Royal Commission report day 8 page 5 (3)
The Royal Commission evidence for 5/4/1881
(see also introduction to day 8)
Francis Augustus Hare giving evidence
1501 continued
Then Mr Sadleir and I consulted again as to what was to be done, and we said we would go as far as Tarrawingee; we had an operator from town with us in the carriage. We got to Tarrawingee; there was no telegraph master there, and there was no comnumication from the wires to the station. We were very much perplexed to know what to do, to give the alarm to the passengers—it might be a false alarm—and I went up to the station-master and I said, “Will you stop the train for me for a short time?” He said, “No, I have no power to do it.” I said, “I am superintendent of police; you must, I tell you to do it.” He said, “I cannot.” I then rushed forward to the train to the engine-driver, and I said to him, “I am superintendent of police, and I want you to stop the train till I tell you to go on—there is something wrong with the line, I fear.” Everybody by this time had begun to call out in the train, especially the reporters, “What are you keeping us here for all night?” It worried me considerably, and then I consulted with the telegraph officer, who came with us from town, and he said to me, “If I can get to the wire up above there, I can tell whether the current is going through, by putting the wires between my teeth;” and we hoisted him up the best way we could, at a point away from the station. This all took time, and all the people were yelling at us in every direction. When he got the wire between his teeth, he said the current was through between Tarrawingee and Beechworth. We decided to go on and to chance it; and we did chance it, and fortunately it came out all right, and the line was never stopped after that night. We subsequently got some information that the outlaws did not know how to work the dynamite; whether it was true or not I do not know; I merely give the information we received. That was the reason we decided to take precautions on this occasion, knowing they might tamper with the line. This has not been made known till this moment, because we did not want to alarm the passengers on the line, they were alarmed enough. My party already mentioned joined the train at Benalla, and just as I was starting I asked the station master to give me the key of the carriage, fearing something might occur on the line, and he did so. The pilot engine started, I think, about five minutes before our train. We went along pretty rapid—the ordinary pace, and when within about two miles of Glenrowan station, I was sitting in the carriage with the two ladies and Mr. O'Connor, and I heard the engine whistle. I thought it was a strange thing the engine should whistle there. I put my head out of the carriage and saw the three red lights at the tail of the pilot engine. I at once took my double-barrelled gun down from the rack, put a couple of cartridges in it, put my bag of cartridges round my neck, opened the door, and jumped out of the train. I walked towards the pilot, and when I got within half-way between the pilot and our engine I met a man carrying a lamp—the guard of the pilot engine. He told me he had been stopped by man up a red handkerchief with a match at the back of it. He said he was the schoolmaster at Glenrowan, and that the Kellys had taken up the line. He did not make me quite understand which side of Glenrowan the line was taken up. The schoolmaster hand said to him that the outlaws had taken possession of the town, and that “they were going to catch the inspector”—those were the words he used that the guard told me I took three men with me from the party I had. I do not remember who they were, but I left Senior constable Kelly behind. I spread them out above the bank, one on each side, and I walked on the line, and a third man walked on the other side of the line. I told them to keep a look-out—that anything might happen at any moment. I walked towards the pilot, and I spoke to a man there, and he told me the same story—that was one of the drivers. I said to him, after consideration, “I think the best plan will be for you to go quietly along to Glenrowan, and we will follow close up to you in the train.” I have stated here in my printed report that it was the engine-driver, but he called upon me subsequently and told me it was the stoker or fireman that spoke to me—that the fireman knew me and he did not. I wish to make that correction at his own request. He said he had been branded as a coward. The man I was speaking to hesitated a little, and I said, “All right, I will jump on the engine with my three men, and we will go along quietly.” Then from something he said (I do not remember what it was) we decided to shunt back to the train and hitch the pilot on to it. When I got back to the train, I spoke to everybody there—the reporters, Senior-constable Kelly, and everybody. I said, “Kelly, you get with the other three men on to the other engine and I will get on this one. Put the men amongst the coals of the tender, and you yourself stand as I do, at the door of the engine.” I mentioned then, and I never remembered it till it was related here by Mr. O'Connor, about the horses, whether we could get them out anywhere there, and it was decided we could not; so we went up to the platform in the manner I have described. When we got to the platform the engine-driver thought he saw some one about on the platform, so I waited for about half a minute before I gave orders to the men to jump off the engines. Just at this moment, I think, Mr. Rawlins came up to me, I said, “Look, there is a light down there at the station-master's horse.” (I do not exactly know the distance of all these places, because, I may tell you, I have never been at the place since, and had never looked at the ground before, though I had often passed the place, so I give the evidence just as the impression was left upon me at the time.) I said, “There is a light there, and we will go and see if he can give any information about what is going on here.” Mr. Rawlins walked down there with me. When we got there we did not go to the door, but to the window where we saw the light. I tapped at the window, and I could see a woman inside with some children. I said, where is your husband? “She would not answer, but went on weeping and crying “Oh ! oh!” I said, “My good woman, do be calm for a minute; tell me where is your husband;” and she said, “They have taken him away” I said, “Who has taken him away?” and then there was a pause again for about eight or ten seconds. She then replied, “they have taken him away.” I then asked, “Who do you mean by 'they'?” and she said, “The Kellys.” I said, “ In what direction have they taken him?” and she led me to infer that they had taken him to the mountains. I am certain she did not say a word about Jones's hotel.....
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
