Sam Poo Was Australia's
Only Chinese Bushranger
By U. E. Parry-Okeden
SAM Poo, who in 1865 was scratching over old worked-out claims with some of his coun-trymen in the Mudgee, N.S.W.
A few weeks ago The Queenslander published an article about the days when Australia's gunmen rode, and apparently started a great digging out of old records.
Here is one of the chronicles that it prompted.
Tired of his scanty winnings on the Talbragar, and thought he would try the less arduous, if more risky profession of bushranging.
Having left his countrymen, he lived in a camp alone and became a
real "hatter" (a man who lived and worked by himself), and was considered by the miners and his owncountrymen to be a bit "soft," but quite harmless. However, he continuously practised shooting at an old stump near his camp, and later events proved that he was not so "crazy" as they imagined him to be.
One morning the diggers on the field were alarmed by the news that a bushranger, who looked like a Chinaman, had stuck up a woman and her
little girl on the Mudgee road and later reports came in that an armed Chinaman was "bailing up" travellerson the TalbragarMudgee road.
Then, Cranky Sam being missed, they guessed he was the culprit. Constable Ward, of Coonabaraban, hastened along to the Mudgee Road,and met two men who had been held up by a Chinaman an hour or two previously. After some hard riding Ward saw a Chinaman on foot, carrying a gun, but the man also saw the constable and ran off the road into the bush.
Ward gave chase, and coming up with his man, called out, "Put down that gun."
The Chinaman covered him and said, "Me fire; you police-man."
Ward jumped off his horse, and drawing his revolver, but not wishing to shoot, again told Sam to "put down his gun." The Chinaman, however, fired point blank at the constable, severely wounding him in the side. As he fell Ward fired a shot athis assailant, but the Chinaman ran deeper into the bush.
Ward lay for a long time where he had fallen, and would probably have bled to death but for the lucky arrival of a Mr. Plunkett, who owned Talbragar station, on which the oc-currence had taken place, and who was out looking for stock. Ward was immediately conveyed to the homestead, and a man was sent post haste for the nearest doctor, a distance of about 50 miles. Meanwhile every effort was made to make him comfortable and ease his suffering, but when the doctor arrived next day Ward was beyond the need of human aid.
Meanwhile the whole countryside was out looking for the Chinaman. Mounted police scoured the bush for many miles in every direction, butcould find no trace of the murderer, though they came across his tracks about old camp fires, on one or two occasions.
Two weeks after the murder, Constables Burns, McMahon, and Todd secured the services, as tracker, of a smart half-caste aboriginal stockman named Harry Hughes, then working on a nearby station. The tracker soon got on the Chinaman's trail, and after a long hunt, when the tracks became quite fresh, the party split up, two troopers taking the edge of the scrub, the other one and the tracker to the nearby river, arranging to meet a few miles on.
The Chinaman was seen by the two troopers on the scrub side, hiding in a small gully, between the scrub and the river, and as they passed he fired.
He was too quick for them, and got back to the scrub and was lost sight of. The scrub being too thick for horses, the troopers galloped along
the river and picked up the other trooper and his tracker.
All then raced back to the gully, and the tracker soon picked up the tracks and found Sam Poo hiding in the thick scrub. The Chinaman at once fired, the charge passing through Hughes's hat. The three troopers rushed forward, and more firing took place, the Chinaman rapidly loading and firing from behind some big trees.
It was some time before the troopers could get a shot at him, but at last a trooper saw a chance as Sam Poo exposed himself to get a shot at one of his companions, and fired quickly from a shot gun. The charge entered the Chinaman's neck and body. They then rushed him as heraised himself on one arm to fire again, and he was quickly disarmed and handcuffed.
Next day he was taken to Mudgee, where his wounds were treated inthe hospital, his injuries being sosevere that he was not expected to recover. In due course, however, he recovered, and was taken to Bathurst, where he was tried, convicted, and hanged, just nine months after his arrest at Mudgee.
So ended the brief career of the only Chinaman bushranger that has ever been known in Australia.