The gang was broken up in 1846 with one hanging, four life imprisonments and many lesser convictions, but the survivors were almost all released within five years and returned to society.
[1] To make the system pay, the gang organized pickups to collect the stolen goods and carry them far from the site of the theft, where they could be safely sold without suspicion.
In one instance they added another twist to the action; having been told where "his" horse had been sold in Newcastle, Thomas Alsop went to the farmer with an affidavit stating it had been stolen, along with a description that unsurprisingly matched his accomplice, Henry Johnson.
[4] On the night of 7 November 1845 several high-ranking members of the gang from the Reach Township robbed a local farmer, John Morrow, believing he had large amounts of cash in his house.
Soon after, however, Casper Stotts was arrested and questioned by George Gurnett, Clerk of the Peace for the Home District and alderman of Toronto, and powerful member of the Family Compact.
He portrayed the case as being politically motivated, with Gurnett paying back supporters of William Lyon Mackenzie with threats of jail time or hangings.
However, the death penalties were later commuted to prison sentences by the Attorney General of the Province of Canada, which was a common practice in the British colonies.
On the morning of 12 November 1846, William McPhillips, manager of Logan's General Store in Markham, was found dead after apparently having been beaten with a hammer the night before.
However, several people reported seeing gang member Stephen Turney in Toronto buying jewelry and clothing, and was arrested when he could not explain where he got them.
They had been tracking the story of a string of robberies east of Toronto for some time, and dedicated a considerable amount of the efforts to documenting the case now that the gang was being rounded up.