The Staffordshire and Potteries Examiner. — 1881-05-14 (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England)

NAIONGST THE AUSTRALIAN BUSHRANGERS.  A LETTER FROM AN OLD BURSLEMITE. A. Hanley gentleman has forwarded to us the following extracts from a letter received from Mr. Enoch Davies, formerly resident in Barslem, who 29 years ago emigrated to Australia. They will no doubt be interesting, not only to his former friends and acquaintances, but to the general public. He opens hie letter with the following introductory account of a personal visit that he made in November last to the residence of one of Captain Kelly's gang of bush rangers, who for two years kept the inhabitants of the colony in a state of terror, although daring that time £B,OOO were offered by the Government for their capture. The Victorian Government alone spent £50,000 in pursuit of them before they were brought to bay. Daring that time the robbers were outlawed, but no person in the district would dare to interfere with them in any way, as they had friends and supporters all over the country who supplied them with every information of the doings of the police. Three of them were burnt to death at an hotel, and Ned Kelly was captured at the same time and hung in Melbourne on the 11th of November. "In my travels through the mountainous districts of Victoria I had occasion to visit the house of the outlaw. It was situated in a rocky glen, surrounded by rugged, gigantic hills. The hut, or dwelling-house, was about 24 feet long by 11 feet wide, with a bark roof. It was built of slabs, and was divided into three rooms—two bedrooms and one for general use. It stood in a small clearing of about two acres, and about fifty yards from the dwelling, close to the banks of a winding creek, was a small garden of about a quarter of an acre, enclosed with an ordinary bush fence. Soon after I made my appearance on the scene I let the reins fall upon my horse's neck and jogged quietly along, thinking of the melancholy abode I was about to visit. As I drew near to the dwelling I was in a position to discern from the seat of the saddle a middle-aged woman in the garden hoeing potatoes, who I knew to be the mother of one of the robbers, I watched her closely as she put down her garden implement and came forth to meet me. At first I thought there was an angry movement in her walk, bat when she found I was not the bearer of any evil news she became easy and conversed with me freely. Whether there was anything of that magnetic force about me which professors of mesmerism speak of, I cannot say; certainly there was something about my manner that gained her confidence; and in that free and easy manner which is characteristic of the Irish people, she invited me inside, while she pat on the kettle and made me a cup of tea. Notwithstanding she was the mother of an outlaw whose hands had been imbrued in the blood of his fellowmen, and equal in during to Ned Kelly himself, there was some kindly feeling about her. She was a woman of strong feeling and generous impulse; she talked freely at times piteously about the robbers. Her son, she said, had his bed, and upon it he mast lie. If she could save him at the sacrifice of the others she lid not know that she would do it. When speaking of one who had turned traitor to her son, who at all times had made her house his home, and had something to do in leading him into crime, she was revengeful, and, no doubt, would glory in his destruction. This she lived to see, as her son returned and shot him dead. Standing over his corpse' he said, 'I am satisfied; you will lay no more traps to catch me.' This murder was avenged. Expiation soon followed. The following night the collapse and end of the gang came like an interposition of Providence. fa the tragedy at Glenowen their career ceased." Mr. Downs speaks favourably of the resonrcea of Australia, and refers feelingly to his youthful assoeistes at the time he left the Staffordshire Potteries, and wishes to be kindly remembered to those who J.new him and who may now be living. The following is a list of prices of some of the provisions :—Beef and mutton, _ .  .2(1 to 3d per lb; best flour, per bag of 2001bs, 19s ; oats, per bushel of 401bs, 2s 6d; potatoes, per cwt, ; butters per lb, 6d; eggs, per dozen, 6d.