A NARRATIVE OF THE KELLY GANG EXPLOITS."

Tuapeka Times, Volume XII, Issue 507, 5 March 1879, Page 4

A NARRATIVE OF THE KELLY GANG EXPLOITS."

(Compiled fo^| the "Otago^Daily Times.")

The history 'of* the .Kelly gang exceeds in thrilling incidents anything we have heairihjpr read of in Colonial marauding, andsjreinUst go back to the stories of old border '/reeving arid raising, with their attendant cri . es and. violence, to realise the stiitar of things which has existed in the Greta district within the last 20 yeare — ever since, in fact, the Quinns, Lloyds, and Kelly s, have been in possession of the ranges. ' Linked together as one .family, they have acquired property under selectors' rights over a breadth o\ country now almost their own, and, following their old ' patriarchal calling of cattle-stealers, seem to have adopted the old motto of

Let them take who have the power, Let those .keep who can,

, Before attempting tb recount the latter deeds of the men whoso names are in every montli, I will endeavour to throw some little 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 Craigeburn and Kilmore, where they had about as bad a reputation as even cattlestealera can acquire, and it was a source of thanksgiving to the locality when they left it to settle in the neighbourhood of Seymour upon a morsel of land which cquld never have afforded their required support unless supplemented by the family pursuit. lied Kelly for' a long time evaded Jhe law, but was at last overtaken and convicted, at Beech worth of horsestealing, and died about 13 or 14 years ogo, 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 gipsey life, knocking about all over the country, commenced a miserable existence in the Greta Ranges. There are two families of Quinns-r-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 wetfe not related by consanguinity, but only through Patrick having married Mrs Kelly's sißter. Tlje whole of the Quinns, as well as the Kellys, had the reputation of bteing cattlerstealers for several generations. The third branch of this notorious gang is the Loyds, 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 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 fiats who are more or less closely related to the Kellys. These relatives are scattered- all over the country, from Greta to the Buffalo Mountains, and they can . easily render assistance to their friends and convey them intelligence.

Amongst the- worst of the clau were the Quinns, who had tho reputation of holding human life very cheap indeed. In the words of au 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 neighbour 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, iv 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 Quirin one day assulting 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. Tt 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 their predatory raids. In the old times of 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-n ile 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 JKing Riv.er. The King River Range is crossed through a gap running back from the stream, leaving the lower flat intersected by lagoons. *Thia gap can be Been from the heights, and the point, is so commanding that no one can approach without being subject' to view. It is here tliat the , Kellys have taken shelter, and. being surroundea 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 effected. As 1 have said their principal pursuit was cattle-stealing : this was necessarily varied by agriculture, but it occupied all their spare tirrie. It was not uncommon for some member of the clan to cross over to New South' Wales j drive a herd" over the border, run them into'some place inaccessible to the police, erase old brands, re-brand them, ,and send them into market for sale. , This was the school in which the Keliys were trained, with what result we now see. , When Ned-Kelly-then described as a young fellow of good manners arid appearance— was about 14, he fell in with Power', the bushranger, whose favourite place 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 is said, being with him, and; returning after two days' stay by the Little River, touched the Wemba encampment, and thence to Malmsburyy'where they attempted, unsuc-' cessf ully, 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 f go into the interior on a cattle-static-^, which he did, but was soon afterwards' brought back by one of the Lloyds, his relative, and recom-menced-his evil. courses. ■ Shortly afterwards Power was betrayed and captured at Power's Look-out, a rocky steep on

thTT'Side bf*"a" ftißiftrtain,"**6oinmancliKg a view, over Ahei country •; for ".many miles round. At the time young Kelly had, the odium of hia treachery, but it was afterwards traced to Lloyd, who expiated his f aithlessness'by breakiri&his neck through a fall from his horse on his way- to Greta. Shortly after Power went u'nwil{ lins,'ly to Pentridge, Kelly 1 surrendered himself to the polica < >n a charge of horse stealing, bnt the case felLthrough, and he was again at large. His time was, however, by bo 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 mqetiug his man, placed him under cover of his revolver. Ned rushed him and tritd to 'gain tho weapon, but, Hall was too much for him. Taking the butt end of the pistol he dealt Kelly a terrible blow, tho marks of which he still bears, and does not seem to forget. As usual, he was acquitted on the charge of horse- steal ing — 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 iime 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 character. v of a capital servaut, both willing and .able, — and might have continued a successful member of society, but for an unlucky saddle and. bridle which were missed and traced to Ned^ A'gaiii 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 un-til-New Years Day, 1878, when he rode into Benalla on the occasion of some public gathering. He was very reserved and, q-uet, 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 leave the place. From ihat 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, 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 fellows 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 ever 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 "hi< life." As much as is procurable'is as follows :—: — ■ The statement in writing given by Edward Kelly, at Jerilderie, to Mr Gill 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 » criminal stamp. According to Edward Kelly,, his criminal career commenced when he was 14 years of age, when he received a sentence of three months' imprisonment for using a neighbor's horse without ihe consent of the owner. After this his con■viciions were frequent, and, says Kelly, "the police became a nuisance to the family." At one period of his life Kelly describes himself as a wandering gamester. . When the affray with Constable Filzpatrick 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 Fitzpatrick was shot may be given. He says : "Constable Fitzpatrick came to apprehend my innocent brother Dan. My mother asked the constable for the warrant. . He replied ' 1 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 Dansuddenly threw down his knife and fork, jumped up and seized him, and in the scuffle Fitzpatrick was shot." This statement is quoted, because publicity has been given t-> the serious charges made against Constable Fitzpatrick, and it has been alleged in Parliament that the policeman attempted to take liberties with Kelly's sister, and this was the cause that led to the fight in the hut. A Melbourne journal actually publishes a tale r /to that 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 a pure inveniion 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 cool blood.

M. Jules Verne's fanciful journey ' " Round the World in Eighty Days " has been lately realised to a certain extent by a German post card. In consequence of a wager, a gentleman residing at Chemnitz, in Saxony, some time ago despatched a post card, which was to return to that town by a certain day, after having accomplished the journey round the world. The card contained six different addresses of the German Consuls at • Alexandria, Singapore, San Francisco,. New York, and that of the sender at Chemnitz, besides a polite request that the card be Bent on without delay, and the exact time of receipt and despatch noted bn the card, ( an, explanation of. , the circumstances, of the 1 case being at the same time' given.' These instructions seem to have been promptly fulfilled, and the card made its appearance again at Chemnitz, ,117 days after.it .had been' despatched, covered with' the stamps of the various stations. Herr' Stephan, the German Postmaster-General has had ths card photographed, as a curious and elegant testimonial of the benefits of the World Post Union ; arid he has calculated that if the card .had been posted an hour earlier it would have gone r.ound the world in 96 days.