Royal Commission report day 28 page 18
Story of the KellyGang - the Royal Commission evidence
The Royal Commission evidence for 9/6/1881
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full text
(see also introduction to day 28)
[[../../people/peA/arthurJPC.html|Const James Arthur]] giving evidence
11406 It would not be right to say that any one was showing the white feather, and trying to escape?— No; I am convinced of that. Of course when Kelly and Dowsett were behind the tree he was walking right up to them; if they stopped there he would put a hole through their heads.
11407 Did you see him when he fell?— Yes; I was right up with him.
11408 Did Steele or anybody shoot before he fell?— That I cannot say. I had my eyes on Ned Kelly, and I ran down after him, and ran full butt against a stump, where he crossed this gutter. Whether Ned fell I cannot say.
11409 Did you receive any orders direct from Mr. Sadleir after that all the day?— Yes, he sent me to Benalla.
11410 Did any member of the police come to you stating he had been instructed by Mr. Sadleir to do certain things?— No.
11411 In point of fact you received no orders but those from Mr Hare and Constable Kelly?— Yes.
11412 As far as you are concerned no officer gave you any other order?— No; of course Mr. Sadleir sent me to Benalla with the telegram.
11413 What time in the morning was it?— Between eight and nine.
11414 Did you hear Ned Kelly call out, “Look out ! you will snag yourself”?——No, I did not. I was the closest to him there.
11415 Did you hear any member of the police volunteer to rush the hotel?— Yes, Montiford, and Dwyer, and all of them. I said to Mr. Sadleir to put Dwyer in the armour; he is the biggest man, and let him walk in.
11416 Did you hear Dwyer volunteer to go in that way?— No.
11417 Was that the only reason that they recommended it in consequence of his strength?— Yes, to carry it in.
11418 You were not under the impression that he could see bullets specially?— That I did not know of.
11419 Was it told you any time that Dwyer had a faculty for seeing bullets and jumping over them?— No.
11420 Did you see him skipping?— Yes, he was skipping all about the place.
11421 What reply did Mr. Sadleir make?— He said, “I am not going to lose any lives over them, they are not worth it.”
11422 Is Dwyer considered in the police, amongst his comrades, as a little eccentric?— He is considered eccentric.
11423 Is he considered a courageous man?— He is. I wish to state that Sergeant Steele has sworn on oath that he was there at three minutes past five; when I read that I did not think he would swear that; I said if he did he would get into trouble. Superintendent Sadleir's report, dated 1st June, is wrong about the time of his arrival there—there is no doubt they have a motive in it.
11424 Where is the mistake of Steele, first?— I asked Mr. Lang, the station-master at Wangaratta, what time the special train left there in the morning, and he said, “I can tell you by looking at the book.” The time was 5.20 a.m. that it left Wangaratta. It would take them half-an-hour, so the engine-driver told me, to go down; and Mr. Sadleir says in his report of the 1st June that, after finding Mr. O'Connor, he made himself assured that the hotel was surrounded by the police, and in that he was greatly assisted by Constable Dwyer. It will be plainly seen Mr. Sadleir could never have been on the ground till six o'clock, because Dwyer never left the Wangaratta station till twenty minutes past five, and he was there on the ground to see Mr. Sadleir, and the latter and party left the railway station, Benalla, at 5.30 a.m. Neither parties were on the ground before six o'clock, the returns of the railway will prove it. The object is this: they found that Joe Byrne was shot dead between five and half-past, and they wanted to be there to take the credit out of that party that were there, and that wounded Ned Kelly and killed Byrne, and kept the other men in the house.
11425 Your contention is that Byrne must have been shot before Sergeant Steele or Mr. Sadleir arrived on the ground, or their men?— Yes, I have stated that in my claim, and I have stated I could bring witnesses to prove it too.
11426 What proof have you that Byrne was shot before six in the morning?— I have got the man he fell on top of.
11427 What is his name?— John Delaney, of Greta; and also Sandercook,of Glenrowan.
11428 What is Sandercook?— He is a platelayer or something.
11429 Engaged on the railway?— Yes, working about there. There is plenty of evidence to prove that.
11430 Have you anything else you desire to tell the Commission?— I only wish that you will satisfy yourselves about the time that those two trains left the two stations; there is nothing else.
11431 How will the train-book tell that when it did not come up to the station?— It was twenty minutes after five when he left the Wangaratta station, and they swore they were on the ground at three minutes past five. I told them then, but they would not listen to me, and of course I told them what their object was.
The Witness withdrew.
Adjourned to Tuesday next, at Eleven o'clock .
[~[[See report of Proceedings 9/6/81]|6261]~]
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