"PEACE, PROGRESS AND PROSPERITY" 225 



the head before he reached the ground. The sergeant dismounted, 

 and from behind his horse opened fire with his revolver. The 

 horse, being wounded, broke away from him, and as it dashed 

 past the remaining trooper, who was uninjured, he vaulted upon its 

 back and made his escape. Kennedy, left alone to face the four 

 desperadoes, was done to death as soon as his revolver was emptied. 

 His body when found was riddled with bullets, three having passed 

 through his head. The trooper who escaped succeeded in reaching 

 Mansfield, and gave the alarm. The whole colony rang with exe- 

 cration of the wantonness and barbarity of the deed. The police 

 were put on their mettle ; troopers from all parts of the country 

 were requisitioned for pursuit ; the Government reward was in- 

 creased to 1,000 for each of the miscreants ; and a fruitless 

 scramble over the district aroused the ridicule and condemnation of 

 the press and the public. The police passed on the blame to the 

 Government for its parsimony in numbers and equipment, but 

 meanwhile, though the members of the gang had been recognised 

 at Wangaratta, and later near Wodonga on the Murray, they 

 remained uncaptured. 



Encouraged by their good luck, they grew derisive of the police, 

 and in December, just two months after the murders, they re- 

 appeared and took possession of the homestead of Mr. Young- 

 husband, near Euroa, on the North-Eastern Eailway line, and 

 there they confined all the station hands in the storeroom. A 

 travelling hawker, who was passing along the road, was seized and 

 the contents of his van looted, the robbers fitting themselves out 

 with new suits of civilian clothes. Several other passers-by were 

 run into the storeroom, until about five and twenty were placed 

 under lock and key for the night. Leaving one of their number as 

 an armed guard over the prisoners, the other three went down in 

 the morning to the railway line, cut the telegraph wires, and then 

 entered the township and took possession of the branch of the 

 National Bank. The faint resistance of the officials was easily over- 

 come, and having secured the cash, amounting to 2,300, they 

 drove the manager, his family and servants out to Younghusband's 

 station. As an indication of the imbecile terror their presence in- 

 spired, it is a noteworthy fact that, though on the drive, about three 

 VOL. n. 15 



