The Complete Inner History of the KellyGang and their Pursuers (79)

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CHAPTER XX

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Question — This was the first five minutes, when Mr Hare rushed up and the order was given to cease firing and surround the house; you mean after they knew that people were in it?—It was considerably before I came there; but I remarked already that I formed my opinions as, I might call myself, a post factum witness. (RC12788)

Question- You simply said there should not be indiscriminate firing upon the house when there were only two outlaws and a lot of innocent people in?—If there was one innocent life to be lost amongst them, I would say the guilty ought to be spared for the sake of the innocent.

Question — Do you think there was any chance of the outlaws escaping at all if there had not been a shot fired after you came? — I thought a guard might have been kept around the place, and the outlaws kept there without firing a shot, and in that condition it would have been impossible for them to have escaped.

Question by Mr Sadleir — Not even in the darkness of the night? — Well, it would be hardly my place to say what would be another person’s disposition in the matter, but I simply say my own.

Question — Are you making allowances for the darkness that men might crawl through the fence and might be mistaken for one of the guards? — If we had left them stay after daylight, would there not be a possibility of escape? — Then there would certainly have been the possibility.

Question by the Commission — We have it in evidence from Mr Hare’s official report that there was a very large number of prisoners confined at the house when they went to it at the first moment. Bracken, when he came down to tell about the Kellys, told them also that they had a very large number of people there. He said, “Mr Hare, I have just escaped from Jones’ Hotel, where the Kellys have a large number of prisoners confined.”

There is one more question - What was the condition of the bodies of Dan Kelly and Hart when you touched them? — Were they stiff as if they have been any considerable time dead? — They were not stiff. I took hold of the hand of the one next to me, and it seemed limp, but from the pallid appearance and coldness I thought that it could hardly have been immediately before - only a short time dead; there would not have been such a settled look upon their countenances if they had not been some considerable time dead.

Question — Was the hand cold? — No, I do not feel able to say cold. Question — Were the flames broken through? — They were. I could not judge of my own feeling in the matter. It would not be well for me to say I could judge of my own touch because I was hot and excited. I am told that a few minutes might cause the appearances that I saw. That is, if those men were in terror for a good while before and lay down, and if they were wounded and lost blood, and so on.

Question — You saw no marks of fresh blood? — No.

To Mr Sadleir — Is there any other question you wish to put?

Mr Sadleir — No, I wish to thank Dean Gibney for the trouble he has taken in coming here.

Question by the Commissioner (to the witness) — With reference to seeing Mr Sadleir at first, what time did you see him? — I saw him to recognise him for the first time when I was going with the woman Kelly in search of him. He was pointed out to me then standing with a party of men on the left-hand side.

Question — That was after the house was set fire to? — It was just as the man came running down. I saw him then again when I was going up to the house, when he called to me to stop in my course; and then I thought I would have gone to speak a word or two with him at that time, only I thought if those men were observing me from within they would say that I was one of the police and was coming with a message from them, and would have been more determined to take me down; that flashed across my mind, and after walking a pace or two towards where Mr Sadleir was I stopped, and he then kindly gave me leave to go on. The next time I saw him was above at the house, after I had gone through, and he very kindly indeed, without a demur, thanked me for what I had done; for whether those men were burned alive or not, no one would have known if I had not gone in. Then the man Cherry was found; and I moved away from the scene after that, as I have already told you. I met Mr Sadleir again when I went to attend to Cherry. He wanted me to stay for a moment, and asked me about the condition of the bodies inside; and I said I had to attend to this man and would explain after. In fact, one of my impressions at the moment was that this man was one of the party of the bodies that I met inside, and that he had life in him, and he was taken out, and I said to myself, “Is it possible I did not observe that, because I was certain they were dead?” Again I saw Mr Sadleir when the whole thing was over, and he took occasion to thank me again; and I considered he was very complimentary to me. He called me by a name I never got before - “a hero!”

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in addition to the shooting of men, women and children, the police also shot several horses which belonged to district residents who had been held up at Glenrowan by the Kellys. It was, apparently, feared that the two youths - Dan Kelly and Steve Hart - would, in broad daylight, overcome the fifty armed policemen, and then, carrying heavy armour, escape on horseback.

A large crowd came on the scene from Benalla by the midday train. A party of three young men from a distance noticed a grey horse on the hill behind McDonald’s Hotel with something like a lady’s riding-skirt hanging from the saddle; they hastened to the spot and discovered that it was one of the Kelly’s pack horses; and that it was a blanket which was hanging from the pack saddle. With a constable, who had just arrived on the scene, they removed the saddle and examined the pack. They found, among other things, a small oil drum containing blasting powder, and about 30 feet of fuse, and a complete kit of tools for shoeing horses. The Kellys were very practical men, and always shod their horses at home and on the track. The powder and fuse was intended for use on the railway line to prevent the train returning to Benalla against the wishes of the bushrangers. Even after the shooting of the horses of law-abiding citizens, the fifty police did not consider themselves competent to prevent the two youths from escaping on foot. Dr John Nicholson, of Benalla, made history by suggesting to Supt Sadleir that the latter should wire to Melbourne for a field gun in order to make sure that these youthful warriors should not outwit the police and escape.

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This document gives you the text of this book about the KellyGang. The text has been retyped from a copy of the original. We have taken care to reproduce this document but areas of the original text may been damaged. We also apologise for any typographical errors. JJ Kenneally was one of the first authors to tell this story from the KellyGang's point of view