The first time on 10 April, he was tried for shooting with intent to kill at Aboriginal tracker Henry Hughes during his arrest and he was found guilty by the jury.

Poo was fictionalised in David Martin's novel The Hero of Too (1965) and since has been a theme of a circus show, a children's novel and a planned feature film.

Robert Macklin suggests that it is either a derogatory nickname created by white settlers and used by the police or a slang rendering of similar syllables.

He worked as a "hatter" (miner prospecting without a partner who would warn them of dangers) at Talbragar River between present-day Dunedoo and Mudgee in New South Wales.

[1][8] He was armed with a shotgun and a pistol, and he would lie at a hideaway on the Gulgong–Mudgee road where he'd wait for pedestrians whom he threatened and demanded all their valuables.

[9][10] Several days prior to the killing of John Ward, Poo allegedly threatened a Mudgee woman, Elizabeth Golding, after speaking with her daughter.

[11] On 2 February 1865, Poo robbed a hut of a shepherd who was in the employment of farmer James Plunkett and later that day he threatened to shoot two stockmen if they didn't inform him of the topography of the locality.

After riding 9 miles up the road, Plunkett and police officer Constable Todd found policeman John Ward heavily injured.

[10][12] At 10 am on 3 February 1865, Senior Constable John Ward of the New South Wales Police Force stationed at Coonabarabran was returning home from a prisoner escort to Mudgee.

Plunkett took Ward to Birriwa station where during the night arrived Doctor William King who treated him and had previously ridden 45 miles (72 kilometres) to reach him.

Afterwards, M'Mahon and Burns returned to Hughes and Senior Constable Todd, who had previously split to search for Poo along the river.

[17] The government interpreter Sing Shigh, who was tasked with translating evidence to the accused, did not understand Poo's southern dialect.

After being presented with evidence and after hearing several witnesses, the jury retired for a short interval and returned a verdict of guilty and Poo was sentenced to death.

According to Sydney Mail, Poo "appeared to be perfectly unconscious of his fate"[17] and was clapping his hands at the door of his cell until his arms were pinioned by the executioners.

[20] Historian Charles White wrote the first and the most influential account of Poo in his 1921 book Australian Bushranging: Captain Moonlite.

Ronald Noonan criticises this account for anti-Chinese sentiment, noting that whenever referring to Poo's violence White uses the pejorative term "Chinaman".