Page:ChroniclesofEarlyMelbournevol.1.pdf/94

had some rope with them, and out of this and the driver's necktie and handkerchief, and the lady's shawl, scarf and wrapping, sufficient ligatures were fashioned, by means of which the driver was securely bound spread eagle like to one of the wheels, and the fair one harnessed to one of the shafts. Neither man nor woman suffered any further indignity—except that the former was lightened of his watch and a trifling sum of money. The robbers next struck a light, and by the aid of a flickering tallow-fed torch, leisurely cut open the bags and inspected the letters. They annexed what they wanted, left the rest in a heap of debris, warned the captives to make no noise, and rode away on the unsaddled cart horses. The mailman, by dint of teeth and fingers and muscular power, succeeded in extricating himself after a couple of hours' hard labour. He then released his companion, and both trudged along on "Shanks's mare" towards Geelong, which was reached about 2 o'clock in the morning. The police were at once made aware of the outrage, and a search party forthwith organised of horse and foot, with maximum of noise, and a minimum of effect. 13. A few days after, the Western mails from Melbourne were bailed up and robbed near the River Leigh, by, as was supposed, the same men. The mail cart was stopped and the driver and two male passengers, not only despoiled of the contents of purses and pockets, and loose wearables, but pinioned with pieces of cordage and handkerchiefs, and pitched into a dry gully a little off the roadside. Two men named Owen Suffolk and Christopher Farrel were arrested on suspicion some days after, and circumstantial evidence, especially the uttering of stolen cheques, adduced, which led to their committal for trial before the Circuit Court at Geelong, where they were convicted and severally sentenced to ten years hard labour on the roads, the first three years in irons. 14. On the 29th June the mail from Colac to Belfast was stopped six miles from the former place by two armed men, who, under threat of blowing out the mailman's brains, forced him to surrender both mails and horses. The mailman was then tied to a tree, and watched by one of the fellows, whilst the other made a leisurely and business-like examination of the contents of the bags. There were cheques and orders representing over £2000 in the letters, but these were not touched, and nothing except bank notes taken. When the inspection was completed the robbers considerately untied the mailman, and taking off the horses, left him lamenting over the violated mail bags with a heap of torn letters and newspapers to give him but cold comfort. It was believed that this robbery had been perpetrated by a gang of desperadoes who had broke prison at Geelong, and the gaol-birds who occasionally got away from the Pentridge Stockade, when it consisted of only a few slab and wooden huts, surrounded by a timber enclosure or palisade.