Pearson claimed he was the inspiration for a fictional figure of the same pseudonym: the character Captain Starlight in Rolf Boldrewood's novel, of 1882–1883, Robbery Under Arms.
Boldrewood, who presumably had some insight into the matter, denied the claim and stated that the character was a composite of several bushrangers of the era, including Henry Readford, and primarily Thomas Smith, alias Captain Midnight.
The two bushrangers then fled to Belalie where they stole fresh horses before continuing down the Darling River to near Pooncarie where they split up and went their separate ways.
Pearson travelled north, robbing several stations along the way before heading toward Mount Gunderbooka, 70 km (43 mi) south of Bourke.
[6] Pearson returned to Queensland and in 1887 was arrested for forgery and false pretences, under the name of Frank Gordon (alias Dr Lamb), tried in Rockhampton and sentenced to a year in prison in Brisbane.
[8] In 1896 he moved to Perth where, as Major Patrick Frances Pelly he was employed on the recommendation of the WA Premier, Sir John Forrest, as a clerk-accountant with the Geological Survey of Western Australia.
In Perth he often related elaborate and false stories of his past as a major in the British army and a member of the Russian Czar's bodyguard.