There was nothing heroic in the attack on a solitary constable, [[Fitzpatrick|Fitzpatrick]], nor in the slaughter of the police whom they ambushed in the Wombat Forest and whom they had practically in their power. If the Kellys were not such savages, if they were men more confident in their own courage, what kudos they might have earned for themselves! They might have sent these police back to their barracks bound in their own handcuffs. Such an exploit would have largely extenuated all their past misdoings.
It is not my intention to inflict upon the reader of these ''Recollections'' a fresh version of the story of the Kellys. It has already been told accurately enough, and told more vividly than I could tell it, both by Dr. Fitchett and [[The True Story of the KellyGang of Bushrangers Chapter I page 1|Mr. Charles Chomley]]. To me, writing from the police point of view, the Kelly outbreak has this one moral - prevention is better than cure. The whole cost of this evil business, in life and treasure, might have been avoided by a better administration of police affairs in the north-eastern district. I have shown how effective were the efforts of a few specially zealous and competent police in other places. The true Kelly country, however, was neglected; police stations were broken up, or else constables quite unequal to the task of keeping evil doers in check, were placed in charge. Mr C H [[Nicolson|Nicolson]], Inspecting Superintendent, had been through the district not long before the Kelly outbreak, and had sounded a note of warning, but no notice was taken. There is this to be said in extenuation - the shadow of Black Wednesday was still over the service, no officer felt secure in his position under the [[Berry, Chief Secretary|Berry]] regime. Indeed, Mr Berry made no secret of his view that the police service could be carried on altogether without officers, whose names were never mentioned in the courts as having arrested any one. All things considered, the man at the head of a department so threatened needed to be a very strong man and one possessed of a true sense of duty to enter upon any far-sighted policy. Captain Standish, the Chief Commissioner of Police, was not such an one, and the saving of a few hundred pounds bore as its natural fruit that great and costly trouble—the outbreak of the Kelly gang of bushrangers.
'''POLICE MURDERS IN THE''' '''WOMBAT''' '''FOREST'''