A NARRATIVE OF THE KELLY GANG EXPLOITS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXII, Issue XXII, 28 March 1879, Page 2

A NARRATIVE OF THE KELLY GANG EXPLOITS.

(prom the otago daily times.) The history of the Kelly gang exceed 3 in thrilling incidents anything we have heard or read of in colonial marauding, and we must go back to the stories of old border reeving and raisins:, with their attendant crimes and violences, to realise I the state of things which h:is existed in the Greta district within the last 20 years —ever Bince, in fact, the Quinna, Lloyds, and Kellys have been in possession of the ranges. Linked together as one family, they have acquired property under j selectors' rights over a breadth of country now almost their own, and, following their old patriarchal calling of cattlestealers, seam to have adopted the old motto of Let them take who have the power, Let those keep who can. Before attempting to recount the later deeds of the men whose names are in every mouth, I^ill endeavor to throw some light upon the history of the Kelly family. " Red Kelly," as he was called, is the founder of the clan. In the olden days they lived at Craigbnrn and Gilmore, where they had about as bad a reputation a3 even catfcle-stealers can acquire, and it was a source of thanksgiving to the locality when they lift it to settle in the neighborhood of Seymour upon a morsel of land which could never have afforded their required support un-, less supplemented by the family pursuit. Red Kelly for a long time evaded the law, but was at last overtaken and convicted at Beechworth of horse-stealing, and died 13 or 14 years ago, leaving children — Edward Kelly, Dan Kelly, Kate, and James. "The Quinns," wrote a Melbourne biographer, " 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 the 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 Qninn were not related by consanguinity, bnt 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 that accounts 1 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 parterfamilias of this clan, • which has grown in number with somewhat alarming rapidity. It has been ■ calculated that there are no less than 125 persons in the ranges and - flats who are 1 more or less closely related to the Kellys. These relatives are scattered all over the 1 country, from Greta to the Buffalo Mountain, 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 bolding human life very cheap indeed. In the words of an old Tipperary doggrel : — Shillelagh was his writin' pen, And all his joy was fightin' men. Amongst other acts of violence Jim Quinn was imprisoned for beating a neighbor with a bullock yoke. He threatened to murder another man by the horrible process of boring an auger 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 assaulting Senior Constable Hall, and splitting his head open with a- stick. The 'village of Greta is within 40 miles of 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 ir> the immediate neighborhood 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 their predatory raids. In the old times of Morgan, Ben Hall, Thunderbolt, and Power, the Greta Ranges was the Alsatia to which they rnshed in extremity, and were welcomed. The Kelly stronghold was in the Eleven Mile Greek, and along the Fifteen Mile Creek, up to Glenmore, near the Wombat Hilla, where the Quinns resided. From that point there is one road running over the table-land 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 Kellys 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 a long time before their capture is affected. As I have said, their principal pursuit was cattle-stealing 5 this was necessarily varied by agriculture, but it occupied all their spare time. It was not uncommon for some member of the clan to cross to New South Wales, drive a heard over the border, run them into some place inaccessible to the police, erase old brands, rebrand them, and send them into market for sale. This was the school in which the Kellys were trained, with what results 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 favorite place of refuge was in the neighborhood, and became his associate. Power, after bushranging overmuch in Beechworth, which became too hot for him, went to Geelong — Kelly, it is 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 avay with him in custody. Power, it is sapposed had escaped. When the oharge was heard) the herdsmen could not swear

to Kelly, and the lad was released. The Superintendent, feeling an interest in the 5 boy, induced him to go into the interior on a cattle station, which he did, but was soon afterwards brought back by one of the Lloyds, his relative, and recommenced hia evil courses. Shortly afterwards Power was betrayed and captored 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 faith- . fulness by breaking bis 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 SeniorConstable Hall, who, as I have related, received the attentions of James Qtunn. Hall had a warrant against Ned f O/ the old game, and meeting his man placed him under cover of his revolver. Ned rushed him and tried to gain the weapon, but Hall waß too much for him. Taking the butt end of the pistol he dealt Kelw a terrible blow, the marks of which hj still bears, and does not seem to forget. As usual, he was acquitted on the charge of horse-stealing — the police so far never could catch him there; but hei 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, ha*d woven his net socurely, and young Kelly, still but a' lhd, ' '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 character of a capital servant, both willing and able— and might have continued a useful member of society, bat 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 Year's 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 possession 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 relations and cronies knew of the whereabouts of young Ned Kelly. He asserts , that he was not within 100 miles of the V place; but his sister's story is widely different, as will be seen in a subsequent part of this narration. Having brought the recital to this point, which was, unhappily, the culminating one of this unfortunate young fellow's career, and has already cost three human lives, I propose to trace his steps, in further notices, along that dark road which he has chosen to travel, and by ascertaining and presenting the truth, leave my readers to judge where are the faults -of system which have brought about a more disastrously immoral effect than has every visited this and the adjoining Colony of Victoria. In the raid on Jerilderie Kelly made it a condition, under cover of a levelled revolver, that Gill, the printer, should print "his life." As much of it as is procurable follows : — The statement in writing given by Edward Kelly, at Jerilderie, to itrGill to be printed, is a wandering narrative, full of insinuations and statements against the police, of a type familiar to all who have had to do with tales from men of a criminal stamp. According to Edward Kelly, his criminal career commenced when he was 14? years of age, when he re? ceived a sentence of 3 mohnts imprisonment for using a neighbor's horse without the consent of the owner. After this his convictions were frequent, and, says Kelly, " the police became a nuisance to the family." At one period of his life Kelly described himself as a wandering gamester. When the affray with; Constable Fitzpatrick took place, Edward Kelly was engaged in the horse-stealing business, and he says that he had stolen 200 horses. His narrative of what took place when Constable Fitgpatrick was shot may be given. He -says : — Constable Fitzpatrick came to apprehend my innocent brother Dan. His mother asked the coustable for the warrent. He replied, "I have a telegram." Dan was having something to eat at the time.. My mother said, 'If my son Ned were at home he would throw you out of the house,' and looking out of the. window, said, * Here he comes.' Fitzpatrick turned suddenly round to look when Dan threw down his knife and fork, jumped up and siezed him, and, in the scufle, Fitzpatrick was shot." This statement is quoted, because publicity ha 3 been given to the serious charges made against Constable Fitzpatrick, ancM it has been alleged in Parliament that the policeman attempted to] take liberties with Kelly's sisters, and that this was the cause that led to the fight in the hut. A Melbourne journal actually published a tale to the same effect, told by a woman of the family. Other tales of the constabulary have also been told, which have had the effect of creating sympathy for the Kellys : but this account from the pen of Edward Kelly proves that the charges hitherto made by them against the police are pure invention of the woman, and the account given of the conduct of the police at the tragedy at Mansfield is obviously a string of falsehoods. It is admitted that the police were not in any way the aggressors, but they were surprised and shot down in cold blood.