The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-10-20

pair. The brothers Kenniff took to the
Drush;" Gordon of trained aboriginal
crackers and white troopers, summoned
swiftly from every available quarter,
was formed, embracing scope of coun-
try as big as several English counties;
wherein the men had disappeared, and
so the chase began. The now declared
outlaws could not get out of the ring;
the troopers, with their human eauiva-
lent of the bloodhound, could not catch
them within it until after more than
two months incessant harrying. Seye&
raj times the bushrangers were located
and their camp rushed, but always the
camp was empty of men. They were
out in the coolest time of the Queens
land year-a time when bitter frost is
the rule rather than the exception from
midnight until sunrise: they dared but
seldom light a fire,and could never by
any chance have slept bye one, SO that
their misery, hardened bushmeu though
they were. must have been intense.
They We're taken at last, almosa procoi
cally, inarly morning. A party of
troopers stalked in upon the camp, and
came close uon the outlaws bemore thew
look alarm; for the constables were
wpithout boots and the camp was
pitched in a thick patch of barren
scrub. The outlaws, when they saw.
their daonger. had no time to mount,
though they had four saddIed horses
standing by. They broke away on foot,
were fired upon repeatedly and missed.
Jim tripped and fell, and was taken be-
fore he could rise; Pat got clear away,
and some two hours later, after some
parleying, gave himself up.
One may say that the whole story of
bushranging is in that brief episode and
what led up to it. AS to the latter,
throughout the length and breadth of
the Australian bush, to thieve stock in
small way is so easy, the bush popu-
lation Is to large extent so patriarch
ial in its ways, and detection Is so diff
cult, that "cattle duffing," the killing of
a casual sheep not acquired by pur-
chase, the 'sweating"-tl1at is, mau-
thorized borrowing-of somebody elses
horse, are matters Of common practice.
In the days before the telegraph, really
wonderful things were done in the way
of cattle lifting and the removal of
whole mobs of horses-the brands of
which would be faxed" or altered en-
route-and their dispersal among dis
tant purchasers. With the spread of
communication, of course, these truly
princely opportunities were gradually
restricted, and thieving was necessarily
reduced. 1t Is also extensively prac-
iced in quite eighborly-strictly an
unneighborly--way There is no COM
moner subject of chaff about the camp
fire at mastering time than to praise
he qualities of a neighbours beef, and
declare that it was never raised upon
mis- own grass. And this chaff, often |
has truth behind it. Heavy
penalties await the convicted stock !
.hief; but conviction in that well nigh !
S easy, however and is freely exer-
Used. Between neighbors who are In a
'airly large and pretty equal way of !
;Quattfng the stealing of one another's
stock, when it becomes fashionable in @
ocality, will probably come out about
evel in the long rum or will vary more
IT less. like mems winnings at whist,
ccording to the skill of the operator.
But on the TANKS of the large holder
With his many thousand head Of stock,
here is the small grazer or selector
With his tens There is, too, the bush
who gets his big squatter
eighbors permission to depasture a
ew head of mixers" Given, in this
nan Of small possessions, scruple to
latch his acres and cunning In bush
raft, and there you have the makings
first chapter in bushranging. He
teals for profit, then for pleasure. The
anne is full of joy and daring; it soon
ecomes q kind Of patriarchial right.
y the same process the laws of prop
rty and the police engender an impla-
able enmity in him. The result-tlle
ecasional results easy 20 foresee.
o ignorance, add power and liberty,
n amazing skill in woodcraft. and, a
ng course of undetected thieving, wild
aired and contempt for all control and
scipline; murder--given the devils
come of it. Such. prob
ply, were the Kenniffs; such were GER
,inly the Kellys and their confede.