Royal Commission report day 37 page 36
The Royal Commission evidence for 20/7/1881
(see also introduction to day 37)
SConst Patrick Mullane giving evidence
13709 What directions, if any, did I give you immediately on your arrival?— As soon as I arrived on the platform I went into where Ned Kelly was and Sergeant Steele was, and you came in immediately. You asked how many men I had got. I said, “Ten and myself.” You then said, “Take them out and relieve the Wangaratta men; they have had no breakfast yet. There are a number of innocent people in the house. If you fire at all, fire breast high. Firing is not really necessary at present, except the outlaws come to the doors or windows, and then the men can fire at them.” I gave those instructions to the men and went and relieved the Wangaratta men, who were at that side, and placed the Beechworth men in their place.
13710 Were Dowling and Duross amongst the men you instructed?— Yes, they were, and, apart from my instructions, the men were about at the time when you gave me instructions, and most of the men could have heard it if they wanted to.
13711 Was not one af those men detained for a little to attend to Ned Kelly ?— I think there was one remained inside, or was sent in from the field; I think he was sent in again.
13712 Do you remember my instructing any of those men to fire low in the early part of the day?— Those instructions were given after the people in the house came out. You directed to fire at the chimney to see if the bullets would break the bricks and undermine it so that it would fall.
13713 At about what distance from the ground?— I think a few feet from the ground. It was where the chimney seemed to narrow from the foundation.
13714 Do you not remember me standing beside you at the time I gave those instructions and fired at the chimney myself?— Yes.
13715 So any instructions I gave your men to fire two feet from the ground, or anything like that must have been after the innocent people came out?— Yes.
13716 You never heard of any instructions of that sort before they came out?— No; they were to fire high before they came out.
13717 Do you remember the top rail was in our way—will you describe exactly?— I know it was, but whether it was in the way as you describe I cannot say; I think the fire was underneath it.
13718 That would bring it between two or three feet between the two upper rails of the fence?— Yes.
13719 Can you say how I was employed at the time of your arrival—at the different times?— The first time I saw you was when the conversation I say took place, and soon after that I saw you near where I was standing. You were in company with Mr. O'Connor and Mr. Rawlins , and different times during the day. You were out during the time the people came out of the house and examined them, and I was with you. You called me to be there to see the people to know who they were—the men who came out and lay down, and we called them one by one.
13720 Did you miss me from the sight of the men all day there for any considerable time?— Not for any considerable time, the side I was at. You would go to the railway station and then come up again. You were not at the other side of the house until a little before the house was fired; we went to the upper end where Constable Barry and others were, that was half round.
13721 And came back again?— Yes.
13722 Did I not go quite round preparing for the firing of the house?— Yes.
13723 Then it would not be true if I were said to be smoking all day long in the room where Ned Kelly was?— Well, I saw you smoking at different times.
13724 I know I smoked nearly all day, but was I most of that day on the platform or on the field?— In the field.
13725 Was there any man at a loss, to your knowledge, for instructions how to act through my absence?— I could not say as to the constables at the Benalla side of the house, but there were no men at a loss what to do with regard to instructions at the side I was. It was the Wangaratta and Beechworth men at that side, and they were at no loss for instructions.
13726 Was it not the general belief amongst us all that day that the outlaws were inside alive and ready to fight and defend themselves to the very last?— It was to the very last moment the belief. When one of the men came out of the house, I think he told us they were either on the rafters or in the chimneys.....
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