Royal Commission report day 8 page 8
The Royal Commission evidence for 5/4/1881
(see also introduction to day 8)
Francis Augustus Hare giving evidence
1510 They had never left the carriage?— They had never left the carriage. I received some refreshments from those ladies, and I understood that I was going to Benalla with them. The refreshments I received put new life into me as it were, and I jumped out of the carriage and I went to the guard of the train, the engine was in front of the carriages, and I said, “How long will it take you to run me down to Benalla and back again?” I forget the answer, I think it was twenty minutes or half an hour, or something of that kind. I said, “All right, take me down as quickly as you can.” I had great difficulty in getting into Benalla. I turned deadly cold and the engine-driver and stoker opened the furnace. The blood was still running all over the engine, right down from my arm all this time.
1511 Were you on the engine?— Yes, on the engine, in front of the furnace. I should say previous to my going I had started the engine to Benalla, but I cannot tell when—it is out of my recollection altogether—and told the guard to go and give all the news to Mr. Sadleir, and to request him to bring all the men he had at Benalla with him to Glenrowan, but I cannot say when this was; it is a blank in my mind when I did this, whether it was when I was returning on the second occasion, or whether it was upon the first occasion. I got to Benalla, and I gave instructions to the telegraph master to telegraph to Beechworth, and also to Violet Town and Wangaratta, to have all the available men sent down to Glenrowan without loss of time. I then called, I think, Mr. Lewis, the inspector of schools. He was on the Benalla platform. I said to him “I feel very weak; I have been shot by the Kellys; would you kindly give me your arm to go to Dr. Nicholson, and from thence to the telegraph office?” He assisted me. I called at Dr. Nicholson's house. I woke him up. This was, I should fancy, between three and four in the morning. I told him I had been shot through the arm by the Kellys; that I was anxious to go to the telegraph office, and begged him to follow me there, and come and dress my arm. When I got to the telegraph office I was terribly excited, and it was some two or three minutes before I could collect my senses. I dictated a telegram to the telegraph master to Captain Standish, telling what had occurred. Immediately after this they begged of me—I was sitting on a high stool, without any back—Mr. Saxe, the telegraph master, begged of me to lie down on the ground on the mattress, where they intended to have slept, alongside the instrument. I took his advice, and stretched myself out on the mattress. Just as I lay down Mr. Sadleir came into the office. I said to him, “Sadleir, I am shot in the arm, but I do not think it is anything of any consequence. I will return with you to the ground, to Glenrowan.” He said, “Do not be such a fool; you are a regular glutton; you have got one shot through you, and you want to get some more, I suppose.” Immediately after this Dr. Nicholson came in. I do not think he had seen me when Mr. Sadleir came into the office. He cut the handkerchief that was over my wrist, and he said that a mistake had been made in tying it up; that I was not bleeding from veins, but that I was bleeding from arteries; that the artery had been shot through; that the blood from my heart could not get into my veins, and that every drop of blood was running from me. He got the back of a book and made an impromptu splint. He fastened it under my hand, and then I lost consciousness, and fainted away. How long I fainted I do not know. I have never seen Mr. Saxe since, except he came to see me that afternoon, and when I came to myself I was perfectly prostrate. I found that they were throwing brandy down between my teeth down my throat, and I got Mr. Saxe and one of his assistants to assist me over to my hotel where I was staying, as I could not walk myself. When I came to myself Mr. Lewis had left me, and on my way to the hotel I met him returning, and he advised me on no account to go back to Glenrowan. He assisted me to the hotel, and got me upstairs, and put me to bed' where I remained for the remainder of the day, suffering excruciating agony. I have given the whole narrative of this as far as I can remember, and I wish to make a few remarks upon it. Mr. O'Connor has stated in his evidence, first of all, that I never fired a shot before or after I was struck.
Mr. O'Connor . —I said you never loaded again; I did not say you did not fire again; I admit that
The Witness . —The impression on me was that he said I had not fired a shot. Mr. O'Connor states in his evidence that he called out to the men to cease firing as there were men and women inside the house. I do not deny that Mr. O'Connor did so for a moment—I am sure if he says it, he is convinced he did do it; but I say I called out before he did, that his narrative commences at the time I saw him running up the drain. Not for a moment do I wish to say that Mr. O'Connor was not amongst the men that ran up with me. I do not say he was not; all I say is that I did not see him, and that the other persons whom I have spoken to, who were with me on that occasion, that I knew were present, stated distinctly that they did not see Mr. O'Connor. I say most positively that I called out to cease firing, where I have stated in my evidence to-day. Here is a paragraph in the Age, dated Tuesday, 29th June 1880 : —”Mr. Hare could be plainly seen by the light of the moon. He walked boldly towards the hotel, and when within 25 yards of the verandah the tall figure of a man came round the corner and fired. The shot took effect on Mr. Hare's wrist, but Kelly found in him a foeman who would not shrink from him. Senior-constable Kelly and Rawlins were close to, and the former promptly returned the fire, which was taken up by Hare, although wounded, and Mr. Rawlins followed his example.”....
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