The Argus at KellyGang 6/11/1878 (3)
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT)
MANSFIELD , TUESDAY
Constable Strahan and Shewbridge’s party have just returned from Wombat for provisions and further orders. They report finding no trace of Kelly’s gang. They feel perfectly confident that they are hiding in the Upper King ranges, and they are anxious to return. The weather being very stormy is much against their search. The latest report is that one mate is Kelly’s sister. The two Lloyds are in Mansfield , no doubt with the intention of showing that they are not the two unknown ones of the gang. Sub-inspector Pewtress still complains, and with just cause, of the scarcity of rifles. The party that has just returned have only four, two borrowed one and two belonging to the force.
A well- informed correspondent writes:―
“There is every reason to believe that the surmise of the officials of the penal department that Strickland, who was a prisoner at Pentridge, is one of the Kelly gang, is correct. A short time before his discharge he, with two others, made a savage attack on the well-known Von Sanden in the messroom, and the assault might have terminated seriously had not some of the warders been present. For some time Strickland was employed as a wardsman, and subsequently in the stonecutters’ yard, where his associates were the worst class of prisoners. So well aware were some of the warders of this man’s proclivities that as soon as the report of the Mansfield affair was known, suspicion at once turned to Strickland, especially as it was known that he was from that part of the country. During the time Kelly was at Pentridge there was nothing remarkable in his conduct beyond his desire to let the people know that he was Power’s mate in bushranging. The latter has always said that he had no confidence in Kellys courage.
On one occasion, says Power, when he was nearly surrounded by police at Mount Battery station, and there seemed but little hope of escape, Kelly said that he would surrender, when Power said, “If you attempt to do so I will shoot you on the spot.” Power said he would have stuck up the Seymour Bank if Kelly would have agreed to hold his horse close to the bank, which he refused to do. Power appears to have been info rmed about the recent tragedy, but he makes no comments. He has been in the prison hospital for the last two years, and is not likely to recover from a disease contracted during his bushranging career.”
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