As soon as he was let out of gaol in Sydney, he was arrested for the Mount Egerton robbery. The police put him in the new Ballarat Gaol to wait for his trial. He was able to make a hole into the next cell. With help from another prisoner, Dermoodie, they overpowered the guard and locked him in the cell. They let all the other prisoners out of their cells. They stood on each other's backs and shoulders to get to the top of the gaol wall. 