“It is now known that Joe Byrne was keeping company with a girl at Beechworth and was often in and out of the township. The similarity in appearance which existed between Joe and another brother named Patsy enabling the former to pass himself off as the latter.”
In early 1880, Paddy Byrne purchased a grey mare from Tarrawingee for 20 pounds which enabled Joe to travel more freely on his own grey mare, Music, as all that was required for Joe to ride undetected along Sydney Road, was to copy the crouched position Paddy rode in. Luckily for Joe, the ruse worked, and he was able to visit the Vine Hotel “every Saturday night.”
Ovens and Murray Advertiser, July 1880.
Photo of Joe and Paddy from The Fatal Friendship.
An Outlaw’s Journal 