The Argus at KellyGang 28/8/1879
RUMOURS ABOUT THE KELLY GANG
[BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH]
(FBOM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT)
SANDHURST, Wednesday Evening
Some rather strange news has been received here regarding the Kellygang. It comes in the shape of a letter from a person residing in the Kelly country, and is to the effect that on the 11th inst. a man professing to be Byrne, the outlaw, rode up to a house occupied by a farmer named Flack, at Strathmerton, and made the inmates, the farmer's wife and daughter, prepare him a meal. The man was very uneasy, and threatened that if he were betrayed he would shoot everybody about the place. He said that the Kelly's and Hart were close at hand. After he had finished the meal he attempted an assault on the girl in the presence of her mother, but two men coming to the house he desisted, and turned his attention to them. He stuck up the two men, and after spending a couple of hours at the place rode away towards Tocumwal. On the following day Flack rode to a police station l8 miles away and informed Constable Gannon, who was formerly stationed at Myers' Creek, near Sandhurst, but who had for some months been engaged in the search for the Kellys, of the outrage. Gannon at once went after the man. His horse was knocked up from excessive hard work, but he met a Mr Taylor, who gave him a capital remount, and joined him in pursuit. They reached the Murray at 2 o'clock the same afternoon, and found that the man had crossed four hours earlier, and had gone towards Jerilderie. After crossing the river Gannon got five police on the New South Wales side to join him, and after riding 16 miles the man was overtaken and arrested, and brought back to the Shepparton lockup.
This is the story as it is related in the letter, which is said to have been written by an eye-witness of the arrest. One of its most extraordinary features is that the arrest is stated to have been made about a fortnight ago; and the fact, if fact it be, has never gained publicity. It may be, of course, that the police have purposely kept the matter quiet.
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