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Captain Moonlite

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Andrew George Scott
Captain Moonlite
BornJanuary 8, 1845
County Tyrone, Ireland
DiedJanuary 20, 1880
Sydney, Australia
Other namesCaptain Moonlite
OccupationBushranger
Criminal statusExecuted by hanging
Criminal penaltyDeath

Andrew George Scott (baptised 6 March 1845 – 20 January 1880), Aka Captain Moonlite, was an Australian bushranger.

Early peregrinations

Scott was born in Rathfriland, Ireland, son of an Anglican clergyman, but of Scottish descent. His father's intention was that he join the priesthood, but Scott instead trained to be an Engineer, completing his studies in London.

The family moved to New Zealand in 1861, with Scott intending to try his luck in the Otago goldfields. However, the Maori Wars intervened and Scott signed up, as an officer, and fought at the battle of Oraku where he was wounded in both legs.

After a long convalescence Scott was accused of malingering and courtmartialed. Scott gave his disquiet at the slaughter of women and children during the siege as the source of his objection to returning to service.

In Melbourne he met bishop Charles Perry and became lay reader at Bacchus Marsh, Victoria with the intention of entering the Anglican priesthood on the completion of his service. He was then sent to the gold mining town of Mount Egerton.

Celebrity criminal

On 8 May 1869 Scott was accused of disguising himself and forcing bank agent, Ludwig Julius Wilhelm Bruun, a young man whom he had befriended, to open the safe. Bruun described being robbed by a fantastic black-crepe masked figure who forced him to sign a note absolving him of any role in the crime. The note read "I hereby certify that L.W. Bruun has done everything within his power to withstand this intrusion and the taking of money which was done with firearms, Captain Moonlite, Sworn."

Bruun claimed the man sounded like Scott but no gold was found in Scott's possession. Scott in turn accused Bruun and local school teacher James Simpson of the crime who then became the principal suspects in the minds of police and left for Sydney soon afterwards.

It was alleged that for several months, Scott lived off the money stolen from the bank, hobnobbing in Sydney's high society and entertaining actors at after theatre parties. Near the end of 1870, he began to pass worthless cheques and was arrested while trying to leave for Fiji aboard a fraudulently obtained yacht apltly named the "Why not?". He was sentenced to 12 months in Maitland jail. In 1872 he was charged with stealing the gold at Mount Egerton; he escaped whilst on remand for a short time before his recapture. He appeared before judge Sir Redmond Barry on 24 July 1872 and received a sentence of eleven years jail. Despite some evidence against him, Scott claimed innocence in this matter until his dying day.

Scott was released from HM Prison Pentridge in March 1879. On regaining freedom, Scott met up with James Nesbitt , a young man whom he had met in prison - considered by many to be Scott's lover, and trading on his tabloid celebrity as "Captain Moonlite" began a career as a public speaker on prison reform.

However this reputation came back to bite him. Throughout this period Scott was harried by the authorities and by the tabloid press who attempted to link him to numerous crimes in the colony and printed fantastic rumours about supposed plots he had underway.

At some time during this period Scott seems to have decided to live up to this legend and assembled a gang of young men, with Nesbitt as his second in command and the others being Thomas Rogan (21), Thomas Williams (19), Gus Wreneckie (19) and Graham Bennet (18). Scott met these young men through his lecture tours or through brothels.

Inspecting Superintendent of Police John Sadleir, a Victorian police officer claims Scott sent word to infamous bushranger Ned Kelly, asking to join forces with him but that "Kelly sent back word threatening that if Scott or his band approached him he would shoot them down". The reasons for Kelly's refusal are unclear, though it is worth noting that Kelly was a Catholic Irishman, and Scott, Anglican Scots-Irish.

Scott seems to have never received the reply as his gang left Melbourne in the later part of 1879, and traveling north crossed into New South Wales to look for work, far from the police surveillance that stymied any opportunity of employment in Victoria. While traveling through the Kelly's area of operation, the gang were frequently mistaken for the Kelly's and took advantage of this to receive food and to seize guns and ammunition from homesteads.

Last stand and execution

Capture of Captain Moonlite
Headstone at Gundagai cemetery

Scott's gang bailed up the Wantabadgery Station near Wagga Wagga in November 1879 after being refused work, shelter and food. By this stage they were on the verge of starvation, after spending cold and rainy nights in the bush and in Moonlite's words succumbed to "desperation," terrorising staff and the family of Claude McDonald- a wealthy squatter. Scott also robbed the Australian Arms Hotel of a large quantity of alcohol and took prisoner the residents of some other neighbouring properties- bringing the number of prisoners to 36 in total.

One man, Ruskin, escaped in an attempt to warn others, but was caught and subject to a mock trial- the jury of his fellow prisoners finding him "Not Guilty". Another station-hand attempted to rush Scott but was overpowered.

A small party of four troopers eventually arrived, but Scott's well armed gang held them down with gunfire for several hours until they retreated to gather reinforcements- at which point the gang slipped out.

The gang then holed up in the farmhouse of Edmund McGlede until surrounded by a much more substantial police force. During the following shootout, Senior Constable Webb-Bowen was shot and killed, as was Wreneckie. Nesbitt was also shot and killed, attempting to lead police away from the house so that Scott could escape. When Scott saw Nesbitt shot down and was distracted, McGlede took the opportunity to disarm the gang leader and with the other members wounded, or captured on attempting to flee the fire fight came to a close. According to newspaper reports at the time, Scott openly wept at the loss of his dearest and closest companion, stooped, raised the wounded man and kissed him passionately.

During the trial Scott claimed all guilt and allowed his young confederates to put all the blame on him, with them claiming to have been deceived as to the nature of their expedition, however both Scott and Rogan were given death sentences.

Scott was hanged in Sydney on 20 January 1880. Scott went to the gallows wearing a ring woven from a lock of Nesbitt's hair on his finger and his final request was to be buried in the same grave as his constant companion, "My dying wish is to be buried beside my beloved James Nesbitt, the man with whom I was united by every tie which could bind human friendship, we were one in hopes, in heart and soul and this unity lasted until he died in my arms." His request was not granted by the authorities of the time, but his remains were exhumed from Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney, transported by horse and carriage and reinterred at Gundagai next to Nesbitt's grave in January 1995.[1]

References

  1. ^ "Gundagai". Walkabout: Australian Travel Guide. Fairfax Digital. Retrieved 2006-07-12.



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