{"product_id":"2940013677739","title":"Michael Howe--The Last and Worst of the Bush-Rangers of Van Dieman's Land","description":"Michael Howe, who acted the principal part in the transactions about\u003cbr\u003eto be narrated, was born at Pontefract in Yorkshire in the year 1787,\u003cbr\u003eand was bound apprentice to a merchant vessel at Hull; but he served\u003cbr\u003eonly two years when he ran away and entered on board a man-of-war.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the year 1811 he was apprehended for robbing a miller on the\u003cbr\u003ehighway, and tried at the York assizes following; but from an\u003cbr\u003einformality in the indictment the capital part of the charge was\u003cbr\u003eabandoned, and he received sentence of seven years transportation. He\u003cbr\u003earrived at this settlement in the ship Indefatigable Captain Cross in\u003cbr\u003ethe month of October 1812.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDuring his passage from England his habits were rather industrious,\u003cbr\u003eand, though always mischievously inclined, he exhibited no symptoms of\u003cbr\u003ethat daring and wanton conduct which manifested itself in his future\u003cbr\u003eLife, unless we may consider as such his leaping overboard whilst the\u003cbr\u003evessel was in port and swimming a considerable distance before he was\u003cbr\u003etaken.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs a leader of a band of desperadoes, Howe may not unaptly be compared\u003cbr\u003eto Three-fingered Jack, who was so long the terror of the peaceable\u003cbr\u003esettlers in the plantations of Jamaica; and who, notwithstanding every\u003cbr\u003eexertion to take him, long ranged the woods of that island, committing\u003cbr\u003ethe most cruel and daring acts of murder and robbery, until, from the\u003cbr\u003elarge rewards offered by the Government, he was arrested by the hands\u003cbr\u003eof justice.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHowe was only a few days at Government public labor before he was\u003cbr\u003eassigned, as a Crown servant, to Mr. Ingle, a merchant and grazier;\u003cbr\u003efrom whose service he eloped into the woods and joined twenty-eight\u003cbr\u003efelons at that time at large committing depredations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith a view of inducing those deluded people to return to their duty\u003cbr\u003eto Government, His Excellency Governor Macquarie, on the 14th May,\u003cbr\u003e1814, was pleased to extend to them the Royal clemency for all\u003cbr\u003eoffences committed during their unlawful absence (the crime of wilful\u003cbr\u003emurder excepted); provided they should return to their lawful\u003cbr\u003eoccupations by the 1st day of December following; denouncing all who\u003cbr\u003eshould neglect to do so as outlaws.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis banditti, now consisting of twenty-nine persons, amongst whom\u003cbr\u003ewere Michael Howe and John Whitehead, an equally desperate offender,\u003cbr\u003eavailed themselves of the proffered clemency and surrendered to\u003cbr\u003eGovernment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough Howe and his companions must at this period have been\u003cbr\u003esensible that their lives would have been forfeit to the Laws, but for\u003cbr\u003ethe mercy extended to them, this reflection did not operate to amend\u003cbr\u003etheir future conduct; for we soon after find Howe and Whitehead again\u003cbr\u003ein the woods with a new set of desperadoes, adding murder to robbery.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter some minor depredations, this band, headed by Whitehead,\u003cbr\u003estripped nearly the whole of the settlers at New Norfolk of their\u003cbr\u003eportable property, together with all arms and ammunition; and from\u003cbr\u003ethence proceeded to Pitt Water and robbed Mr. Fisk a new settler at\u003cbr\u003ethat place.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47183935144176,"sku":"2940013677739","price":1.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013677739_p0.jpg?v=1763584374","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013677739","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}