Royal Commission report day 50 page 11
Story of the KellyGang - the Royal Commission Report
The Royal Commission evidence for 7/9/1881
(see also introduction to day 50)
[[../../people/peN_P/nicolsonPAC.html|Ass Com Charles Hope Nicolson]] giving evidence
16897 What do you mean by that he was unfit?— I had heard that he had kept the men waiting that morning, and on that very morning I was up myself, and had to go and rouse him up out of bed, and I found the men waiting for him.
16898 Have you never had official complaints made of this man?— Not until then.
16899 You have not heard rumors of misconduct in any way?— No. Mr. Smith was one of those men whom one often meets with-at one time, natty in his person and temperate in his habits, and one of the last men one would suspect that way, but in later life becoming careless in his habits. It was a thing I would never have suspected at that time. I then determined to let the men go out the following day with trackers and every advantage, and see what they could do themselves. Tho reason I did so was I expected we would have found the horses or got some new traces, but my impression was that the outlaws were 100 miles away at the time, and my great object was to soothe the men, and clear up what they were engaged on. I telegraphed to Mr. Sadleir to meet me at Glenrowan early the following morning. On the 12th, I took Mr. Smith, Sergeant Steele and his party, and Senior-Constable Johnston and his party, and two black trackers. We picked up Mr. Sadleir at Glenrowan, and went to work, leaving the matter in the hands of Johnston and his party. The track was made out, and followed for some distance until it led us to a dry swamp with low tussocks of grass and a few swamp trees with clear stems for 5 feet of their height. There was no scrub or other cover whatever. And it is perfectly untrue, as asserted by Johnston that there was scrub in front of us. The trackers (one was a man called Doctor-a very good man-and the other Jimmy-who was a perfectly useless man-I had had at Benalla) could make nothing farther of the tracks as they were very old. Up to this time I had made no move, and had given no orders whatsoever, as I wished to see what Johnston and his party could do, and did not interfere until he gave up the job. When they could do nothing further, I turned back along with them. Sergeant Steele suggested that the only thing which remained to be done was for him to take his party, as he knew the country well, and scour the Warby Ranges to the end, including Hell's Hole and other localities mentioned by Johnston in his evidence. I assented, and intended to go with Steele , but he did not understand my intention, and got his men together and went without me. We camped by a spring, and had some lunch which we had brought out, and waited for Steele and his party, but finding that they did not arrive for some time we returned to Wangaratta without them. Next morning, I ordered Mr. Smith to return to Beechworth, and not to interfere with the Kelly business again while I was in charge of the district. And as Johnston and his party were not required at Wangaratta, I sent them down to Benalla. There is an affidavit I wish to put in now:—
“In the Supreme Court of the Colony of Victoria . –I, William Keigwin Nicolas, Superintendent of Police in the colony of Victoria, make oath and say, referring to the attached correspondence marked A and B, re pursuit of Power the bushranger, I beg to state that I saw Mr. Nicolson, then superintendent of police, also Superintendent Hare, at my quarters on their arrival at Benalla. I was not asked by them to render any assistance in the arrest of the above-named offender. In a conversation with Superintendent Hare (in the absence of Mr. Nicolson), he informed me 'that he had been sent by the Chief Commissioner, in consequence of the bad state of health of Superintendent Nicolson.' I felt very much hurt after having recently arrested Edward Kelly, then Power's mate, at not being included by the Chief Commissioner in the party of officers sent specially to the Benalla district to arrest Power. I considered selecting Superintendent Hare, who is my junior in the police force, although senior on the list of officers, most unfair to me as an officer in the Victorian police force. –W. KEIGWIN NICOLAS. Sworn before me at Stawell, in the colony of Victoria , this fifth day of September A.D. 1881-S. Tournay, a Commissioner of the Supreme Court of the Colony of Victoria for taking affidavits.”
I have served with distinction in every branch of the force, and I will now proceed to show that I was not only competent to cope with the pursuit of the Kellys, but that from the very beginning, and even before the outbreak, I took (whenever I was allowed) the proper steps to break up the gang, and after the outlaws to capture the outlaws. Some time after I was appointed Inspecting Superintendent, I inspected the North-Eastern district, and reported that the police protection was insufficient and inefficient. You are already aware from the evidence I have given of the arrangements which were made at my instigation to break up the gang of cattle and horse stealers, which resulted in the arrest and conviction of the Baumgarten gang, to whom the Kellys had brought the stolen horses. I requested Captain Standish to allow me to return to the district, as I was by no means satisfied with the state of affairs, but he pooh-poohed the idea. This I did not mention before. On my return to Melbourne , after finishing my reports, I went into the Chief Commissioner's room to confer with him as to the state of the district I had just visited. I repeated a good deal of what I had seen, and told him I was by no means satisfied with it —that the tone that the men in the lower part of the district had spoken to me about horses being stolen, and the offenders escaping detection, was rather jarring to me and very alarming.
16900 They spoke, you mean, lightly about it?— Yes. I am not reflecting on the men, but it seemed to be the custom there....
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
