The Kelly Gang; Horse-stealing, a Great Industry of the District;
Faking the Brands; Assault on Constable Fitzpatrick; The Bush
Telegraphs; Murder of Sergeant Kennedy and Constables Scanlan and
Lonergan; Sticking up of the Faithfull Creek Station; Robbery of the
National Bank at Euroa; A Big Haul.
In the early years of Australian settlement bushranging was one of
the normal conditions in the colonies, and therefore attracted little
notice. Even the exploits of such heroes of the roads as Mike Howe,
Brady, the Jewboy, and Jackey Jackey are very briefly related in the
Press, and, with the exception of the first-named, about whom Mr. James
Bonwick has written a romance, very little has been heard of them
since the age in which they lived. In the next epoch the doings of the
bushrangers were dwarfed in the public estimation by the sensational
reports of the gold finds, and although in consequence of the growth
of population and the great increase in the number of newspapers their
actions received a wider publicity than those of their predecessors
the accounts of them are still meagre. The sensational inauguration of
the next era by the Gardiner gang--the sticking up and robbing of the
Government Gold Escort--attracted wider notice to the bushrangers of
that epoch, and some notice of them appears even in the English Press.
But the notoriety of even the most celebrated of the bushrangers of
that epoch was nothing as compared with that of the Kelly gang, about
whom more columns of newspaper matter have been printed than of all
the bushrangers together in the earlier epochs. Several histories of
the Kelly gang have also been published, the best known, perhaps,
being those of Mr. Superintendent Hare, who was for a time in charge
of the police who were trying to capture the bushrangers, and Mr.
John McWhirter, the reporter of the _Melbourne Age_, who accompanied
the police in their final and successful effort to suppress the gang.
Mr. McWhirter's "History" is largely compiled from the reports which
had appeared in the _Age_, and Mr. Hare is also largely indebted to
the same source. The Kellys have also inspired more than one drama,
although the subject is not a favourite one with moralists, and the
representation of bushranging dramas has not met with favour from a
large section of the community. In this connection we may note the
influence of modern science. The stage of the performances of the
earlier bushrangers was confined to their own locality. They were
rarely heard of outside the colony in which they appeared. In the
next stage the telegraph carried news of their performances all over
Australia, and occasionally a stray newspaper paragraph was quoted
in England. With the Kellys, however, it was different. Notices of
their exploits were even sent across the ocean by cable, and the
British public naturally desired to hear more of these daring robbers,
and therefore extracts from the newspapers of Australia appeared
more frequently in the English Press than at any former epoch. The
consequence is that we can reconstruct the history of the Kellys
more easily than that of any other bushranging family. The father of
Ned Kelly was transported from Ireland. The maiden name of his wife
was Ellen Quinn. The eldest son, Ned, was born at Wallan Wallan in
1854. Jim was born in 1856, and Dan in 1861. There were besides four
daughters--namely, Mrs. Gunn, Mrs. Skillian, and Kate and Grace Kelly.
In 1871, the second son, James, then about fifteen years of age, was
sentenced to five years' imprisonment on two charges of horse-stealing.
On his discharge in 1876 he went to New South Wales and stuck up a
number of people. He was captured almost immediately, and sent to gaol
for ten years. Edward, commonly known as Ned Kelly, was arrested in
1870 and charged with having assisted Power in one of his numerous
bushranging exploits, but was acquitted, as none of the witnesses could
swear to his identity. It is said that on more than one occasion he
took care of Power's horses while that worthy was engaged in robbing.
In 1871 he was sent to gaol for three years for horse-stealing.
Horse-stealing appears to have been the principal industry of the
district, as cattle-duffing had been of the Wedden Mountain district,
and of Manaro, and the Kellys, the Harts, the Byrnes, and others in
this district, were quite as adept in "faking" brands as the Lowrys,
the O'Meallys, or the Clarkes had been. But science had made advances
even in these mountains since the era of the Gardiner gang. In earlier
times the brands of horses and cattle were "faked"--_i.e._, altered
so as to represent something different from what they were intended
to do--by branding over them and adding to them. There were some
expert blacksmiths among the cattle-duffers, and these would make a
brand to fit over an old brand and completely change its character.
For instance, a simple A brand might have a circle burned round it
thus--(A), or it might have another letter conjoined to it thus--A-B.
The manner in which brands might be "faked" was endless, and when it
was impossible to "fake" a brand it was "blotched," or burned over, so
that the original design could not be recognised. The Kellys and their
companions in the Warby and Strathbogie ranges, however, did not go
to the trouble of making special brands to "fake" other brands. They
obtained the same results by the use of iodine, which burned such marks
into the skins of the stolen animals as were desired. The plan adopted
was to make raids into distant parts, collect a mob of horses, drive
them into an inaccessible ravine in the mountains, "fake" their brands
and keep them until the sores had healed and the brands looked old.
Then the animals, having got fat in the meantime, were driven to market
and sold without fear of detection. Horses stolen in the north--some
even from across the New South Wales border--were driven south to
Melbourne, Ballarat, Geelong, or some other large town, and sold openly
in the public sale yards; while those stolen in the south were driven
to some northern market, sometimes being taken as far as Sydney.
In 1876, Daniel, the youngest of the Kelly boys, was sent to gaol for
three months for having taken part in a house-breaking robbery in
conjunction with the Lloyds, who were connected by marriage with the
Kellys. In the following year, 1887, warrants were issued for his
arrest on six charges of horse-stealing, but he could not be found.
On April 15th, 1878, Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick, having learned
that Dan Kelly was at home, went to the Kellys' hut at Greta, to
arrest him. "This hut," said the _Benalla Standard_, "was a well-known
trysting-place for the bushranger Power." The constable rode up, and
seeing Dan standing at the door said to him, "You're my prisoner."
"All right," replied Dan nonchalantly. The constable dismounted and
hitched his horse to a sapling, when Dan said that he had been riding
all day and had had nothing to eat. After some conversation the
constable agreed to wait while Dan had some food, before taking him to
Benalla, and Dan went in and sat down. As he did so Mrs. Kelly said
to Fitzpatrick, "You won't take Dan out o' this to-night." "Shut up,
mother," exclaimed Dan, "it's all right." The old woman continued to
grumble in an undertone, while she placed bread and meat and tea on the
table. Presently she asked the constable, "Have you got a warrant?"
"I've got a telegram, and that's as good," replied Fitzpatrick. The
constable was standing at the door, and Dan, who took his arrest
coolly, as if it was a mere matter of course, told his mother not
to make a row about it, as it did not matter, and then invited the
constable to take some food. Fitzpatrick accepted the invitation, and
went in. As he seated himself Mrs. Kelly remarked, "If my son Ned was
here, he'd throw you out of the window." Dan was looking out of the
window at the time, and he exclaimed "Here he is." Fitzpatrick very
naturally turned to look, and Dan pounced on to him. Mrs. Kelly seized
a heavy garden spade which had been used as a fire shovel and was much
damaged, and struck Fitzpatrick a furious blow on the head, making a
dint in his helmet. Fitzpatrick fell down, and several people hearing
the noise rushed in. Among them were Ned Kelly, William Skillian
(husband of one of the Kelly girls), and William Williams, alias
Bricky. Ned Kelly held a revolver in his hand which was still smoking,
and Fitzpatrick was wounded in the arm. Ned said, "I'm sorry I fired.
You're the civilest---- trap I've seen." He offered to cut the bullet
out and bind up the wound, but Fitzpatrick refused to let him touch
it. Then Ned said that the constable could not be allowed to go away
until the bullet was cut out and he had promised not to tell how he got
wounded. "You can say your pistol went off by accident," he said. "Tell
him if he does tell he won't live long after," cried Mrs. Kelly. The
old woman was again told to "shut up." Fitzpatrick, knowing the men he
had to deal with, promised not to say who had wounded him, and took his
knife from his pocket. He cut a small gash, over where the bullet was,
and squeezed it out. Then he twisted his handkerchief round the wound
and said it was "all right." Ned Kelly picked up the bullet and put
it away on a shelf, and a few minutes later the constable was allowed
to mount his horse and go. On the following day a party of troopers
went to the Eleven Mile Creek and arrested Mrs. Ellen Kelly, William
Skillian, and William Williams. A search was made for Ned and Dan
Kelly, but they could not be found. Skillian and Williams, when brought
up for trial for their share in this assault, declared that they only
came in after the shot was fired, and had taken no part whatever in the
scrimmage. They were, however, sentenced to six years' imprisonment,
while Mrs. Kelly was sent to gaol for three years.
It was generally understood that Ned and Dan Kelly were in hiding
somewhere in the neighbourhood, and some twenty-five troopers with
black trackers were told off to search for them. Fourteen men,
residents in the neighbourhood, were arrested under the Outlawry
Act, on suspicion that they had harboured or aided and abetted the
bushrangers, and were remanded from week to week for some three months,
while the police were seeking for evidence against them. Mr. Zincke,
who appeared at the police court on behalf of the prisoners, protested
against this arbitrary act of the police, and urged that it was illegal
to detain as prisoners persons against whom no specific charge had been
made. "If the Kellys were caught," he said, "these men would be told
to go about their business." He stated his belief that the Outlawry
Act would not warrant these proceedings and that the law was being
strained in a dangerous manner. The magistrates on the bench generally
listened to his pleadings with exemplary patience and then granted the
remand asked for by the police. There can be very little doubt that
Mr. Zincke was perfectly justified in saying that these proceedings
were illegal, but the magistrates of Beechworth and other parts of
the disturbed district had learned by experience that, as long as the
sympathisers and "bush telegraphs" were at liberty, the police had very
little chance of capturing the bushrangers, and so, during the whole
time that the Kelly gang was in existence, a number of people were kept
locked up because they were suspected of giving food or assistance to
the outlaws and, more important than all, of giving the bushrangers
information as to the movements of the police. The number of persons
thus held under restraint varied from month to month. Sometimes a few
were discharged while others took their places. The largest number in
the police cells at any one time was thirty-five. But the authorities
after all acted in a half-hearted and inefficient manner. They arrested
only men and boys, while the women and girls were left free to assist
the bushrangers as they pleased, and the women were quite as active
and quite as efficient in affording assistance and information to the
bushrangers as the men could have possibly been.
On October 26th one of the parties of police in search of the outlaws
went into camp at Stringy Bark Creek, about eight miles on the King
River side of the Wombat Range. Sergeant Kennedy was supposed to
have received information from a friend of the Kellys as to their
whereabouts, and thus to have penetrated nearly to their hiding place.
The friend who had informed the police, however, also told the Kellys
of their approach. The country is densely covered with stringy bark
trees and scrub, and is almost impenetrable. Sergeant Kennedy and
Constable Scanlan had gone into the scrub to endeavour to ascertain the
whereabouts of the two Kellys, while Constables Lonergan and McIntyre
were left in charge of the camp. Lonergan was employed in making tea
ready for the two who were away, when four men on horseback came up and
cried "Bail up! put up your hands." Lonergan made a jump to get behind
a tree, putting his hand to his belt for a pistol at the same time, and
was shot. He cried out "O Christ, I'm shot," and fell dead. Constable
McIntyre was sitting down. He jumped up, but having no weapon upon
him at the time he surrendered. Ned Kelly walked to Lonergan's body
and examined it. Then he rose, and said, "What a pity! Why didn't
the---- fool surrender?" He afterwards said that it was all Constable
Fitzpatrick's fault. "He'd no right to lag my mother and brother-in-law
for nothing." Ned Kelly ordered Constable McIntyre to sit down as if
nothing had happened, and warned him that he would be shot at once
if he "gave the office" to the sergeant. The bushrangers then hid
themselves behind the trees. Sergeant Kennedy and Constable Scanlan
rode up some time later, unconscious that anything had happened. When
they came close McIntyre said, "Sergeant, we're surrounded. You'd
better surrender." Scanlan laughed, and put his hand to his belt, when
Ned Kelly fired at him and missed. Scanlan jumped off his horse and
made for a gum tree, but was shot dead before he reached it. Kennedy
wheeled his horse round and started at a gallop, but had gone only a
few yards when he was brought down with a rifle bullet. His horse,
frightened at the noise and the fall of its rider, dashed through the
camp, and as it passed Constable McIntyre threw himself across its
back. He got into the saddle, and urged it forward, when it was brought
down, shot by a rifle bullet through the heart. McIntyre fell clear,
and crawled into a patch of scrub. He found a wombat hole near at hand.
He crept into it, and lay there, while he could hear the bushrangers
walking round searching for him in the scrub, and swearing that they
would "do for" him when they caught him. When it was quite dark he
crawled out of his hole and walked twenty miles to Mansfield to inform
the police of what had taken place.
Inspector Pewtress, with a party of police, started from Melbourne
on Sunday, the 27th, in a special train, and soon reached the camp
in the ranges. The bodies of Lonergan and Scanlan were lying as they
had fallen not far from where the fire had been lighted, but that of
Sergeant Kennedy could not be seen from the camp. It was not found
until the 31st, owing to the density of the scrub around the little
cleared patch, where the camp had been pitched. Three bullet wounds
were found in it, and a cloak had been thrown over the face to protect
it from dingoes or the weather. It was said that Ned Kelly had ridden
to his camp to fetch the cloak to cover Kennedy with, because he
considered him to be the bravest man he had ever met.
Rewards of £100 each had been offered by the Victorian Government for
the capture of Ned and Dan Kelly. Now the rewards were increased to
£500, while similar rewards were offered for Steve Hart (twenty years
of age) and Joe Byrnes (nineteen years of age).
It was reported that on October 31st the Kellys had stuck up and robbed
Neil Christian and other persons at Bungowanah, near Baumgarten's, on
the Murray River, but as the whole of that country was under water, in
consequence of a flood in the river at that time, this was discredited.
The police asserted that the Kellys were somewhere in the mountains,
but they searched the "Rat's Castle" and other hiding places without
success.
On the 8th December a rough-looking bushman called at Younghusband's
station, on Faithfull's Creek, and asked if the manager, Mr. Macaulay,
was about? An old man named Fitzgerald, employed on the station,
replied that the manager was away and would not return till morning. He
asked the man if he could do anything for him? The traveller replied
"No, it's of no consequence." He walked to the house and said to Mrs.
Fitzgerald, "I'm Ned Kelly. You needn't be frightened, we only want
food for ourselves and our horses." Seeing the man talking to his wife,
Fitzgerald went to them, and Mrs. Fitzgerald said to him "This is Mr.
Kelly. He wants some refreshments." By this time Ned had his revolver
in his hand. Fitzgerald grasped the situation and replied "Well, if
the gentleman wants refreshments he'll have to have them." Ned gave
a whistle and the other three bushrangers came forward and Dan took
their horses to the stables. Joe Byrnes took care of the Fitzgeralds,
while Ned and Steve Hart went round and collected all the men at work
on the station and locked them up in the store room. Shortly afterwards
a man named Gloster, who had a store in Seymour and who frequently
travelled round with a spring cart loaded with goods for sale at the
farms and stations, came to the station for a bucket of water to make
tea with, and Ned ordered him to bail up. Knowing that Gloster was of a
determined character Fitzgerald shouted to him to advise him to "give
in." "What for?" asked Gloster. "I'm Ned Kelly," exclaimed that hero.
"I don't care a---- who you are," returned Gloster. At this moment Dan
Kelly came up and threatened to shoot Gloster, but Ned forbade him, and
Fitzgerald persuaded Gloster that resistance was useless and prevailed
on him to surrender.
When Macaulay, the manager, came home he was also bailed up. "What's
the good of your sticking up the station?" he asked, "you've better
horses than we have and anything else you require you can have without
all this nonsense." Ned said he had a purpose. After some conversation,
during which Macaulay said he had no intention of interfering with
them, Macaulay was permitted to remain free, but was closely watched to
prevent him from sending for the police. The bushrangers then searched
Gloster's cart, selected suits of clothes for themselves, and made very
free with the bottles of scent and other small articles.
On the following day, the 11th December, 1878, Messrs. McDougal,
Dudley, and Casement, in a spring cart, were about to pass through the
gate over the level crossing of the railway, close to the station. Mr.
Jennant, who was riding, dismounted to open the gate for the cart to
pass through, when Ned Kelly, on horseback, cried "Surrender, or you
will be shot." Another bushranger, Joe Byrnes, walked down quickly
from the station to assist his mate if necessary. Mr. McDougal, taking
them for troopers as they carried handcuffs in their hands, asked what
right they had to arrest them in this manner, when Ned replied, "Shut
up. I'll shoot you if you give me any cheek." "You wouldn't shoot an
old man unarmed," exclaimed McDougal. "Not if you surrender quietly,"
replied Ned. They said they surrendered, and Byrnes opened the gate and
told them to drive to the homestead. As they came up a station hand who
was standing at the store door said, "Gentlemen, allow me to introduce
you to Mr. Edward Kelly." McDougal and his companions were not much
surprised, as they had already begun to perceive that their captors
were not troopers in plain clothes, as they had at first thought. The
prisoners were taken into the store, the bushrangers telling them that
the horses would be looked after.
The store-room was a long wooden building situated about twenty
yards from the house. It had only one door and one window, both near
together, so that it could easily be guarded. With so many men confined
in it the air soon became foul, and the prisoners were allowed to come
out in small batches to obtain some fresh air. Only the men were locked
up, the women being left free and were not molested in any way.
At about three o'clock Ned Kelly asked Mr. Macaulay for a small cheque.
Mr. Macaulay gave it to him. It was for £3. Joe Byrnes was left in
charge of the station, while the others started away, Ned in Gloster's
cart, Dan in McDougal's, and Hart on horseback. At about half-past
four there was a knock at the door of the National Bank at Euroa,
and when it was opened a man requested that a cheque might be cashed
for him. The manager, Mr. Robert Scott, said it was after hours, and
he could not open the bank again till morning. The man said it would
inconvenience him greatly to have to call again, as he did not live in
the town. He begged so hard that at length the manager consented to
give him the money to oblige him. The manager opened the bank door,
and as soon as they were inside the man said, "Put up your hands. I'm
Ned Kelly." Taken by surprise, the manager was compelled to obey. The
manager was forced to open the safe door and to hand over £1942 0s. 6d.
in notes, gold, and silver, thirty-one ounces of smelted gold, five
bags of cartridges, and two revolvers. There had been rumours that
the Kellys intended to stick up a bank, and arms and ammunition had
been sent from the head offices in Melbourne to most of the country
branches. The National Bank at Euroa had been thus furnished, but in
consequence of the cunning of the bushrangers the arms were useless.
Mr. Scott had a loaded revolver on his table when Ned Kelly asked him
to cash the cheque, but he was so unsuspicious of the character of his
customer that he left it there when he went into the bank chamber.
Having obtained all the money he could get Kelly turned to enter the
private apartments, when Scott said, "If you go in there I'll strike
you whatever the consequences may be." Steve Hart put his revolver to
Scott's face and said "Keep back." Kelly laughed, and walked through
the door. He went along the passage, and looked out of the back door
into the yard. Then he returned and told Scott to go and put his
horse into the buggy. "That's the work of the groom," said Scott,
"but he happens to be away just now." "I'll do it myself," returned
Ned, and went into the yard. When the horse was harnessed, Kelly said
he was going to take the family out for a drive. He made Scott get
into Gloster's cart, and Mrs. Scott and the child into the buggy. Dan
Kelly and Hart came on behind. When they had gone out of the little
street Scott asked Ned where they were going. "To Younghusband's," was
the reply. "I'll drive," said Scott, "I know the road." "All right,"
replied Ned, handing him the reins. "But if you try any pranks, look
out." Ned Kelly treated Mrs. Scott with great politeness, so that she
said that she could never believe he was the bloodthirsty villain he
had been represented to be.
The telegraph wires had been cut on each side of the station soon after
their arrival, and while the main body of the robbers was gone to Euroa
a train stopped close to the station to set down a line repairer named
Watts. As the railway station was some distance away it was thought
that the train had brought the police, and Byrnes prepared to defend
himself. He shut all the men in the store, and charged them to keep
quiet. When Watts came to the station to enquire how the break in the
line had occurred and to obtain assistance Byrnes bailed him up, and
told him that he could repair the line later on. Nothing of importance
occurred after this until the return of Ned and his mates with the bank
manager and the money.
During their drive together Ned Kelly told Scott that he was---- sorry
that Sergeant Kennedy had been shot. He was a brave man. "But," he
added, "I couldn't help it. The police ought to surrender when they are
called on." He showed Scott the presentation gold watch which had once
belonged to Kennedy and which he had taken from the body "to remember
him by."
Soon after their return to the station they all had tea, Ned Kelly
telling his prisoners that he would not detain them much longer. The
meal was barely over when a train drew up opposite the station and
whistled. Ned Kelly shouted "Hullo boys, here's a special with the----
bobbies. We'll fight 'em. We're ready for 'em, however many there may
be." The driver waited for a few minutes and then the train went out.
It was soon ascertained that Watts, the line repairer, had arranged for
the train to pick him up after he had had time to repair the break, but
owing to his being shut up in the station store he had neither repaired
the line nor been able to inform the engine driver of the reason of his
non-success. At about half-past seven, the prisoners were mustered and
told to remain in the store for three hours. Scott took out his watch
and asked "Eleven?" "No," replied Ned, "half-past. If any one leaves
before, I'll hear of it and make it---- hot for him. I'll track him
down and shoot him dead. You can't escape me." Byrnes turned to Scott
and said "That looks like a---- good watch. Let's see it." Scott handed
him the watch and the robber put it in his pocket. This was a signal
to the other bushrangers. One took Macaulay's watch, and another asked
McDougal for his. McDougal took it from his pocket and said "I should
be sorry to lose it. It is a keepsake from my dead mother." "Is it,"
said Kelly, "then we'll not take it." Ned Kelly warned Macaulay that he
held him responsible for the men. "If you let them go before the time,"
he said, "I'll shoot you like a---- dingo the first time I see you."
Shortly afterwards the bushrangers mounted their horses, which had been
feeding in the stables during the time the station was held, and rode
away. The men were released from the store but were kept at the station
for about three hours. Mr. and Mrs. Scott returned to Euroa in their
buggy and telegraphed the news of the robbery as soon as possible,
which was not before the next morning. Gloster rode off to inform the
police at the nearest town, and the information as to this daring
outrage was spread about by others who had been robbed.