The crimes - Maungatapu murders

A timeline of crime: May–June 1866

For a few short months the gang embarked upon a crime spree along the west coast of the South Island that would culminate in the murder of five men on the Maungatapu Track.

May:

Hokitika

Burgess stole two revolvers from the Hokitika police camp on 10 May. He staged a 'discovery' of these guns at a nearby beach in the presence of two witnesses, Sullivan and a man called Chamberlain. A search of his room located the stolen weapons but his witnesses helped him escape any charges. The Hokitika police supplied the local press with details of his Dunedin history and advised Burgess and Kelly to leave town.

Greymouth

Burgess, Kelly and Sullivan headed north for Greymouth on 24 May. Levy left separately aboard the steamer Wallaby. A plan was hatched to rob a gold buyer, Edwin Fox, at Greymouth. Levy would receive the proceeds and the others would join him on the Wallaby for the Buller River (Westport).

Their plans were disrupted when they found that Inspector James, formerly of Hokitika, had been transferred to Greymouth. Burgess, Kelly and Sullivan decided to cross the Grey River to Cobden in Nelson province. After a drinking binge, they re-crossed the river on 28 May and murdered George Dobson, a surveyor, whom they mistook for Fox. Dobson had helped explore suitable routes from Canterbury to the West Coast, and Arthur's Pass was named after his brother. This was probably the route Burgess and Kelly had taken on their passage from Otago.

Undeterred, the gang set up an ambush of Fox on 31 May. The local police provided the gold buyer with an armed escort disguised as miners. Burgess and company recognised the police and remained hidden as the party travelled past. Unaware of Dobson's death and unable to prove anything regarding the planned robbery, Inspector James gave the gang 48 hours to get out of town.

June:

Buller River

Burgess, Sullivan and Kelly, using assumed names, re-joined Levy aboard the Wallaby on 2 June and departed for Westport with plans to rob the bank there. When they discovered that the bank had closed, they continued on to Nelson.

Nelson

They arrived in Nelson on 6 June. With little money, the gang considered robbing one of the town's three banks, but the police presence was too great. Instead, they decided to walk the 70 miles to Picton and try their luck there. They left on 7 June via the rugged Maungatapu Track, which would take them past the Wakamarina goldfield.

On 10 June they arrived at the goldfields settlement of Canvas Town, still 40 miles short of Picton, and asked a local storekeeper, George Jervis, if they could stay in an empty hut. Levy went to work finding a possible target for the gang. At nearby Deep Creek, he met Felix Mathieu, a publican and storekeeper, whom he had met before in Otago. Mathieu and three associates, James Dudley, John Kempthorne and James de Pontius, were about to leave for the West Coast. They would be carrying money and gold. When Levy informed the others, plans were made to ambush the travellers near the summit of the Maungatapu Track.

The gang left Canvas Town early on 12 June. They were passed on the track by James Battle. Burgess and Sullivan, concerned about potential witnesses, attacked Battle and robbed him of £3. They throttled him and buried him in a shallow grave. The gang camped overnight at Franklyn's Flat and waited for their intended prey.

The Mathieu party was attacked at around 1pm on 13 June. They were killed one by one: Dudley was strangled while Kempthorne and de Pontius were shot. Mathieu was shot and stabbed and the gang made off with cash and gold dust worth £320 (about $30,000 in today's money). The party's packhorse was led away to a gully and shot, while de Pontius was buried to make it look like he had murdered his companions and fled.

The gang continued on to Nelson, arriving that evening. Burgess, Kelly and Sullivan booked in to different hotels using false names.

The next day, having sold the gold and divided the proceeds equally, the gang decided to lie low for seven days to await a ship bound for New Plymouth.

Unbeknown to the gang, a friend of Mathieu's, Henry Moller, had followed the party to retrieve the packhorse in Nelson. He was surprised not to catch them up, and when the party failed to arrive in Nelson he suspected foul play. On 15 June he reported their disappearance to police, before riding back to Canvas Town. There, George Jervis described his encounter with Levy and his colleagues. Levy was remembered because he had been in both Canvas Town and Deep Creek. Moller and Jervis informed Police Sergeant Goodall at Deep Creek of their fears for the Mathieu party.

Goodall and Jervis rode to Nelson on 17 June to inform Sergeant-Major Shallcrass that the missing men had most likely been murdered. When a search party found some evidence of a crime, Levy was arrested. On 19 June his three associates were located and arrested under the names of Miller, Noon and McGee.