The Complete Inner History of the KellyGang and their Pursuers (74)

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CHAPTER XIX

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Question — Did they (police) seem to be under any control? — I could not say that they were guided by any others.  I could not make a statement on that subject.

Question — Did they seem to have the appearance of being guided by orders? — I do not think they had.  I do not think really that there was any disciplinary order guiding them, as far as I could judge.

Question — In point of fact, that there was a want of generalship? — Oh, that was evident.

Question — They seemed just to be shooting away at random? — Firing at the house was the only thing that anyone could say there was any uniformity about.

Question — Just firing at the house? — YesQuestion — Did you hear any shots fired from the house after you arrived? — I repeatedly tried to ascertain for myself whether there were, and I could not.  Sometimes there would be shots fired that I could not really say whether it would be from the house or not, but the reason of that was that sometimes, in my position, the police were above and beyond the house, and I could not really say then whence the sound came.

Question — So far as you know there was no further attempt made to communicate with them after Mrs Skillion and the sister came? — No further attempt was made to communicate with them that I saw or heard of, only that until the house was set fire to. (RC12309)

Question — Did you feel it your duty to rush in to see them when the house was fired? — It was at that particular time that the crisis occurred that then buoyed me up to do what I did when the house was being set fire to.  My feelings revolted very much from the appearance it had, and I was wishing in my heart that it might not take fire.  That was my own feeling in the matter; and then I said to myself, “These men have not five minutes to live.  If they stop in they will be burned, and if they come out they will be shot.” That was what decided me, and I thought then they will be very glad to get any service now—they will be glad to see anyone coming to them.

Question — Did you go in at the front door? — I was then close down to the gate at the railway crossing, and I started from there direct for the front of the house.  I think I might have been about half the distance between where I started from and the house when I was called to.  I was told afterwards it was Mr Sadleir who called to me not to go there without orders, without consulting him - that I should not go there without consulting him.

Question — You were told afterwards it was Mr Sadleir? — Yes; so I stopped then a few moments, and stepped towards him, perhaps two or three paces, to remonstrate with him.  I said something to this effect, “I am not in the police service, I am going to my duty, and there is no time to lose.” So he did not interfere with me further, and I walked on.  As I was going on towards the house there was a large number of people about.  I am not a very good judge of numbers that way, but I thought there could not be less than 500 or 600 people.

Question — They had collected from all parts of the country about? — They were coming in various directions.

Question — Did you see the two young men when you went in? — When I was going up towards the house the excitement of the people was very great, and they clapped their hands as if I was going on a stage, as their excitement was high at the time.  I went in then on what I think was the room on the right hand side, and it was quite vacant or empty.  It was the other end of the house the fire was set to, and then when I came inside I called out to the men that I was a Catholic priest, and came to offer them their life, and asked them, for God’s sake, to speak to me.  I got no answer, of course, but I thought to myself that they might be on their guard watching to see if I was what I said I was.

Then I found first the body of Byrne.  There was a door leading out of this room towards the door.  His body was lying there where he had fallen in a straggled kind of way.  He seemed to have fallen on his back, like on his hip.  He must have died soon, because he was just in the position as he fell; he was still lying, and his body was quite stiff.

Question — Did you see him fall? — No, he had fallen in the morning.  I heard when I came there that he was shot, and that he could not have lived long after he fell.  When I found this man’s body, that part of the house was blazing furiously just before me.  I did not think that I would go in then if I got any other passages round, so I went to another back room that was off the one I entered first, and there was no exit out of that - no door - so I had to come back to the same spot again, and the place was blazing considerably.  I was afraid at the time that I might be caught with the flame; I just blessed myself in the name of God and rushed through.  Then when I came in the passage down from the bar towards the back of the house there was a little room to the left hand, and I spoke again to the men inside.  I got no answer, of course, and I looked in upon the floor and found two corpses lying together.

Question — Both dead? — Both dead.  The room was small.

Question — At the time you saw the two corpses lying in that room had the fire taken sufficient hold of the building to have destroyed those two corpses by fire, or are you under the impression they were dead prior to the fire? — Oh, I am certain they were dead.

Question — But we want your own impression whether their death was caused by the fire, or suffocation, or by any other means? — My impression is that they were certainly not killed by the fire - were not suffocated by the heat of the fire.  I myself went in there and stopped there safely, and just when I came into their presence they were very composed looking, both lying at full stretch side by side, and bags rolled up under their heads, the armour on one side of them off.  I concluded they lay in that position to let the police see when they found them that it was not by the police they died; that was my own conclusion.

Question — You concluded they committed suicide? — Yes, that is my own belief.

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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