Last modified on 20 November 2015, at 22:05

The Argus at KellyGang 11/8/1880 (5)

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After Kelly was remanded yesterday afternoon, Mr Gaunson made an application to Mr Foster, PM, that the prisoner should be supplied with the newspapers of the day. Mr Foster replied that he could not grant the application, as the matter did not come within his jurisdiction. Mr Gaunson said that he would then have to waste time reading over the newspaper reports to the prisoner in gaol, as he indeed had been doing hitherto.


A rumour is very current in Beechworth at present that some difficulty has arisen in connexion with the plant of the gang. That there is a large amount of their loot planted somewhere is undoubted, but where it is remains a mystery. If it is concealed in the bush, no one but the members of the gang knows of it. Ned Kelly is of course the only person alive who can tell where it is, and even had he an opportunity of giving his friends the desired info rmation it might be, after all, as difficult to discover as the pot of sovereigns which were hidden by Weiberg at the Tarwin River. On the other hand, it may have been concealed in a place he could easily explain to his friends. The rumour is that a certain friend has managed to learn where the loot is, that he has “sprung the plant,” and that he has disappeared. By whom this statement was originally made is not known to the authorities. So far as can be ascertained, it must either have come from a sympathiser, or have arisen from peculiarities that have been observed in the conduct of certain relatives of the gang.


BEECHWORTH, Tuesday.

When the last train arrived to-night the blinds of a second-class compartment were found to be down over the windows. The guard on opening the door expected to find some passenger asleep inside. But a surprise awaited him; the door on the opposite side of the compartment was standing wide open. On this side the blinds were also drawn down. The lamp was covered with a piece of newspaper, and under the seat was discovered a billy can containing a shirt, a dipper, and some food. The occupant had fled. At first it was thought a suicide had taken place; but the guard remembered hearing a footstep on the outside of the carriage when he was opening the door. Search was at once made about the station yard by Detective Ward, but no stranger was discovered. The surmise is that it must either have been a man travelling without a ticket, or a sympathiser of the Kelly gang who desired to reach Beechworth unnoticed.

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