The Alexandra and Yea Standard, Gobur, Thornton and Acheron Express at KellyGang 2/11/1878
THE MANSFIELD TRAGEDY
THE shocking murders committed in this district last week by four scoundrels caused a profound sensation in our midst, and we are happy to be able to say the Government have taken every means, with the aid of the police authorities, to secure the arrest of the desperate and bloodthirsty gang. The two Kelly's are members of the lowest grade of criminals, and it appears from the published records of their past career that for years the family have been a pest to the district in which they had taken up their abode, and have had the special attention of one of their late unfortunate victims. Sergeant Kennedy, whose fate for some time has been a mystery, directed towards them, the elder brother, who has only attained the age of 22, having been an inmate of Pentridge, and the young one, who is a more lad of 17, has also fallen into the hands of the police and been sentenced to a term of imprisonment for horsestealing.
The former villain was wanted for an attempt at murder, and a reward of £100 has been offered for his arrest for some months past, but he has been able to evade the police, and the murders resulted from the fact that the constables were out looking for him, when no doubt, as Kelly told Constable M'Intyre, they had been by some of their friends kept well informed of the movements of their pursuers, hence the fact of their being able to surprise their would be captors. It is sincerely to be hoped that they may be taken ere they shed more blood, but this is very doubtful, for they know that their nooks are in the halter, and will doubtless fight for their lives. What is wanted is that plenty of men should be at once sent out; not five, but fifty, and the criminals hunted down like wild boasts. As every man's hand should be against them, the troopers will we are sure give a good account of themselves, and when once they catch sight of the desperadoes will never allow them to escape, but if not able to take them alive by all means they should shoot them down like dogs.
The large reward offered by the Government for their arrest will no doubt induce some one to give the necessary information to the authorities as to their movements, and we trust ere we again issue our journal the poor murdered men may have been avenged, either by the capture or destruction of the four bushrangers, than whom in the annals of crime in Victoria the names of no more desperate or bloodthirsty villains can be found than the brothers Kelly and their comrades in crime.
Great excitement was caused here on Monday evening upon the arrival of the news of the murders committed near Mansfield by the four bushrangers, and expressions of regret were heard on every side as Constable Scanlan was well known in Alexandra, and sincere hopes are entertained that the villains may be secured without further bloodshed, but from the desperate characters of the outlaws, fears are expressed that such will not be tile case now that their lives are forfeited. No doubt they will offer a desperate resistance when overtaken by the police.
In another place we give a report of a case heard before the Alexandra bench on Monday last, in which a lad seventeen years of ago was charged with having disturbed the State night school in Alexandra, by knocking at the door, throwing a piece of quartering into the room, and otherwise annoying the teacher in the execution of his duty. The charge was cleverly and conclusively proved, and the boy fined 10s, or three days' imprisonment. Considering the serious nature of the case, this young lad has been very leniently dealt with and the punishment awarded by no means commensurate with the magnitude of the crime committed.
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