In 1873 the Native Police detachment of Alexander Douglas "broke up the camps and dispersed the most dangerous offenders". An enquiry into 'the late massacre of the "black innocents"' heard that Harry, an Aboriginal man who had committed an outage on a woman, was shot by Douglas when he tried to escape. It was reported that "since his death, reports have been made out to make him out 'an innocent black', hence the enquiry". The enquiry exonerated Douglas and found that he had done a "great deal of good in this district" and that "no outrages or robberies have been committed since; before, they were of daily occurrence" The local colonists signed a petition for him to conduct further patrols. An Aboriginal survivor of Douglas' raids named Etamitcham later described how as a child he and his family were chased over the Kroombit Mountains to avoid "being shot down." Aboriginal people who were employed on Prairie Station thought themselves to have "an excellent opportunity for hilarious abandon" and "well compensated" by being paid with trinkets and tobacco.