The Complete Inner History of the KellyGang and their Pursuers (72)

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CHAPTER XVIII

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Question—What was your impression later on in the day after the civilians were released?—Were you then under the impression that if any officer had been there to have commanded the men to make a rush they could have been taken easily?

Answer—I am perfectly certain they could, because the house towards the Benalla end was a blank wall.  There was a door here and there, a small passage and a blank wall the other side.  The men could have come up to this side and rushed round simultaneously. (RC10090)

Question — Those blank sides are the chimney end?

Answer — One is the chimney end; they are both blank ends.  They could come up this way, open out and take the house in front and rare (pointing to the plan), besides there was (Ned) Kelly’s armour on the platform.  If it was good enough for him to face the police with, surely someone could have put it on and have gone in, besides with the knowledge that the only two left in the place were the youngest, and they were both cowed and frightened, and both in their armour.

Question — From what you have seen, did you approve of that action of burning the hotel?

Answer — Certainly not — most ridiculous.  I never heard of such a thing in my life.  Of course, I do not know much about military tactics, but it seemed to me almost as mad as sending for a cannon.  If the police had joined hands round the hotel the outlaws could not have got away; they (the police) could have sat down the ground and starved them out.

Question — Did you hear any civilians say they were willing to do it (rush the hotel)?

Answer — I heard two or three working men say, “I would do it if I had some firearms myself.  I would rush the hotel myself.”

Question — Did those uncomplimentary remarks applied to the police as policemen or to the officers and their discipline?

Answer — To the police generally — spoke of them as they, “Why do not they rush the hotel?” “Why do not they put on the armour?” and so on.

Question — About what time in the day did you see the last shot come from the hotel?

Answer — Well, I do not think there were any shots fired after ten.  I am not sure, but you could not very well tell, because there was more danger from the police scattered round.  The police on the hill might have fired a shot and people have thought it came from the hotel.

Question — Was there danger of the police shooting each other?

Answer — Undoubtedly.  I went down during the day to the Beechworth end and knelt behind a log with one of the police, and while we were sitting there — I was making a drawing — a rifle ball came over our heads.  I will swear it was not fired from the hotel, because I was looking at the hotel at the time.  It must have come from the ranges at the back—the south end.

Dave Mortimer’s Statement

Statement made, immediately after the burning of the hotel, by Mr David Mortimer, brother in law of Mr Thomas Curnow, State school teacher, who stopped the police train:

“Our feelings at that time were indescribable.  The poor women and children were screaming with terror, and every man in the house was saying his prayers.  Poor little Johnny Jones was shot almost at once, and I put my hands in my ears as not to hear the screams of agony and the lamentations of his mother and Mrs Reardon, who had a baby in her arms.  We could do nothing, and the bullets continued to whistle through the building.  I do not think the police were right in acting as they did.  We were frightened of them and not of the bushrangers.  It was Joe Byrne who cursed and swore at the police.  He seemed perfectly reckless of his life. . . . We frequently called on the police to stop firing, but we dared not go to the door, and I suppose they did not hear us.  Miss Jones was slightly wounded by the bullet.”

When the midday train arrived from Melbourne it brought many passengers from Benalla and other stations.  One passenger, the Very Rev Dean Gibney, who joined the train at Kilmore East, en route for Albury, also alighted from the train.

Dean Gibney came to Victoria collecting for an orphanage in Perth, and when he heard of the siege at Glenrowan he inquired if there were a Catholic priest there, and on being answered in the negative, he decided to get off at Glenrowan and attend to Ned Kelly, who was said to be dying.

It was Dean Gibney who entered the burning hotel and saved Martin Cherry from being burnt alive by police who had set fire to the hotel.

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This document gives you the text of this book about the KellyGang. The text has been retyped from a copy of the original. We have taken care to reproduce this document but areas of the original text may been damaged. We also apologise for any typographical errors. JJ Kenneally was one of the first authors to tell this story from the KellyGang's point of view