Captain Moonlite
| Andrew George Scott | |
|---|---|
Captain Moonlite
|
|
| Born | before 5 July 1842 Rathfriland, Ireland |
| Died | 20 January 1880 (aged 38) Sydney |
| Other names | Captain Moonlite |
| Occupation | Bushranger |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Criminal status | Executed by hanging |
Andrew George Scott (baptised 5 July 1842 – 20 January 1880), also known as Captain Moonlite, was an Irish-born Australian bushranger.
Scott was born in Rathfriland, Ireland, son of Thomas Scott, an Anglican clergyman and Bessie Jeffares. 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 Orakau where he was wounded in both legs.
After a long convalescence Scott was accused of malingering, and court-martialed. He 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, in 1868, he was appointed 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.
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. Scott left for Sydney soon afterwards.
Scott resigned his lay-readership, bought two horses, kept a groom, and played as a gentleman. Between July and December 1869 he was absent and was supposed to have made a voyage to Fiji, but on 28 December he was in Sydney selling at the mint 120 ounces of retorted gold, resembling in fineness and other qualities the metal taken from the bank at Egerton, although no thought of connecting one lot with the other was then entertained. The proceeds of this sale, about £550, he deposited in the Union Bank, Sydney, on 31 December, and this deposit he subsequently supplemented with another of £200, drawing thereupon by cheques in his own name up to November 1870 when his account was finally closed. After this he went to the Maitland district, near Newcastle and was there convicted on two charges of obtaining money by false pretences for which he was sentenced to twelve and eighteen months' imprisonment. Of these concurrent terms, Scott served fifteen months, at the expiration of which time he returned to Sydney where, in March 1872, he was arrested on the charge of robbing the Egerton Bank and forwarded to Ballarat for examination and trial.
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