Bushranging revival feared

- Mudgee -  Wallerawang - Mudgee mail coach - bushranging - Mr Charles Mortimer - Ilford -

30 May 1874 -  Authorities fear a revival in bushranging after the stick-up of the Mudgee mail coach yesterday.

The c - oach was travelling with six passengers and the mail from Mudgee to Wallerawang when two armed men bailed up the driver Mr Charles Mortimer and demanded he mailbags. Mr Mortimer said their faces were covered with cloth and they wore canvas bags over their clothing in order to disguise themselves.

They ordered the passengers out of the coach onto the side of the road and demanded hey empty their pockets of all money. One female passenger, by the name of Miss Power, offered her money to the bushrangers but they refused. The male passengers provided about £7 in cash. A gun was fired, but all agreed it was an accident as the bushranger was not aiming at anyone.

With seven mail bags and the cash, the bushrangers told Mr Mortimer to drive on or they would blow the roof of his bloody head off”.

The robbery was reported in Ilford and when the police returned to the scene of the crime, they found the seven mail bags cut open and the letters scattered everywhere.

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