Fred Lowry
Thomas Frederick Lowry, better known as Fred Lowry, was an Australian bushranger whose crimes included horse theft, mail-coach robbery, prison escape, and assault with a deadly weapon. Lowry briefly rode with the Gardiner–Hall gang, but soon afterwards formed his own gang with John Foley.
His purported last words after being shot by police during apprehension, "Tell 'em I died game", cemented his place as the archetypal Australian bushranger.
Biography
Early life
Thomas Frederick Lowry was born in Windsor, New South Wales, to former convicts, James Lowry and Ellen Jackson. Lowry had five siblings—three brothers and two sisters. The Lowry family eventually settled in the Young district inland of the Great Dividing Range, which had seen increasingly dense settlement since the early 1830s. Lowry and his brothers became stockmen and Lowry, who was described as gaunt and tall—exceeding —gained a reputation as a good horseman and skillful horse-breaker.In the early 1850s, when he was around 18 years old, Lowry began stealing cattle and developed a
method of modifying brands by rubbing oil over the existing brand, covering it with a piece of oil-soaked hessian, and applying an iron to shape a forged brand.
Horse-stealing
In 1858 it was reported that "for some considerable time" a gang of horse-stealers had been operating in the Lachlan district and using the refuge of the Weddin mountains, south-west of Grenfell. Fred Lowry, using aliases such as Frederick McGregor and Samuel Barber, was described as the gang's "travelling agent or man of business", who had established an overland trade in horses between the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee districts. Lowry had an accomplice in the Murrumbidgee district who disposed of stolen horses from the Lachlan district and, in a mutual exchange arrangement, furnished Lowry with Murrumbidgee horses. Lowry was also involved in stealing horses in the Murrumbidgee district; on 25 June 1858 Thomas Lowry, described as a horse-breaker by profession, was suspected of stealing two horses from John Lupton, near Wagga Wagga.In early July 1858, after information was received of the gang's whereabouts in the Weddin mountains, a party of police from Cowra and several volunteers set out in pursuit. After "scouring the country for five or six days" the police and volunteers arrived at a place called 'The Ladder', known as a rocky stronghold in the region. As the police came within sight Lowry broke cover and galloped away at speed. The pursuers set off after him, calling upon him to surrender, which he did after a shot was fired at him. Lowry was captured in company with Sarah McGregor, described as "a lady of questionable repute, well known for her equestrian feats in the Weddin country" with whom Lowry "has been cohabiting with him for some time past". The police found two stolen horses in Lowry's possession: a bay gelding they believed was one of the horses stolen from John Lupton near Wagga Wagga and a bay mare and foal stolen from a station on 'The Levels'.
On their journey from the Weddin mountains to Bathurst the police patrol stopped for the night at King's Plains and their two prisoners were placed in separate cells in the local lock-up. In the middle of the night the lock-up keeper, Constable Leonard, entered Sarah's cell and "made improper overtures to her, which she indignantly repulsed". Leonard "repeated this abominable conduct at a later hour of the night, but with no better success". When they reached Bathurst the two prisoners made a complaint to the authorities and the constable was suspended.
At the Bathurst Police Court on 22 July 1858 Frederick McGregor and Sarah McGregor were charged with horse-stealing, and remanded to appear again. On 5 August the pair were charged with stealing a bay horse from Joseph West's 'Oma' station near Bathurst. The case "was fully proved" and both prisoners were committed to stand trial at the Bathurst Court of Quarter sessions in early September 1858. Sarah McGregor was found to be not guilty and the charge was dismissed and Fred Lowry was convicted of horse-stealing and sentenced on 8 September to five years' hard labour "on the roads". He was incarcerated in the prison established on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour.
Bushranging
Fred Lowry served his time and was probably released from prison in 1862. He joined with John Foley, a skilled horseman from the Oberon district, and the two began committing robberies. Foley and Lowry were of a similar age.On Sunday, 14 September 1862, the mail contractor, William Weston, was stuck-up by two armed men at a location called the Black Swamp, two miles from Wilson's inn between Cassilis and Mudgee. The bushrangers took the contractor's horse, mail-bags and saddle-bags. The horse was later recovered with the empty mail-bags fastened to the saddle. The bushrangers had their faces covered with crêpe, though at one stage the fabric fell from the face of one man whom Weston was able to identify as Fred Lowry. On 20 September 1862 Fred Lowry and two others stuck up Mr. Lawrence and his men at 'Wilpingong' station near Reedy Creek and robbed them of £29 in notes, a cheque and "two silver hunting watches".
On 2 October 1862 William Todd's store on the Fish River was held up by armed men and robbed of cash totalling about £50. The men had their faces covered, but it was suspected that "Thomas Foley" was one of them. It was later reported that a man named John Cosgrove had been apprehended by the Bathurst Police on suspicion of being one of the men who robbed the store. Cosgrove was a known criminal previously associated with the bushranger, John Peisley. A later account maintained that it was in fact four men that robbed Todd's store and that two of the men had been apprehended. Of the two who had escaped, one was identified as Fred Lowry. The man initially identified as "Thomas Foley" was John Foley.
Race meeting shooting
A race meeting was held on New Year's Day 1863 at a race-course on Daniel McGuirk's land in the Brisbane Valley, south-west of Oberon near the Native Dog Creek diggings. Amongst those who attended were Fred Lowry and John Foley, described as "two men for whom the police have been some time on the look-out". Towards evening after the races were concluded and the prize-money had been paid out, Lowry "attempted to bail up the persons present". Holding a revolver in each hand Lowry sought to drive a number of men towards the house. A man named Allen refused to move and Lowry struck him across the cheek with a revolver, which fired and struck a horse tethered nearby. At this a man named Patrick Foran came out of the house and rushed at Lowry, who fired again, hitting Foran in the chest. Despite his wound Foran held on to Lowry until others intervened and the assailant was secured. Lowry was conveyed under heavy guard to Bathurst gaol. The accounts of the events make no mention of John Foley after the shooting; it is assumed he made his departure when his companion was apprehended. A newspaper report of Lowry's capture made the following comments: "There are several charges of robbery against him, and his apprehension will be a source of gratification to the inhabitants of the district, to whom he has long been a terror and a pest".Escape from Bathurst gaol
On 9 January Frederick Lowry was charged at Bathurst with shooting Patrick Foran with the intent to kill him. He was initially taken before Foran, lying wounded in a precarious state at McDonald's public-house, where depositions were taken, after which he was removed to the Court House before the bench of magistrates where other witnesses were examined.Mid-morning on 13 February 1863 Fred Lowry and four other prisoners escaped from Bathurst Gaol through a hole they had made in the western side of the prison wall. The section of the wall through which they escaped was described as being "in a very rotten state" where the bricks could be easily removed. The prisoners were in the exercise yard and a group of them congregated in one corner to hide from view two of their number being engaged in removing bricks from the wall by means of a pickaxe. A member of the public observed the prisoners escaping and raised the alarm and the police and warders were soon afterwards in active pursuit. Two of the men were recaptured in the township and another several hours later seven miles away. Two others, Fred Lowry and William Woodhardt, managed to evade capture. Rewards were offered for the apprehension of the escaped prisoners ; in the case of Lowry, the reward offered was £100, and for Woodhardt, £50.
Bushranging resumed
Mid-morning on Tuesday, 24 February 1863, Fred Lowry "forcibly entered" the public-house of Cornelius Hewett, a publican at Grabben Gullen armed with a butcher's knife. Lowry stole a rifle, a pistol, a flask of powder, a bottle of gin and twelve shillings in cash. He also stole a horse from a man who was passing the public-house at the time.Just before dawn on Wednesday, 6 May 1863, four horsemen later identified as members of the Gardiner-Hall gang passed through the township of Bowning, north-west of Yass, riding at a leisurely pace. On the road near the township they passed the Binalong mail, without interrupting its progress. Riding in the vehicle was a passenger who had previously been stuck-up by Frank Gardiner and John Gilbert, and also knew John O'Meally and Fred Lowry by sight, and so claimed to recognise the riders as they passed. However, the identification of Gardiner was not correct as Gardiner had already made his way to Queensland by this time; it is more likely the fourth man was Ben Hall. The men were mounted on "fine upstanding horses" and each man had a brace of Colt revolvers in his belt and a double-barrelled gun slung from the saddle. The Yass police were alerted and later came in contact with the bushrangers as they passed the township; the police pursued them along the road towards Bungendore, but eventually abandoned the chase in the Nanima district.
In the early hours of Monday morning, 18 May 1863, the mail-cart from Queanbeyan to Sydney was held up by a group of four armed men at a locality known as the Sand-hills, about three miles from Boro. During the robbery the mailman dared to hold up a lamp in order to throw light on the faces of the bushrangers; realising his intent, the mailman "was told to desist, or they would put a bullet in him". After they had rifled through the contents of the mail-bags, the bushrangers burned the contents of the bags. Even though the men's faces were covered with crêpe, the mailman was of the opinion the men who robbed him were Ben Hall, John Gilbert, John O'Meally and Fred Lowry. The offenders had been in the area for several days beforehand, as there were reports of shepherds' huts being robbed of rations. It was supposed that the bushrangers had intended to rob a gold escort that had passed along the road, but it was too well-guarded, so they chose to rob the mail instead.
At about mid-morning on 21 June 1863 John McBride, a miner living on the Twelve Mile Rush diggings, was on his way to nearby Young township when he came upon two men being stuck-up by two armed men on horseback. McBride was armed with a revolver; seeing the robbery in progress he went off the road into the bush and fired at the two bushrangers. Gilbert and Lowry returned fire and separated so they were each side of McBride. The gun-fight ended when McBride was shot in the thigh and, after having discharged his last shot, the miner collapsed beside a tree. Gilbert dismounted and rifled McBride's pockets for a few shillings and stole his revolver. They then left the wounded man. Two hundred yards further on Gilbert and Lowry stuck up three other men and said to them: "If you've got any money you had better hand it over, or we might serve you the same as we have served a 'bravado' that we have just shot in the leg, and is lying by a tree close by." When found McBride was carried to a nearby hut. A doctor attended him later that day but did not consider the wound to be of serious concern. During the night the wounded man was delirious and when the doctor returned the following day he reluctantly agreed for him to be admitted to hospital. A spring cart was sent for but McBride died during the journey. A day or two after the shooting John Gilbert was reportedly "carousing" at a public-house a few miles from Young and was proudly showing a "handsome revolver" he had taken "from a ----- trap in fair fight". It was explained that McBride, from whom the revolver was taken, "always adopted the style and costume of a trooper out of uniform i.e., with revolver in belt, Bedford cord pants, and long polished boots, &c.", and so Gilbert had mistaken him for a policeman.