In groups of three or four, they laid in wait for travellers on the highway or, knowing settlers to be away from home, they would attack and plunder their houses. They even attacked the toll house and carried off everything worth taking. Donohue's tact and ways of only robbing the better off procured him a host of friends among the poorer settlers. They gave the police false information about him and, when they were dogging him rather too hard, the settlers stowed him away in their back rooms or under the beds.