The Outlaws' Plans--Execution of Ned Kelly--Habits and Customs of the
Gang--Katie Kelly's behaviour--Kelly's distrust of Hart--The Cost of
the Destruction of the Gang.
It was noticed by the constables who surrounded the hotel that a number
of horses, saddled and bridled, were ready to be used by the outlaws;
some of them were horses recently reported as stolen, and others
were those which we had frequently seen ridden by Kelly's sisters.
The constables shot some of them so as to prevent the escape of the
outlaws. The prisoners were allowed out soon after daylight, and when
the last of them came away, only Steve Hart and Dan Kelly were alive
in the hotel. The police say Hart and Dan Kelly kept firing out of the
windows up to one or two o'clock in the day, but having the armour
on they were unable to take accurate aim. I have no hesitation in
saying that had they been without armour when we first attacked them
at the hotel, and could have taken proper aim at us, not one of us
could have escaped being shot. They were obliged to hold the rifle at
arm's-length to get anything of a sight. When I was hit I had my arm
under my gun and was running towards them; they were on my right front,
the butt of my gun was under my elbow with the left hand under the
barrels, ready to be used in a moment. Had it been an inch higher or
lower it would have missed me.
The outlaws had provided themselves with another set of horses on the
opposite side of the railway, so that had they been obliged to cross
the line in a hurry, they would have been able to mount their horses
and get off in a moment. The plan they arranged was as follows:--
Joe Byrne and Dan Kelly went to Woolshed to shoot Aaron Sherritt on
Saturday night, whilst Ned and Steve Hart were to go to Glenrowan
and pull up the rails. They knew it was our habit, whenever they
showed themselves in any part of the district, immediately to get a
special train and go to the spot and start on their tracks. They knew,
therefore, directly the news reached Benalla that Sherritt was shot, I
should start off with a party of police and black trackers to pick up
their trail. No trains ran on that line on Sundays; therefore, the only
one likely to come along would be a "special," with a party of police.
There was no telegraph station at Glenrowan, and the special would not
stop there. They thought that the train would get up great speed going
down the incline after passing Glenrowan, and it would be smashed up
and most of the party killed. They were then to jump on to their horses
and go to the spot, and finish off those who had escaped.
The line was taken up about half a mile from Glenrowan. They would then
have started off to Benalla, robbed all the banks, and probably secured
£4000 or £5000. If they had worn their armour with overcoats they might
have been shot at fifty times without being injured. They had arranged
to have placed one of their number on the bridge in Benalla, so as to
prevent any person giving information concerning them. The police were
all on the opposite side of the river, and it was their intention to
blow up the railway bridge at Benalla, so as to stop the traffic on
the line. I believe they had a keg of gunpowder and fuse ready for the
purpose at Glenrowan.
This was what Mrs. Byrne alluded to when she said they were about
"to do something that would astonish not only all the colonies, but
the whole world." Had they succeeded in wrecking our train that
morning, there would have been fearful carnage afterwards. There is
no question of doubt that at Glenrowan they had parties of scouts,
both in the hotel and outside of it; most of them, no doubt, were
their own relations, and their name was legion. The Kellys were very
short of cash when they stuck up Glenrowan. Their sisters were in debt
everywhere, and they were compelled to make a raid in order to get
money.
About a fortnight before they were captured, I was speaking to the
owner of a hotel not far from Glenrowan. He told me the outlaws were
in debt to him to the amount of £26. I asked him how he ever expected
to be paid. He replied--"Oh, they will get another bank some of these
days." I said to him, "I suppose you will be very sorry when they are
captured?" "No," he said, "I won't. I am getting tired of them. They
give us a lot of trouble--destroy our fences and injure our property,
and we dare not say a word about it. If we did we would only get the
worst of it."
Notwithstanding all Kelly's boasted pluck and bounce, how game he would
die, &c., he was the only one who in any way showed the white feather.
When the constables ran up to him after Steele had hold of him, he
begged for mercy, and asked them to spare his life. There is no doubt
that, had he been able to walk, he would have gone off, leaving his
comrades behind him in the hotel. It was always said that Dan Kelly was
the most blood-thirsty wretch of the whole gang, and that Ned had the
greatest difficulty in restraining him from shooting every person he
came across.
After the building was burnt, the charred remains of Dan Kelly and
Steve Hart were pulled out of the fire and were given over to their
relatives; Joe Byrne's remains were taken to Benalla, and an inquest
held on them. Ned Kelly was taken to Benalla, and next day he was
forwarded to the Melbourne gaol, where he was for some weeks under the
care of Dr. Shields. Subsequently he was sent up to Beechworth, where
he was committed for trial, and then sent back to Melbourne, where he
was tried and sentenced to be hanged. He had quite recovered from his
wounds before he was executed. He was allowed to see his mother, who
was an inmate in the Melbourne gaol, the day before his execution, and
say good-bye to her. Her last words to him were, "Mind you die like a
Kelly." The coroner who held the inquest on Ned Kelly told me he seldom
saw a man show so little pluck, and if it had not been for his priest,
who kept him up, he would not have been able to walk to the gallows.
As for myself, I was sent to Melbourne the day after the fight, under
the care of Dr. Ryan, who bestowed the greatest attention on me for
some months. My wound was more serious than I thought. To use the words
of the Police Commission--"In the very first volley Superintendent
Hare received a bullet wound in the left wrist which rendered his arm
useless. The ball passed through the limb, shattering the bone and
severing the artery."
I should like to add a few remarks as to the origin of this outbreak
and the disordered state of the district. For years this part of the
colony had been infested with horse and cattle-stealers. The number
of relations which the Kelly family possessed all over the colony
was surprising. There was hardly a district in Victoria, and also
in some parts of New South Wales, that they could not have found a
blood-relation to have assisted in harbouring them. Joe Byrne was
better educated than any of his companions. He was very fond of
writing, and was a bit of a poet. A great deal of his writings fell
into our hands. They were chiefly directed against the police. Aaron
Sherritt told me that when they contemplated committing a robbery,
such as sticking up a bank, Byrne wrote down the contemplated plan,
and then the party decided what part each of them was to take in the
affair. They were most particular about where they camped not to leave
any marks behind them.
On one occasion, when talking to Aaron, I inadvertently broke a twig
off a tree and began breaking up the leaves. He immediately stopped me,
and said, "You would never do for a bushranger." I said, "Why not?"
He replied, "If Ned Kelly saw any of his men break a twig off a tree
when he was camped, he would have an awful row with them." When the
outlaws travelled on horse-back they never carried anything beyond
one overcoat. This had to cover them day and night, and it seemed
to me wonderful that men could exist in this manner. Sherritt quite
astonished me by the way in which he used to dress in the coldest
weather. I asked him if the Kellys were as hardy as he was, and could
do without sleep as he could. He said that Ned Kelly was ten times as
hardy.
Under the altered conditions which now exist, and the progress of
settlement, there is no likelihood of another Kelly episode in the
history of the colony.
I hardly think any one out of Australia could possibly conceive
the hardships that men of this stamp can endure. They have an
extraordinary way of sleeping; they coil themselves up like dogs. I
remember one night finding Aaron on my door-mat, about one o'clock in
the morning. He came to my quarters, and not finding me, he lay down
and fell asleep; his head appeared between his knees, and he said,
when camping out he always slept in that position. He could go without
sleep for a longer period than any other man I ever met, and he said
that the Kellys could do the same. It was doubtless a most fortunate
occurrence that Aaron was shot by the outlaws; it was impossible to
reclaim him, and the Government of the colony would not have assisted
him in any way, and he would have gone back to his old course of life,
and probably spent his days in gaol, or he might have turned bushranger
himself, when he would have been quite as dangerous a man as Edward
Kelly. The Government gave his widow a comfortable allowance, and she
was much better off without him. Katie Kelly, no doubt, was a most
loyal sister to her brothers, and must have sacrificed a great deal
for them; day and night she was always on the alert, and assisting
them in every possible way. Of course she was very flash, and liked
being noticed. When appearing in any of the townships, she always rode
a good horse and wore a lot of jewellery; but it was noticed that if
there was a long interval between the bank robberies, the jewellery
disappeared. Katie behaved in a most disgusting manner after Ned was
hanged; the evening of his execution in Melbourne she appeared on the
stage of a music-hall with a bunch of flowers in her hand, together
with her brother Jim, and exhibited herself to the public on payment of
a shilling entrance-fee. When the curtain rose, she smiled and bowed
to the audience, and felt proud of having so much notice taken of her.
The Government put a stop to these exhibitions, and she afterwards went
to Sydney, but she was not allowed to exhibit herself there either.
The notes stolen from Euroa by the outlaws were very soon afterwards
circulated amongst their friends. They were aware the numbers of the
notes were not known, and persons passing them could not be convicted
of receiving stolen property; and all debts incurred by their relations
were at once paid with National Bank notes, which were, without doubt,
the proceeds of the robbery. Subsequently the bank authorities took
the numbers of all notes sent to their country branches, so as to
endeavour, if possible, should another robbery take place, to be able
to trace them. But in this case there was a further point in which
the officials failed, for they neglected to take the numbers of the
notes they paid over the counter, and when the stolen notes got into
circulation, they found they bore the same numbers as those sent from
Sydney to Jerilderie, but they could not swear they had not been paid
over the counter.
It was currently reported that Steve Hart, who was a very undersized
man, was in the habit of riding about the country dressed as a woman. I
never believed it, and I feel sure Ned Kelly would not have trusted him
away from himself, for fear of his surrendering and turning informer
against his companions. Wherever Ned Kelly was seen, Hart was always
with him, and Byrne and Dan Kelly went together. The horses stolen
from the police at Jerilderie were some months afterwards found in
the mountains at the head of the King river in Victoria, which the
gang were known to frequent. It was a strange coincidence that none
of the rifles stolen by the outlaws from the police at Jerilderie or
the Wombat ranges were used by them at Glenrowan, but they had most
inferior and obsolete repeating-rifles which had been cut short, and no
proper aim could be taken with them, as they were not sighted.
Jerilderie is about 120 miles from Benalla and the outlaws, with
a change of horses, could have been back in their hiding-places in
thirty-six hours after they left Jerilderie. Possibly they would ride
by night only, and lie in the thick scrub during the day. Parties of
police were sent out to watch the different crossing-places directly
we received information of the robbery; but at that season of the
year, the Murray being low, there were dozens of places where they
could cross, and no one knew the river better than they did, and in
consequence they were able to return without being interfered with.
I need hardly say that the cost of the search for, and the subsequent
destruction of, the Kelly gang came to a very large sum. Mounted
constables were brought from all parts of Victoria and stationed
in the Kelly country; besides, special men were engaged, and many
incidental expenses incurred. After the destruction of the gang a
return was asked for in the Legislative Assembly showing the cost of
effecting the capture of the outlaws, and it was then stated that a
sum of thirty or forty thousand pounds had been spent; whereas if the
salaries and wages of those engaged in the search had been included in
this estimate, the cost would have been over £115,000--a large price
to pay for the capture of four desperadoes and the destruction of a
gang of malefactors. However, this apparently excessive expenditure
on a series of thief-catching expeditions has had results which reach
further, and are of much greater value to the colony of Victoria;
for the habitual criminal in Australia has been taught that, however
romantic and exciting the career of the bushranger may appear, as a
trade bushranging "does not pay"; while the criminal classes have been
shown that the Government of the colony is not to be played with, that
crime will be followed up and put down with a determined hand, and that
no considerations of economy, no saving of trouble, no sacrifice of
time, energy, or even life will be allowed to stand in the way when the
law has to be upheld by the Executive. To the wisdom of such a policy
let this fact bear witness--The execution of the last of the Kelly gang
destroyed the "Last of the Bushrangers."
THE END.
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_Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London & Bungay._