ithout being able to discover the villains, among whom is stated
to have been a free man, named Denis M'Caig, who went from hence
to Port Dalrymple in the Brothers.

On the night of the 17th of November, the premises of Mr.
Thomas Hayes, at Bagdad, were attacked at a time when Mr. Stocker
and wife, and Mr. Andrew Whitehead (the former on their route
from Hobart Town to Port Dalrymple, with a cart containing a
large and valuable property) had unfortunately put up at the
house for the night. Michael Howe was the chief of this banditti,
which consisted of eight others. The property of which they
plundered Mr. and Mrs. Stocker on this occasion, was upwards of
L300 value, among which were two kegs of spirits. One of
these, a member of the gang wantonly wasted, by firing a
pistol-ball through the head of the keg, which contained eleven
gallons. They set their watches by Mr. Whitehead's, which they
afterwards returned; but took Mr. Stocker's away with their other
plunder. Mr. Wade, chief constable of Hobart Town, had stopped
with the others at Mr. Hayes's; but hearing a noise, which he
considered to denote the approach of bush-rangers, he prudently
attended to the admonition, and escaped their fury, which it was
concluded would have fallen heavily upon him, as they are at
variance with all conditions in life that are inimical to their
crimes. On the morning of the 2d instant, Mr. William Maum, of
Hobart Town, sustained the loss of three stacks of wheat by fire
at his farm at Clarence Plains, owing to the act of an
incendiary.

On the 14th of November a large body, consisting of fourteen
men and two women, were unwelcomely fallen in with by a single
man on horseback, at Scantling's Plains. Howe and Geary were the
most conspicuous: they compelled him to bear testimony to the
swearing in of their whole party, to abide by some resolutions
dictated in a written paper, which one of them finished writing
in the traveller's presence. After a detention of about three
quarters of an hour, he was suffered to proceed under strong
injunctions to declare what he had been an eye-witness of; and to
desire Mr. Humphrey, the magistrate, and Mr. Wade, the chief
constable, to take care of themselves, as they were bent on
taking their lives, as well as to prevent them from growing
grain, or keeping goods of any kind. And by the information of a
person upon oath, it appears that they had about the same period,
forced away two government servan