The Complete Inner History of the KellyGang and their Pursuers (85)

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CHAPTER XXI

continued

The jury retired from the court at ten minutes past five in the afternoon, and, after half an hour’s absence, returned with a verdict of guilty.

Upon the judge’s associate asking the prisoner whether he had anything to say why sentence should not be passed upon him, Ned Kelly said:

Well, it is rather late for me to speak now. I tried to do so this morning, but I thought afterwards that I had better not. No one understands my case as I do, and I almost wish now that I had spoken; not that I fear death. On the evidence that has been given, no doubt, the jury or any other jury could not have given any other verdict. But it is on account of the witnesses, and with their evidence no different verdict could be given. No one knows anything about my case but myself. Mr Bindon knows nothing about it at all, and Mr Gaunson knows nothing, though they tried to do their best for me. I am sorry I did not ask my counsel to sit down, and examine the witnesses myself. I could have made things look different, I am sure. No one understands my case. (Age)

The crier of the court called for silence while His Honor passed the awful sentence of death upon the prisoner.

Judge Barry: Edward Kelly, the verdict is one which you must have fully expected.

Ned Kelly: Under the circumstances, I did expect this verdict.

Judge Barry: No circumstances that I can conceive could here control the verdict.

Ned Kelly: Perhaps if you had heard me examine the witnesses, you might understand, I could do it.

Judge Barry: I will even give you credit for the skill which you desire to show you possess.

Ned Kelly: I don’t say this out of flashness. I do not recognise myself as a great man; but it is quite possible for me to clear myself of this charge if I liked to do so. If I desired to do it, I could have done it in spite of anything attempted against me.

Judge Barry: The facts against you are so numerous and so conclusive, not only as regards the offence which you are now charged with, but also for the long series of criminal acts which you have committed during the last eighteen months, that I do not think any rational person could have arrived at any other conclusion. The verdict of the jury was irresistible, and there could not be any doubt about it being a right verdict. I have no right or wish to inflict upon you any personal remarks. It is painful in the extreme to perform the duty which I have now to discharge, and I will confine myself strictly to it. I do not think that anything I could say would aggravate the pain you must now be suffering.

Ned Kelly: No, I declare before you and my God that my mind is as easy and clear as it possibly can be.

Judge Barry: It is blasphemous of you to say so.

Ned Kelly: I do not fear death, and I am the last man in the world to take a man’s life away. I believe that two years ago, before this thing happened, if a man pointed a gun at me to shoot me, I should not have stopped him, so careful was I of taking life. I am not a murderer, but if there is innocent life at stake, then I say I must take some action. If I see innocent life taken, I should shoot if I was forced to do so, but I should first want to know whether this could not be prevented, but I should have to do it if it could not be stopped in any other way.

Judge Barry: Your statement involves wicked and criminal reflection of untruth upon the witnesses who have given evidence.

Ned Kelly: I dare say the day will come when we shall all have to go to a bigger court than this. Then we will see who is right and who is wrong. As regards anything about myself, all I care for is that my mother, who is now in prison, shall not have to say that she reared a son who could not have altered this charge if I had liked to do so.

Judge Barry: An offence of the kind which you stand accused of is not of an ordinary character. There are many murders which have been discovered and committed in this colony under different circumstances, but none show greater atrocity than those you committed. These crimes proceed from different motives. Some arise from a sordid desire to take from others the property which they acquired or inherited; some from jealousy; some from a bare desire to thieve, but this crime was an enormity out of all proportion. A party of men took up arms against society, organised as it was for mutual protection and regard for law.

Ned Kelly: Yes; that is the way the evidence brought it out.

Judge Barry: Unfortunately, in a new community, where society was not bound together as closely as it should be, there was a class which looked upon the perpetrators of these crimes as heroes. But these unfortunate, ill-educated, ill-prompted youths must be taught to consider the value of human life. It could hardly be believed that a man would sacrifice the lives of his fellow-creatures in this wild manner. The idea was enough to make one shudder in thinking of it. The end of your companions was comparatively a better termination than the miserable death that awaits you.

It is remarkable that although New South Wales had joined Victoria in offering a large reward for the detection of the gang, no person was found to discover it. There seemed to be a spell cast over the people of this particular district, which I can only attribute either to sympathy with crime or dread of the consequences of doing their duty. For months the country has been disturbed by you and your associates, and you have actually had the hardihood to confess to having stolen two hundred horses.

Ned Kelly: Who proves this?

Judge Barry: That is your own statement.

Ned Kelly: You have not heard me; if I had examined the witnesses, I could have brought it out differently.

Judge Barry: I am not accusing you. This statement had been made several times by the witnesses; you confessed it to them, and you stand self-accused. It is also proved that you committed several attacks upon the banks, and you seem to have appropriated large sums of money—several thousands of pounds. It has also come within my knowledge that the country has expended about £50,000 in consequence of the acts of which you and your party have been guilty. Although we have had such examples as Clarke, Gardiner, Melville, Morgan and Scott, who have all met ignominious deaths, still the effect has, apparently, not been to hinder others from following in their footsteps. I think that this is much to be deplored, and some steps must be taken to have society protected. Your unfortunate and miserable associates have met with deaths which you might envy. I will forward to the Executive the notes of the evidence which I have taken and all circumstances connected with your case, but I cannot hold out any hope to you that the sentence which I am now about to pass will be remitted. I desire not to give you any further pain or to aggravate the distressing feelings which you must be enduring.

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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