The Argus at KellyGang 12/12/1878 (4)

From KellyGang
Revision as of 22:04, 20 November 2015 by Admin (Talk | contribs) (Text replacement - "'''Full text of article''' " to "{{Full Text}}")

(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to: navigation, search
(full text transcription)

see previous

The company arrived at the station all about the same time. I then found a number of shearers, railway labourers, and farmers, who had been found by the gang when going to work, and the station hands, were stuck up. They were standing beside the hut, and the fourth man of the gang, who is named Byrne, was marching in front of them with two guns and his belt stuck full of revolvers. Ned Kelly had previously threatened to roast them alive and to do all sorts of things to them. There were 22 men in all bailed up here. I now learned that the ruffians had arrived at the station about mid day on Monday, and that they had stayed there all night, and the men they had secured were bailed up all the time. The station was a handy place for making a descent from upon the bank.

Mr Younghusband was not present, and in his absence Ned Kelly pounced upon Macauley, his overseer, and ordered him to write out a cheque that he might cash at the bank in Euoa, Macauley refused, saying he would lend himself to no such business. Kelly then ransacked a desk on the premises, and found a cheque on the Oriental Bank, Melbourne, for £1 4s which had been drawn out, and this was the one he presented at the bank. It, of course, was not cashed, and on going back to the station Kelly returned it to the overseer. In the morning Macauley went to look at the bushrangers horses, which had been placed in a paddock. Kelly had observed him, and on Tuesday night challenged him with having been taking a note of the brands on the animals, but Macauley denied that he had been doing so. He said, 'I could describe the horses, but took no notice of brands,' and Kelly appeared to be satisfied, for he replied. Then that is all, right.'

The horses were all fine looking animals, and as they had a day's rest, they started on Tuesday night in a fresh condition. Three of them were bays, and one a grey. Ned Kelly's one was a bay, and its two hind feet were white. They were, however, very heavily laden, especially Ned Kelly's one, for it carried the gold and silver. The men themselves were in good condition, and had evidently been feeding well, and they were rigged out in the new clothes they had obtained from the hawkers van. They were also fully equipped with arms, and had plenty of ammunition. Daniel Kelly exactly like the picture of him in the papers. Ned is a good looking man, with reddish whiskers.

A man who had been sent down to repair the telegraph lines walked unsuspectingly into Younghusband’s station, and was immediately placed amongst the rest of the prisoners. It had been arranged that a train should stop near the station to pick him up. The gang did not know of this arrangement, and when the train stopped, Ned Kelly said, 'Here comes a special with bobbies, but we are ready for them. We don't care how many there are, we will fight them.' The train, after waiting a short time, moved on. At about half past 7 o'clock in the evening the prisoners were placed inside a hut, and were ordered to remain there for three hours, one of us being made responsible for the obedience of the rest. I looked at my watch and said, 'Then we will leave at 11 o'clock .' Ned Kelly replied, 'No, not until half past 11 . You must stop here for three hours, and lf any of you leave before then we will find you out and make it hot for you.' Just before they left, the man Byrne returned to the door of the hut, and said, 'I want to see Mr Scott. Give me your watch.' I said 'No, I won’t.' You can take it if you like, and he accordingly un-hooked it from my vest and carried it away.

They rode off at about 9 o'clock and went up the Violet Town road. We left at about 11 o'clock. Mrs Scott drove my family home in the buggy, and I walked behind them. My servants walked home along the railway line. My house is within a stone’s throw of the railway station, and about a quarter of a mile from the police office, but no one in the township knew what had taken place until we were released. They however, suspected that something was wrong on some persons finding my house deserted at 9 o clock. Constable Anderson was the only policeman in the township, but of him I have heard nothing. In the morning at about 4 o'clock, a black tracker and a number of policemen arrived from Benalla, and the latter told me that the bushrangers had gone a short distance in the direction of Violet Town, but had doubled back. The hawker's boy who drove the van into my back-yard did not attempt to give any alarm. The men threatened to shoot him if he did so, but he really seemed to enjoy the affair as an amusement.

MR ROBERT M'DOUGALL'S NARRATIVE

While the Kellys and their companions were in possession of Younghusband's station on Tuesday they evidently kept a good watch on the approaches, so that no information might reach Euroa that would interfere with the successful carrying out of their plan of robbing the National Bank. About 2 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon a party of four men named R M'Dougall, H S Dudley, Casement, Tennant, who were retuning from the Strathbogie ranges, were stuck up by two of the gang near the station, and compelled to join the other captives there. From Mr M'Dougall, who reached Melbourne yesterday afternoon, we have learnt the following interesting particulars with regard to the capture of himself and his companions, and the subsequent events at the station: -

“We had just reached the railway gates; about 100 yards from Younghusband's station three of us driving, in a spring cart, and Mr Tennant on horseback. The gates were shut, and nothing being further from our thoughts than the idea of the Kelly gang being close to us, we were laughingly speculating to each other on the chances of the gates - which are private ones leading into the run-being locked. Mr Tennant getting down from his horse and finding the gates unlocked, was opening them, when two men suddenly made their appearance, one coming from behind us, on horse back, and the other advancing on foot in front. Both held revolvers presented, and called upon us to 'bail up.' The one on horseback (who I afterwards learned was Ned Kelly, the leader of the gang) cried out, 'Surrender, or you'll be shot.' As both the men looked like troopers in plain clothes, and held up handcuffs in their left hands, and as they also accused us of stealing our own trap, we at first thought they were troopers, and Mr Dudley cried out, 'What right have you to arrest us ' and appeared as if he was not going to take any notice of their summons. Edward Kelly then riding close up to him, shouted in a threatening manner at the same time presenting the revolver at his head, 'I'll shoot you dead on the spot if you give me any cheek.' Fearing Kelly was going to carry out his threat I interposed, asked Dudley to surrender quietly, as it was   no use resisting, and told Kelly 'not to shoot an old man.' Kelly then said he would not harm the old man if he surrendered quietly. The two bushrangers (the second being a tall sandy young man, whom his companion called 'Jack,' but whose other name I did not hear), then compelled us to drive up to the station.

As we approached the gate leading to the station, one of the station hands opening it said in a laughing manner, pointing to Ned Kelly, 'Gentlemen allow me to introduce you to Mr Edward Kelly.' This was the first positive information - though we had suspected who were our captors - that we were in the hands of the Kelly gang, and the sensation created by the information did not tend to reassure us. In fact we were all greatly frightened, and for myself I may say 'My heart was in my mouth.'

  continued

.1. , .2. , .3. , .4. , .5. , .6. , .7. , .8. , .9. , .10. ,


 ! The text has been retyped from a microfiche 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.