‘Do you think …?’
‘Francis …’
The boys looked at each other and grinned.
‘You have the hat,’ Martin said. ‘And I have the boots. Do you think this neckerchief will work for Francis?’
Tommy grinned. He had a cool bushranger’s hat and Martin had the hippest boots on the planet. And Francis? His ticket to the past would be a red hanky! The boys fell about laughing. They couldn’t wait to give it to him.
On 8 May 1869, a masked man held up the seventeen-year-old bank manager at Mt Egerton just as he did in this story. The victim was Danish-born Ludwig Bruun. Bruun believed that his attacker was Andrew George Scott, the lay preacher who had been his friend (until they had an argument). The robber made Bruun write the note that he dictated, and he signed it himself: ‘Captain Moonlite’.
A few days later, Bruun was arrested for stealing gold from the bank, but the jury at his trial found him not guilty. Just as he did in this story, Scott left town, spent up big, and went to jail in Sydney for using fake cheques. In the meantime, Bruun hired a private detective – whose name really was George Sly – to investigate Scott. When it was discovered that Scott had sold a large amount of gold – a very similar amount, in fact, to the amount stolen from the bank – Scott was re-arrested and tried for the Mt Egerton robbery.
Captain Moonlite
Three years after the robbery, he was tried, found guilty and sentenced to ten years in Pentridge Prison. The gun really was found in the well, but not by Tommy! It played an important part in the trial because the well was close to Scott’s home, even though the court could never prove that the gun belonged to him.
As far as I know, the neckerchief was never found; I made that bit up.
Scott always claimed that he was innocent of the robbery. He insisted that Ludwig Bruun had conspired with his friend James Simpson and set him up. He was a clever man, and while he was in jail – and afterwards – he campaigned strongly against the terrible conditions for prisoners. He was also a liar who liked to get his own way. When he was released from prison, Scott went on to commit another serious crime. But that is the subject of another book …
Why do you call yourself ‘Captain Moonlite’?
I don’t! It’s a vicious lie! I had nothing to do with that robbery. I wasn’t even in town when it happened.
But Ludwig Bruun recognised your voice …
He’s lying. He stole the gold himself and tried to pin it on me.
… and you tried to sell some gold … and it was the same amount of gold that was stolen from the bank. How do you explain that?
Ludwig gave it to me after he stole it.
Why on earth would he have done that?
I don’t know. Maybe he felt guilty. Maybe he was afraid of getting caught with it. Maybe he wanted me to get caught.
But –
He’s lying, I tell you! Did you see that note? Did you see the writing on it? That was the schoolteacher’s writing. Ludwig’s friend, that drunkard, James Simpson. Those two cooked this whole thing up between them. It was nothing to do with me. I’m a preacher, for goodness’ sake. I’m a man of God. I’d never do anything bad. Never!
Then how do you explain the forged cheques and all the debt you got into? Is that the sort of thing a preacher normally does?
Of course not, and I didn’t do any of that. You’ve got it all wrong. I’m innocent, and everyone is out to get me. I can explain it all. I just don’t see why I should have to explain it to you. I’ve had enough of these questions, if you’re not going to listen to me. Good bye!
Jane Smith is a librarian who likes books, history, chocolate and cats. Unlike Tommy Bell, she has never had a horse of her own, although she sometimes used to ride one at a trail riding school. His name was Pickpocket and he was nowhere near as clever as Combo.
