Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1890-01-03
HELD FOR RANSOM.

udyS, JOtluey my lOWdI u biie new lONi VI
Murray City, on the Murray river. and
we were only two miles from pos:
station, where a guard of mounted po-
lice had their headquarters, when the
driver of the stage or wagon suddenly
brought his horses to dead stop. This
was in the days of thirty years ago, be-
fore any part of Australia was half civil
lied by the English, and before the big
island had been more than half surveyed
There were plenty of bush rangers haunt
ing every highway, and every stage was
usually accompanied by guard. In
our case five of us had put together and
hired a private conveyance. 1t was one
of the usual stages, but making a special
trip for our benefit OF the five three
were Englishmen going up to the valley
of the Murray to locate land, the fourth
was an American who had been in the
country two years, and had landed in
Melbourne only the week before. My
compatriot was named Davis, widower,
and he had his only child along-a
bright little girl s years old, He was
going up to sheep ranch in partnership
with friend already settled, and he
could not bea leave his child behind
him in the Jo"E
The five of us were well armed, and
every hour since leaving Melbourne we
had been ready to defend ourselves. AS
we had met with nothing to alarm us
thus far, and as we knew we were close
upon a station, no one was prepared for
what happened. The stage had no sooner
stopped than two men came up on a
side, covered us with revolvers, and a
gruff voice announced
"Now, then, the first move and off
goes yer heads! Step out here one by
oner'
Twas the first one out. 1t was just at
sundown, and ON portion of the road
between two ridges. The two men on
that side were rough, unkempt, des-
perate looking fellows-fair samples of
the other two-and the instant | saw
them knew that we were in for trouble.
When we were all out they ordered the
driver to turn into blind road to thr
right, and we followed after the wagon
As we were ordered to follow the vehicle
the leader of the gang said:
'No foolishness, now! The four of us
have got our pistols looking right at ye!"
After going thirty rods we were as
well hidden from the highway as if we
mad gone ten miles, and were brought to
a halt in little glade. AS there were
five to four, you may wonder that we
did not make break. The first man
who had moved to pull his revolver
would have been shot in the back. Da-
Wis could not have been counted on any
how, as his anxiety for his child took all
the fight out of him. The driver, if not
in league with the rangers, was at least
treated as neutral. While he was arm
ed, he took matters SO coolly that we
saw he was out of the scrape The five
of us were placed in a row, and while
three men stood behind us the fourth
disarmed us and went through our pock-
cts. We were poverty stricken crowd.
The $50 they took from me constituted
my worldly wealth, while Davis and the
others had been too sharp to trust their
money to a stage unguarded. The whole
amount did not pan out over $3.50, and
the bush rangers were furious.
"Why, you bloody bloke!" shouted the
leader, "you alone ought to have at least
G200 with you!"
"Do you think I'm carrying my money
about the country for such as your pro-
tested the hot headed victim.
I'm a-wishing you hadn't got blast
ed pennyl' added the second.
"The idea of it! You'll all be huns
for this!" growled the third.
Davis and had nothing to say. The
leader, speaking to the two of us, asked:
"You are not English?'
mo; Americans"
II thought so. Where ye bound for?"
We gave him our destinations.
"Well, we're bit sorry to take your
money, small as it is, and so delay your
Journey; but we've got to do both. These
three coves is rich, and we amt going
to let 'em off with shillings where we
ought to have pounds"
While we were held under guard one
of the men went over to the driver and
held consultation with him, and the
result was that he turned his team
about and disappeared in the direction
of the highway. We were then ordered
to proceed in northerly course through
the scrub, one man leading and the 9TH
ers bringing up the rear. Not word
had been addressed to little Eva by any
of the men, although all had looked at
her with softened expression. She real
lied what was going on, but went
through it bravely, and when we started
through the scrub her father carried her
on his shoulder. We travelled for six or
seven miles before halting, and then
came upon camp fire, with a fifth
bush ranger sleeping beside it. He was
rudely awakened, and I then saw that
he had his right arm in sling, having
been wounded or meeting with an acci-
dent. The camp was a thicket, with
temporary shelter of brush to sleep un-
der. The five Of US were ordered to sit
down under this shelter, and then every
mans feet were tied together at the
ankles and a guard took a seat before
us. Then the fire was replenished, and
the bush rangers gave us such supper
as they could afford, which consisted
solely Of roast mutton and -four cake