A NARRATIVE OF THE KELLY GANG EXPLOITS.

Auckland Star, Volume X, Issue 2771, 13 March 1879, Page 4

A NARRATIVE OF THE KELLY GANG EXPLOITS.

The history of the Kelly gang exceeds' thrilling incidents anything we have heard n" read of in Colonial marauding, and we m« ; go back to the stories of old border reeZ, and raising, with their attendant crimes anH violence, to realise the state of things whirl, ' has existed in Greta district within the last »n years-ever since,;in fact, the Q'uinns, Lloyds and Kellys have been in possession of Ithi ranges. Linked together as one family tW* have acquired property under selectors1 rishu over a breadth of country now almost tie r own, and following their old patriarchal calling of cattle-stealers, seem to have adootorl the old motto of ... " Let them taVe who have the power Let thoso keep who can. , Before attempting to recount the later deeds of the men whose names are in every mouth I will endeavour to throw some little lightl upon the history of the Kelly family. "R e( j Kelly," as he was called, is the founder of the clan. In the olden days they lived at Craigeburn and Kilmore, where they had about as badj a reputation as even cattle-stealers can acquire, and it was a source of thanksgiving to the locality when they left it to settle vi the neighbourhood of Seymour upon a morsel of land which could never have afforded their required sport unless supplemented by the family pursuit. Red Relly for a long time evaded the law, but was at last overtaken and convicted at Beechworth of horse-stealing, and died about 13 or 14 years ago, leaving children —Edward Kelly, Dan Kelly, Kate, and James. "The Quinns," wrote a Melbourne bio. grapher, " came from Ireland in the early days of the colony, and after living a sort of gipsy life, knocking about all over the country, commenced a miserable existence in Jhe Greta Ranges. There are two families of Quinns one of which Jim Quinn is the father, and a second of which Patrick Quinn is chief. Though of the same name, Patrick and James Quinn were not related by consanguinity, but only through Patrick having married Mrs Kelly's sister. The whole of the Quinns, as well as the Kellys, had the reputation of being, cattle-stealers for several generations. The third branch of this notorious gang, is the Lloyds, who are brothers-in-law to Mrs Kelly, having married into the Quinn family." Thus it will be seen that they are all mixed up by blood and marriage, and tjiat accounts for the ! way in which they assist one another when in trouble. A strong feeling of fraternity has been engendered amongst them, and that finds, substantial expression in times of danger. Red Kelly, then, is to be? regarded as the founder and paterfamilias of this clan, which has grown: in numbers with somewhat alarming rapidity,^ It has been calculated that there are no less' than 125 persons in the ranges and flats who are more or less closely related to the Kellys, These relatives are scatteredalloverthecountry, from Greta to the Buffalo Mountains, and they can easily render assistance to their friends and convey them intelligence. Amongst the worst of the clan were the Quinns, who had the reputation of holding human life very cheap indeed. In the words of an old Tipperary doggrel:— Shillelagh was his wrftln' pen, And all liia joy was fightir? men. Amongst other acts of violence Jim Quinn was imprisoned for beating a neighbour with a bullock yoke. He threatened to murder another man by the horrible process of bor* ing an augur into his head ; and for a trampling assault, in which he cruelly beat a man with a heavy paling, he got three months, The antipathy of the clan to the police was inveterate, and we find Quinn one day assault, ing Senior-constable Hall, and splitting.his head open with a stick, The village of Greta is within 40 miles ol Mansfield and seven of the Glenrowan railway station, and the hut in which the Kellys now reside is a. few miles from Greta; It is in the immediate neighbourhood of the ranges which may be called their own that the gang have taken shelter, and from which, in defiance of the police, they make theii predatory raids. In the old times oi Morgan, Ben Hall, Thunderbolt, and Power, the Greta Ranges {was the Alsatia to which they rushed in extremity, and were welcomed. The Kelly stronghold was in the Eleven Mile Creek, and along the Fifteen-mile Creek up to Glenmore, near the Wombat Hills, where the Quinns resided. From that point there is one road running over the tableland to Mansfield, and another towards the King River. The King River Range is crossed through a gap running back from the stream, leaving the lower flat intersected : by lagoons. This gap can be seen from the heights, and the point is so commanding that no one can approach without being subject to view. It is here that the KeUys have taken shelter, and being surrounded by their friends,'it is impossible to approach them unawares ; and unless they are taken in the open, I am of opinion that it will be aa long time before their capture is effected. As I have said, their principal pursuit was cattlestealing : this was necessaiily varied by agri« culture, but it occupied all their spare time. It was not uncommon for some member of tha clan to cross to New South Wales, drive a herd over the border, run them in to some place inaccessible to the police, erase old brands, re-brand them, and send, them into the market for sale. This was the school in which the Kellys were trained, with what result we now see. When Ned Kelly—then described as a young fellow of good manners and appearance—was about 14, he fell in with Power, the bushranger, whose favourite placa of refuge was in the neighbourhood, and became his associate. Power, after bushranging overmuch in Beechworth, which became too hot \ for him—went to Geelong—Kelly, it ia said, being with him, and returning after two days' stay by the Little River, touched the Wemba encampment, and thence to Malmsbury, where they attempted, unsuccessfully, to stick up the herdsman of the Malmsbury Common. Superintendent (now Assistant Commissioner) .Nicholson, on receiving the news, despatched a trooper in pursuit, who came up to a grog-shanty, where he saw two horses at the door. He was quite certain he had his man, but on entering found only young Ned, who at once went away with him in custody. Power, it is supposed, had escaped. When the charge was heard, the herdsman could not swear to Kelly, and the lad was released. The superintendent, feeling an interest in the boy, induced him to go into the interior on a cattle-station, which hp did, but was soon afterwards brought back by one of the Lloyds, his relative, and recommenced his evil courses. Shortly afterwards Power was betrayed and. captured at Power's Look-out, a rocky steep, on the side of a mountain, commanding a view over the country for many miles round. At the time, young Kelly had the odium of this treachery, but it was afterwards traced to Lloyd, who expiated his faithlessness by breaking his neck through a fall from his horse on his way to Greta. Shortly after Power went unwillingly to Pentridge, Kelly surrendered himself to the police on a charge of horse stealing/ but the case fell through, and he was again at large. His time was, however, by no means lost He was still engaged in the old pursuit with more or less success, but continued unmolested until 1870, when he again came into the hands of the police |for assaulting the same Senior* constable Hall, who as I have related, received the attentions of James Quinn. Hall had a warrant against Ned for the old game, and meeting his man, placed him under coyer of his revolver. Ned rusLed him and tried to gain his weapon, but Hall was too much for him. Taking the butt end of the pistol he dealt Kelly a terrible blow, the marks of which he still bears, and does not seem to forget As usual, he was acquitted on the charge of horsestealing—the police so far never could catch him there: but he received three months'

imprisonment for the assault, and' was bound over to keep the peace. By the time he emerged, Hall, the sworn foe of the clan, had woven his net securely; and young Kelly, still but a lad, was sentenced to three years* imprisonment for his attachment to horseflesh. Three years in Pentridge was not the diet to which the scamp of the hills and ranges was accustomed, and. at the time of his release, to all appearance, the wild spirit was partially tamed, and he settled down to station work. Wherever he went he gained the cha« racter of a capital servant, both willing and able, —and might have continued a useful member of society, but for an unlucky saddle and bridle which were missed and traced to

Ned. Again throwing off his allegiance to honest toil, he retreated .to his old savage life among the. hills, where he was joined by his brother Dan, and .nothing was seen or heard of him until New Years Day, 1878, when he rode into Benalla on the occasion of some public gathering.- He was very reserved and quiet, and associated with no one. The police, although no doubt in possesion of a warrant, refrained from disturbing or driving him to extremities, and gladly saw him quietly .leave the place. From that time to the shooting of Constable Fitzpatrick, no one except his relatives and cronies knew of the whereabouts of young Ned Kelly. He asserts that he was not within 100 miles of the place ; but his sister's story is widely different,s as will be seen in a subsequent part of thi narration.