Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser (NSW : 1838 – 1841), Friday 22 January 1841, page 2

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Wyong.

To the Editor of the

Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser.

Sir,—Considering it a duty due to the public I beg leave to request that you will permit me through the medium of your paper, to enquire how it was that the party of mounted police, headed by sergeant Lee, who were in pursuit of the notorious bushrangers “Marshall,” “Ruggy,” “Shay,” “Davis” and “Chitty” on or about the 14th December last, allowed them to escape their notice when they were so close that they captured three of their horses. This occurred at Reid’s Mistake Heads. The police party had a native guide and they must have known that the bushrangers were not very far away when the horses loaded and saddled were found grazing. The bushrangers said that the police were so close upon them that they only evaded them by swimming across the Lake Macquarie. Had the police quietly laid in ambush they would in all probability have detected the marauders mounting their horses – all throughout, I must confess that there appears to have been very little military skill or common forethought shown by the police party.

I remain Sir your obedient servant.

A. SUFFERER.