There being so many places of growing
importance, the Government of Victoria
made a survey of what is called Sydney Road.
It was cleared right through, bridges built, and
some of the worst parts of the road
farmed. (sic) This was the end of the traffic
through Kelly's Gap.
The wagons now followed the main road or as near to
it as they could,
but there was one place dreaded by both wagoners and
coach-drivers --
it was called the Crab-holes, and in recent yesrs
(sic) it has been held in equal
dread by motorists who knew it as the Glue-pot but
which now is being made a good road by
the Government Roads Board.
One of the events of the early days, was to see
the gold escort go through, surrounded by
a bevy of mounted police with their rifles and smart
trappings.
I remember when a small boy, seeing the escort badly
stuck in the crab-holes; however, bad
roads were not the worst that they had to contend
with. The North East was badly infested
with bush-rangers, and of (sic) there had not been a
strong force, the gold would have
soon gone, also the lives of the men who were in
charge of it.
At the time there were only two buildings in
Glenrowan -- a hotel and a store,
both owned and run by Mr. William Liddle. He did
business with the carriers and its few settlers who
were within range of his place of business.
At a short distance -- about a
mile from the hotel -- was a
-6-
range called Morgan's Lookout. It was so called
through the presence of a notorious
and blood-thirsty bushranger called Morgan. That was
in the neighbourhood of Glenrowan.
For some time Morgan held the out-back parts of New
South Wales in a state of terror,
on account of his dreaded deeds of robbery, outrage
and murder. A squatter from the Upper King river
was across the border, and one morning, with a
friend he came on Morgan's camp.
The outlaw had gone to catch his horse and was
without rifle or revolver when he drew near the
camp.
The squatter called upon him to surrender, but he
placed his hand over his heart. The man thinking he
was going to draw a revolver, fired, but the only
damage done was to blow off the top of his finger,
and he escaped in the scrub, but he had marked his
man, and came to Victoria to kill him, a deed he
very accomplished. He stuck up the station, and had
he been content to shoot him, could have done so,
but he was to have a worse death. The monster tied
him to a post and set two hay-stacks on fire to
slowly
roast him to death in the presence of his servants.
Startled by the fire, a mob of horses started to
gallop and the out-law thinking the police were upon
him, decamped. It was then easy for for one of the
men to rushin, cut the bands and release the doomed
man. Morgan next appeared on the Sydney road about
three miles on the Wangaratta side of Glenrowan,
where he robbed a number of wagoners. Just at dusk
he stopped a wagoner, I after-wards knew well - -
the late Mr. William Dowell - - and demanded his
money. Dowell said "my boss is coming along the road
with the money," and he went off up the road.
Dowell, seeing the foolish thing he had done, gave
the reins to a man he had with him and ran
off into the bush with a hundred and fifty
pounds......................................