44 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



sequently appointed to inquire into the diggers' grievances, of which 

 Wm. Westgarth was chairman. Writing three months after the 

 excitement of the fight had evaporated, the Board refers to the 

 "disgraceful inhumanities connected with the outbreak," and goes 

 on to say : " Assuredly on the part of the mounted division of police 

 there seems to have been a needless as well as ruthless sacrifice 

 of human life, indiscriminate of innocent or guilty, and after all 

 resistance had disappeared with the dispersed and flying rioters ". 



Of the 125 prisoners brought into Camp some were imme- 

 diately released, and others took their place ; finally, 114 were 

 locked up for the night in very close quarters. During the next 

 four days the Commissioners' Court had a busy time in sorting out 

 the most guilty. By Thursday all were discharged but thirteen, 

 who were duly committed for trial on the charge of high treason. 

 Of the prominent six only two, Timothy Hayes and Raffaello, were 

 amongst the final selection. Humffray was ignored, but placards 

 were issued offering a reward of 500 for the capture of Vern, and 

 200 each for Lalor and Black. 



Fortune was kind to these proscribed outlaws. Vern, whose 

 braggadocio had induced a belief that he was " Commander-in- 

 Chief," hence the largeness of the reward offered for him, found 

 shelter on that Sunday night in a miner's camp in the ranges. The 

 occupants, who were probably his own countrymen, sheltered him 

 for a month, and as there were four of them in the secret, it speaks 

 well for their loyalty that they never sought to sell him for a price 

 so much in excess of his real value. To put the police on a wrong 

 scent, he had the audacity to address a letter to his late " comrades 

 in arms" purporting to be written on board a ship at Sydney 

 Heads, and dated 24th December. In this gushing effusion he 

 takes a tearful adieu of the country of his adoption, and bemoans 

 the fact that " Fate denied me a warrior's death, a patriot's grave, 

 and decreed that I should languish in banishment ! " It was 

 surely what our American brethren call smart to get this letter 

 published in the Melbourne Age, with the editorial assurance that 

 its authenticity might be relied on. And yet it is a fact that when 

 he wrote, and for some twelve months afterwards, he had never 

 left the goldfield ! 



