Royal Commission report day 43 page 4

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The Royal Commission evidence for 4/8/1881

(full text transcription)

(see also introduction to day 43)

[[../../people/peB/bolam.html|Mr Thomas Bolam]] giving evidence

15088 After arriving at that conclusion, do you think he is a desirable man to be retained in the department?— I do not think that it is desirable that we should retain in the service a man who would render assistance to those outlaws, but I feel there is a difficulty in our way in dealing with a case like this without proof.

15089 There is one thing that I would like to ask you about; did you hear of any man being stuck up in the Beechworth district about Christmas 1878?— Yes, I read accounts in the newspapers of the sticking up of the hawkers by the Kelly gang, and I was under the impression, from the accounts which I read (I have not kept them to refer to), that the stranger who was with the outlaws at the time very possibly was Wallace. This, I believe, was during the Christmas holidays, and I thought it was quite possible that Wallace would be with the outlaws at that time; but this is only a supposition of mine.

15090 That is, from the description of the man?— I gathered that from the rumors that were floating about, and the accounts in the various papers.

15091 Did the description of that sticking-up case appear in the papers about the end of 1878 or the beginning of 1879?— I cannot say whether the account appeared after the Beechworth trial of Kelly or at the time of the trial.

15092 Did you hear the names of the pedlers?— I do not recollect them.

15093 How did the impression come to be on your mind that there was a fifth one there?— It was stated in one of the accounts that I saw, that there were five in the gang, and this account was to the effect that the hawker saw the Kelly party and this other man, who was armed like them. I am giving you only my suspicion.

15094 You say that the impression formed itself on your mind from the description of the person said to be with the gang tallied with that of Wallace—at what time did this impression force itself on your mind?— At the time I read the account in the newspaper.

15095 My object in asking that is, that if you formed that impression a long time prior to the time alluded to, did you take any action then to see if your suspicions had any foundation?— I could not follow that up. It was at the time, as I have already said, a few days or weeks before Wallace was removed from Hurdle Creek that I had my suspicions about it. I saw this account then—whether in an old paper or whether the account was put under my notice, I cannot say.

15096 You do not think you read this account immediately after the occurrence took place?— I do not know when I saw it.

15097 That is important, if the impression formed on your mind occurred immediately after the meeting with the bushrangers and this fifth party?— It would not be at that time certainly, because I had no knowledge of Wallace being a friend of the outlaws.

15098 In all probability your attention to that would not have been called to that till after the action taken in reference to Mr. Wallace?— Yes. It could not have been before that.

15099 Then we understand the thing gradually settled into your mind by a sort of chain of evidence?— First his being a schoolmate, and then the nature of his duties—the facilities he had for rendering assistance, and then the correspondence in reference to the appointment of his brother and his own transfer to Benalla. I took all those together, and they were really the groundwork of the suspicion, and then after that I called upon Captain Standish, and after an interview with him was satisfied that the best course for the department to follow was to remove Wallace from the district.

15100 As a prudential move?— That was it; as I intimated to Mr. Ramsay at the time, if he was guilty of rendering active assistance to the outlaws, the police would be certain to follow it up.

15101 Have you seen the letters that Wallace wrote to Mr. Nicolson?— I have not. I know his writing very well.

15102 Will you look at that letter—one will give you an idea of the style of the whole?—[ The Witness did so.]—There is no mistaking the handwriting.

The witness withdrew. ....

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