Cookson, 11 09 1911 2
11 September 1911
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full text
M'INTYRE'S STORY OF THE WOMBAT TRAGEDY
A THRILLING NARRATIVE continued Further examined, M'Intyre said that Ned Kelly had told him that the only purpose he had in attacking, their camp was to get arms and horses. "When we were told to bail up the Kellys did not say they wanted to take our lives; they said they only wanted our arms. When Kelly said that Fitzpatrick was the cause of it all, and that the police could not blame them, I may have said, 'I know that,' but I do not remember it.
To Mr Gaunson: M'Intyre said that Kennedy was not dead when he took his horse and rode away.
Samuel Reynolds, medical practitioner, of Mansfield, said that he found three wounds on Lonergan's body-one on the left thigh, one on the right temple, and one in the right eyeball. The bullet that went into the eye must have caused death almost instantaneously.
Evidence was then given as to what happened at Younghusband's station when the Kellys stuck it up.
Very interesting statements in regard to this episode in the bushrangers' career were made by a hawker, James Gloster. This was the man who was very nearly shot whilst the outlaws had possession of Euroa. He said it was about 7 o'clock in the evening, when a man told him that the Kellys were at the station. He did not believe it. Then another man told him to bail up, but he went into the waggon to get his pistol. Two other men covered him with their revolvers, and told him to get down. Ned Kelly was one of them. He got down, and Ned Kelly said, "I have a jolly good mind to put a bullet through you for not doing what you were told." He added, 'It is a very small matter to pull this trigger if you do not keep a civil tongue in your head" "I had been very vexed at these proceedings," added Gloster, and I asked the men who they were. One said, 'I am Kelly, and a better man never stood in two shes.' I knew then that it was no use resisting, and I told him so. 'If you keep civil,' he said, 'you will be all right, but you have come nearer being shot than any man in this crowd to-day.' Then he asked me if I had any firearms. I told him I did not carry those things to sell. He said, "I know you have a pistol. If you do not give it to me I will burn your old waggon down." So I gave it to him."
The witness continuing, said he was put in the storeroom with the rest of the prisoners at Younghusband's, Ned Kelly mounting guard over them himself all night. "He told us to make ourselves comfortable. During the night I had a good deal of conversation with him about the Wombat murders. He told me he did all the shooting that was done there himself. He added that the papers and the people called him a murderer, but he was not a murderer. I said, Well, what about Sergeant Kennedy?' Ned replied; 'He tried to kill me, and I killed him. It was a fair stand-up fight.' He argued this matter at considerable length, and said that nobody who in a fair fight killed a man who was trying to kill him could be justly accused of murder. 'Kennedy and I,' he explained, 'were firing at each other. Kennedy was dodging from one tree to another. He was a very good shot. One of the bullets went through my whiskers, and another through the sleeve of my coat. Before long Kennedy fell."
Later on Gloster told the court, Kelly again reverted to the Wombat tragedy. He admitted having shot Kennedy when he was wounded, but said that the unfortunate man was dying; that he himself had to go away in a hurry, and that he shot him out of mercy. He also said it was a pity that Lonergan did not surrender, cause all the outlaws wanted from him was firearms.
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