Royal Commission Second Report Part XIII ( page 21)
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The Royal Commission Second Report -Part XV
XV. GLENROWAN continued
Glenrowan station. Under ordinary circumstances, the special would have passed Glenrowan without stopping. When therefore the outlaws beard the whistle, and observed the train draw up at the station, they were at once convinced that Mr. Curnow had conveyed the warning to the police. The prisoners in the hotel having been locked up, the outlaws at once prepared for the fight. They went into a room together and assisted each other to don the iron armour that they had brought with them, and thus equipped they awaited the attacks. Superintendent Hare ordered the horses to be taken out as soon as the train drew up at the station. He did not know the precise bearings of the locality, and supposed that the spot where the rails were torn up was about a mile from the station, and that it would be necessary to proceed there on horseback. A volunteer, Mr. Rawlings, undertook to act as guide. Mr. Hare and Mr. Rawlings, followed at a distance by three or four constables, went down the line to the station master's house to make inquiries. At this time everything was still; there was not a sound or a sign to indicate that the gang were so near. Mrs. Stanistreet, the wife of the station master, was found crying in great distress at the loss of her husband, who, she stated, had been taken away by the Kellys, at the same time pointing in the direction of the ranges behind Mrs. Jones's hotel. Thereupon Mr. Hare returned to the platform, and while engaged giving further instructions about the horses Constable Bracken, in a state of excitement, appeared upon the scene and informed Mr. Hare that the outlaws were in Mrs. Jones's hotel, and had a large number of prisoners there bailed up. Thereupon Superintendent Hare told the men to let go the horses and to follow him. Without pausing, he rushed away, in the direction indicated, across the open space formed by the railway reserve, at the corner of which, directly opposite the hotel, is a large swing-gate with a wicket. He was closely followed by Constables Gascoigne, Phillips, and Canny, Inspector O'Connor some of his black trackers bringing up the rear. On emerging from the wicket, Superintendent Hare and the constables mentioned found themselves on the roadway opposite the south-east corner of the hotel, which, although it was moonlight, stood in the shade, so that it was with difficulty objects could be discerned. When about fifteen paces from the hotel Superintendent Hare saw the figure of a man on the verandah. Then three men came round from the off side of the house and drew up. These were the outlaws, who, trusting to their armour, appeared to regard themselves as invulnerable. A shot was fired from the verandah, followed by a volley. The police at once returned the fire, and several volleys were exchanged, but in the very first Superintendent Hare received a bullet wound in the left wrist, which rendered his arm useless. The ball passed through the limb, shattering the bone and severing the artery. Mr. Hare with his one arm reloaded and fired. Several volleys having been exchanged, the outlaws retired within the house, when the shouts and screams of men, women, and children, imprisoned in the place, called forth the order from Superintendent Hare, and it is said from Mr. O'Connor also, to cease firing. Mr. Hare's wound appears to have become very painful, so, turning to Senior-Constable Kelly, who had reached the spot by making a detour round by the railway crossing, near the station master's house, he directed him to surround the house with the men and not allow the outlaws to escape. He then retired, going in the direction of the station. On his way thither he observed Mr. O'Connor, as he alleges, "running up a drain." He informed him of his accident, at the same time repeating the orders he had already given to Senior-Constable Kelly. Inspector O'Connor warmly resents the statement contained in Mr. Hare's official report that he saw him "running up a drain." Probably, it is the contemptuous form of expression employed to which Mr. O'Connor objects. As a matter of fact, there seems no reason to doubt the accuracy of Mr. Hare's description. Mr. O'Connor, it is clear, did not accompany Mr. Hare and the others who passed through the wicket or cross the fence surrounding the railway reserve. In the vicinity of the gate the ground is intersected by a number of watercourses, varying in depth from half a foot to seven feet. Those are in places spanned by small foot bridges, and all, more or less, in their sinuous windings communicate with each other. At the moment that the first volley was fired, Inspector O'Connor appears to have reached the culvert within the enclosure, in a direct line with the front of the hotel, or perhaps a little more towards the Wangaratta side of it, and about twenty-five yards distant from the house. Finding the danger of remaining in an exposed position, he at once sought shelter in a depression in the ground, in front of the bridge. To save himself from the bullets, which were flying about in every direction, it was requisite that he should assume a crouching attitude, and if, as Mr. O'Connor asserts, he remained in this position for nearly half an hour after the firing commenced, it was here he must have been observed by Superintendent Hare on his way returning to the platform. Whatever may have been the length of time Mr. O'Connor remained in this spot, it is certain that the position, having been found insecure, owing to the woodwork in front of the culvert having been struck by several bullets, Mr. O'Connor rose, crossed the little bridge, descended into the watercourse, which increases in depth at the other side, proceeded along this until some 15 or 20 yards back he reached a half-moon shaped excavation in the bank, which served him for all the purposes of a rifle pit. Here he took up his position, along with two of his trackers, the distance from the hotel being between 40 and 50 yards. The accounts given are so conflicting, and based, seemingly, upon after occurrences, that it is difficult to
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