Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-03-26
SHORT SHIFT FOR sUsHMEN.
How the Law Was Executed BY Aus
traIian Mounted Police.

How the Law Was Executed BY Aus
tralian Mounted Police.
while they were In power" said q
New York man one time in the cattle
business in Australia, "the black track
er police Of Queensland were beyond
doubt the most expert and efficient
suppressors Of offenders against the
peace and safety Of the public that ever
had the sanction of government au-
thority. They were not only police.
they were likewise judge jury and ex-
ecutioner.
That unique system OF policing in
Queensland was put In operation In
1875. Queensland Is the largest divi-
sion of Australia and to this day i'm
mense tracts Of 1t, particularly in the
northern portion, are dense stretches
Of wilderness almost untrodden save by
the native bushmen, the original peo-
pie. many Of them still In the state Of
savagery and determined opposition to
the ways of civilization that marked
them when the first whites sought that
region to colonize and make available
to the world It's great resources. When
went to Queensland thirty-five years
ago they were a constant menace to
the settlers and particularly q source
Of danger to the stock raisers and
miners
mo effort has yet been made to civ
ilize the bushmen tribes. They still
clung to their primitive weapons, the
spear and the boomerang. Small In
stature. Of a low degree Of mentality.
they were aggressive In their protests
against the settlers and cunning In the
planning Of their attacks. At odd and
unexpected times they would come
swooping out Of the bush, raid the
ranches, murder the herders and es-
cape with the stolen cattle and horses
to the Businesses of their wilderness
haunts, into the unknown intricacies of
which no white pursuers could success
fully follow them. They waged war
also on the Cinnamon who worked In
the gold mines Of that isolated region
and as they invariably carried their
dead victims away with them, the
horrible conviction possessed the white
settlers that the bushmen were addict
ed to cannibalism.
These depredations had become
more frequent and more murderous in
their character under the systematic
leadership Of convicts transported for
brutal crimes committed at home and
who had escaped to the unexplored
tracts Of the bush, where Joining the
natives they became still more savage
and cruel than those uncivilized people
themselves. To deal effectively with
this danger, which was hating the ad-
vance Of settlement and striking
disastrous blow at the industries that
were making for the development OF
the region, the Queensland government
resolved to try the experiment Of
mounted police force formed from cer-
tain tribes Of natives that had accepted
the overtures Of the settlers and lived (
In peace with them, IL not in entire
accord with their ideas Of existence and
duty. These natives were of q dis
trict distant from the northern wilder
ness and had no ties Of association
with the bushmen Of the latter.
1T was no easy task to organize a
force Of police from such material.
The natives had to be taught to ride
horseback and to handle the pistol and
fife. They were afraid Of both horses
and firearms, but when these fears
were overcome those half savages be-
came enthusiastic and expert horse
men and marksmen. And the duty
they were to perform was congenial to
their aboriginal nature. That duty was
their business to hunt down the wild
murderers and horse and cattle thieves
and to 'disperse' all suspicious parties
and gatherings. They were called
Dispersers,' and when their effective
ness had become undoubted they got
the significant name Of Black Track
ers.' They were not required to bring
in prisoners. Whenever their services
were required a force was drafted from
the entire department. Some particu-
larly sagacious one among them was
appointed leader Of that active force.
which was scarcely necessary, for the
orders were really Individual carte
blanche.
When q force Of these armed and
mounted savage policemen started In
pursuit Of alleged criminals the trail
was followed mercilessly, and not a
native man, woman or child. found In
the vicinity where the crime had been
committed, nor for as far as the Black
Trackers followed in the bush, escap-
ed. They were killed, one and all.
These wild troopers became useful
In hunting up whites who were so fire.
quently lost in the great wilderness
that scores had perished annually.
wandering aimlessly about In the
trackless waste, and In capturing es-
caped convicts who had sought the
wilds. Even on these errands they ex-
ercised their prerogative OF killing
every wild black they met. Nor did
they confine this duty to the chance
meeting Of such, but did not hesitate
to 20 out Of their way and lie for days
in ambush at water holes that were
scattered about in the wilderness. and
where bushmen came to refresh them
selves in their wanderings; then cor
railing the unsuspecting savages the
yigilant black trackers shot them down
to the last one.
80 complete was the approval OF
the cattlemen and gold miners OF this
dispensing system Of police protec-
ton that it was a common sight to see
skulls Of dispersed bushmen adorn-
Ing door posts, gate posts and even the
interior Of houses of the wealthiest
among them. But to the great body
of settlers the idea Of the government
supporting so inhuman a department at
last became unbearable, and, horrihed
by the butcheries by the police In the