Royal Commission report day 11 page 11
The Royal Commission evidence for 12/4/1881
(see also introduction to day 11)
[[../../people/peU_Z/wyattMag.htm|Alfred Wyatt, P.M.]] giving evidence
2141 Avenel would be away down the line nearer to Melbourne ?— Yes, further up the line towards Melbourne .
2142 And away from Euroa and Faithfull's Creek station?— Yes. I therefore was turning my horse around in this narrow lane when the wheels locked. There was much timber about, and I could not get around that—[illustrating the position by drawing a curve shaped like an S]—and I then tried another branch of the “S,” and was just getting round when the wheels locked again, and I was preparing for an upset and to jump out when a man rode up and said, “Is this the way to Faithfull's Creek station?”
2143 Were you in the habit of carrying firearms?— I was in the habit, but I did not happen to be armed that night. I had, some time before that thought, in the event of my meeting the Kellys, it would be more politic for me to meet them unarmed. I never looked up, for I was watching the wheel, and I said without looking up, “Cannot tell you,” and the man uttered some obscene expressions to me, and I looked up and saw him, but did not recognise him as anybody I knew.
2144 What hour was that?— I cannot tell you except by inferences; you will find presently, when I give something else, a datum which will give you probably the hour of this. The man rode on towards Faithfull's Creek station, and I resumed my journey back to De Boos's to give up the vehicle.
2145 You got round the curve then?— Yes, and without an upset, and I came back to the railway station. When there, the first question I asked Mr. Gorman was, “Is Watt come back?”
2146 You never told us whether you spoke to Mr Gorman before you left?— No, I forgot that, and I ought here to state what I omitted to state in its due order, that when I arrived at the Euroa station with Mr Watt's message I delivered it to Mr. Gorman very fully. I told Mr. Gorman also that the line was down by a whirlwind. I said that because I thought so myself, and because I heard two passengers discussing it, and they both agreed that that was the cause of it. I heard one of them say to the other, “No man could have pulled those wires down; it would take a bullock team to do it like that.” When I got back to the station from my ineffectual journey, I said to Mr Gorman, “Has Watt come back?” He said to me “No.” I said, “How is that; it is only three miles and three-quarters, and he could not repair the line himself?” and I said, “What could keep him? Has he not come on to report fully to you all about it?” I then said, “Mr Gorman, there is something up; you must give me express permission to ride upon the engine, and stop the train and get down and examine the line. I do not believe it was a whirlwind now, because I recollect there was not a single tree or shrub injured anywhere about.”
2147 Will you fix the hour of that conversation?— I will come to that; but you can judge by the facts that at that time the train was nearly due from Longwood to Euroa and Benalla, which I believe started at 6.50 in the evening, that is the hour I have here in my telegram to Captain Standish—[looking at a paper]. —It was still good light. I particularly enjoined Mr. Gorman to tell no one of what I had suspected, and said to him, “To anybody who enquires answer, It looks like a whirlwind.”
2148 What did you suspect—you have not told us?— I suspected Kellys were there.
2149 You said you only suspected there was something up?— Yes; I meant the Kellys. When I came back—the idea only came into my mind after I left that man in the lane. He never raised any suspicions in my mind at the time, but it occurred to me on my journey home after that man had met me. Afterwards I came to the conclusion, and remained in that conclusion for nearly a year, that the person I had met in the lane was not one of the Kelly gang, but was a confederate. I thought it was not one of the gang, because I had an opportunity of seeing the photographs of all four, and concluded it was neither of them, so I felt sure it was a confederate, because I learnt that he never was arrested by the Kelly gang. When he got to the Faithfull's Creek station, and I presume he went there as he enquired. Afterwards I learned that no man of that description was arrested by the Kelly gang from Mr McCauley, the station manager at Faithfull's Creek, and from Mr. Scott, the banker, and others who were in the custody of the gang at Faithfull's Creek at the time.
2150 At what particular time of the evening did it strike you about the Kellys?— I cannot fix the time. I can fix the place. I was on my journey from De Boos's hotel, now Hart's hotel, to the railway station, a journey which I made on foot of about a mile. I ought to explain that there are two De Boos's hotels; one formerly kept by Mr De Boos, senior, now Hart's, on the Sydney road; the other more lately kept by Mr. De Boos, junior, and now kept by Sutherland, opposite the railway station, and nearly next the bank.
2151 Did Hart express any surprise at your anxiety or your asking for a trap?— No; I did not express any surprise myself at that time; I thought it was whirlwind, and it was really rather a matter of scientific curiosity. I was going, I told him, to see the line which was down, to examine it, because it was such an unusual appearance for the line. I had never seen anything like it, though I had often seen wires down.
2152 At this time you had no suspicion?— No, my suspicion occurred when I was walking from De Boos's hotel back to the railway station; and from the moment I found Watt did not come back, then my suspicions were converted into conviction. I said to myself, “It was the Kellys that did this damage,” and that is the reason I requested Gorman's specific authority to ride on the engine and stop the train—a most strong and unusual measure—and get down and examine it. I rode on the engine, and when we came to Faithfull's Creek station there was still good daylight. The engine was slowed and I jumped down. I rode on the fireman's side, and that was the side on which the railway telegraph of one wire is, the Government telegraph of four wires being on the other side of the line. I got down, ran along the bank to where I thought the broken wire would be, picked it up, and saw instantly that it was cut and not broken. I instantly twisted off—that is, as “instantly” as I could with a number of twists of a very ductile and malleable wire—six inches of wire and put it into my pocket. I ran along then—I must explain the situation. There is a culvert there; the place where I found the cut wire was there—[illustrating his meaning by means of a drawing]—crinkled back by its own recoil. There is a post here, about ten or twelve yards from the culvert. I ran past that post and twenty or thirty yards towards Melbourne before I found the other end of the same wire, leading down the bank into the water that was standing in the cutting which had been made in the formation of the line to give stuff for the line. I took hold of the wire, ran it along, and fished it up to the insulator at the end of it, about twenty yards from the post. Then in a similar manner I twisted off the insulator of the wire on the Melbourne side. It showed the cut in the same way. If I had known that I was going to be examined to-day, I would have brought with me the identical wire......
Previous page / Next page
| ! | 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. |
The previous day / next day . . . Royal Commission index
