Tuesday, June 19, 2012

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE CHASE

The Advertiser, Adelaide, Tuesday 31 July 1900
NEW SOUTH WALES TRAGEDIES
SEARCHING FOR THE MURDERERS.
A DIFFICULT TASK.
Sydney, July 30.
The black outlaws are still at large large, and the police and bushmen alike have been completely baffled.
There is the greatest difficulty in getting reliable information,owing to the absence of telegraphic communication.
A telephone is in course of erection at Wollar.
Were it completed, the movements of the search parties would be much more easily directed.
It as thought that the telegraph line should be tapped at Ulan and a temporary office erected there.  
To send a messenger 30 miles, and then to await a reply, is to arrive on any trail too late to be of much use.
Coming along the track taken by the fugitives, it is easy to understand how the police were outwitted. No effort is being spared to find the murderers.
The police are out late and early, and only take very brief rest.
Any talk of a systematic search is foolishness.
Ten times the number of men engaged could not, as has been suggested, sweep the country.
Going 10 yards apart they might easily miss their men among the rocks, holes, boulders, and timber that afford excellent cover.  
Trooper Morris, who was recently invalided from the Transvaal, where be was recommended for the Victoria Cross, led a search party from Singleton over the Wollar route, and is thoroughly eager in the pursuit.
He says that the country around Wollar is much rougher than South African country.
The hills here ran in ranges instead of being broken up, as they are in South Africa, and the timber around Wollar affords much better cover.
This party is only one of dozens that are scouring the country, eager to be in at the capture.
It is known that a reward has been offered, but very little thought is given to that.
Everyone is eager for the sake of relatives, who are huddled together in various centres, to rid the country of those who have paralysed everything.
To pass deserted homesteads with the stock feeding in growing crops is a common sight.  
Here and there a few sturdy specimens refuse to leave, and should tbe blacks happen to call at such places, they may have a warm reception.
The police wish if possible to take the Governors alive, but no unnecessary risks are expected to be taken in doing so.  
Further parties continue to leave Mudgee towards Wollar.
Many residents of Cooyal and Botobollar are applying for arms to defend themselves.
Three of the principal stores at those towns have sold during the last few days over £300 worth of arms and ammunition