AND MURDERS.
There were three EngliShmen and
twelve natives on the range. which was
an extent of country nine miles long by
five broad. The force at the headquar-
ters house after our arrival numbered
three white men. white woman, three
natives. two black women and four or
five black children. No gang of bush
rangers numbering less than six would
dare to attack US. as the house was we'll
armed, and the black women could fire
a muSket as well as man. Shaw had
instructed his help to adopt a peace
policy. In case a buShranger applied
at any of the stations for food or shelter
he was to be accommodated, and If
they picked off a sheep occasionally no
notice was to be taken. As / said before,
he had not been disturbed thus far, but
while lie deluded himself with the idea
that it was on account of the policy pur-
sued, events were about to occur to
prove that the gentlemen OF the bush
had been waiting their own conven-
fence.
A bushranger was, in every instance,
a desperate criminal who had made his
escape from prison or the penal settle
mentS. There wasn't one of them who
had not deserved the gallOwS before he
fed to the bush. A dozen or more OF
the most desperate characters sent to
Tasmania had escaped and reached the
larger island, and penetrated to the in
terror, and these men were particularly
ferOci0us and
WITHOUT MERCY.
Shaw seemed to rest easy. however,
and so during the first week of my stay
| did not bother my head about the
rangers. Indeed. newcomer had
enough TO do to get accustomed to the
snakes. lizards, insects and other an
noyances which kept him stirred up day
and night.
On the tenth day of my stay Mr..
Shaw and set out to visit one of the
outlying stations in charge OF an Eng
lishman named Thomas. This man
was about fOrty-five years old. and had
deserted from an English man-Of-war.
He had three black men under his
charge, and one of them had been sent
in the day before with badly written
note TO the effect that many sheep were
being killed, and that all signs went to
show that gang of rangers had settled
down in the neighhOrhOOd. We were
mounted on good horses and we'll armed
as we rode away, and after an hours
ride we drew near the station, which
consisted of a stout log hut for the
keeper. another for the blacks. and
pens for herding the sheep. We found
the place silent and apparently desert
ed, and, leaving our horses in ticket.
we cautiously approached on foot. The
first discovery made was that the blacks
had been killed, and we pushed on to
the larger hut to fluid Thomas within
half an hour of breathing his last. He
could speak in whispers. and he told us
that seven bushrangerS had appeared
the evening before and committed the
atrocities visible on every hand. Al
though he had made them welcome and
prepared supper, they had come for a
different purpose. The blacks. one by
one, had been tortured in the
MOST HORRIBLE MANNER,
and when the last one was dead they
had turned on Thomas. They had
sliced off his ears broken his fingers.
cut off the end of his nose. hacked fl
his toes and tortured him in other ways
and had not left the place until about
an hour before our arrival. Everything
of value which could be carried off was
gone, and bloody knife was left stick
Ing in the dOorsill as a sort of def to
Shaw and the officers of the law.
There was no government patrol in
that district at that time. and the only
move we could make was to alarm the
two nearest ranchmen and organize a
pursuit on our own account. By noon
next day we had ten white men and
about twenty faithful blacks in hands
for start, and the trail was taken up at
the cabin. No one had any very great
hopes that we would overtake the rang
ers, but 1t was argued that pursuit must
hp ma6R fhQU would fQrrnpi1Q
the whole district. If we did
happen TO uncover them there
would be a hot fight. Every ranger
had price set on his head, and would
fight to the death, and the ranchmen
were men who had faced death almost
daily for years The white men were
mounted, while the blacks We're on foot.
but they had no trouble in keeping up
with US. After running across the
grazing lands for about mile the trail
entered the broken ground covered
with thicketS, and at the end
of another mile we had to
trail on foot 1t was quite evil
dent that the fellows did not fear pur-
suit, for they had gone at leisurely
pace, and the men best acquainted with
the country predicted that the gang had
headed for a rocky ravine in the midst
of a heavy growth, about six miles from
the cabin. The prediction was soon
verified, and we went forward with
greater canton, hoping that the fellows
would be sound asleep after their
nights carnival. They had taken two
gallons of whisky from the cabin, and
the chances were that they would all be
STUPIDITY DRUNK.
When within about two miles Of the
favine we suddenly ran into an ambush
and received a volley. One white man
was killed and another wounded, and
one black man was stretched dead.
Shaw was acting as the captain of our
troops, and he ordered US to deploy and
advance In open order. The rangers
were in thicket, and we soon drove
them out and killed one. In pressing
on after the others we became more and
more separated, and after bit found
myself alone to the right of the others.
kept advancing toward the ravine,
surprising the others to be doing the
same, and / had advanced a mile or
y