The Last of the Bushrangers Chapter 10 page 9

The Last of the Bushrangers by Sup Hare

(full text transcription)

Mr Curnow's plan

"About three o'clock in the afternoon Ned and Dan Kelly caused several of their prisoners to engage in jumping, and in the hop, step, and jump. Ned Kelly joined with them, and used a revolver in each hand as weights. After the jumping was concluded, I left Jones's and went to Mrs Stanistreet's house to see my wife and sister. They came out to meet me, and noticing the red lama scarf wrapped round my sister caused me to think, 'What a splendid danger signal that would make.' The idea of stopping the train by means of it then entered my mind, and made me still more anxious for liberty. I went with my wife and sister into Mr Stanistreet's house, and saw Hart dying down on a sofa. He had three loaded guns by his side. He complained to me of having swollen and painful feet, caused, he said, by not having had his boots off for several days and nights. I advised him to bathe them in hot water, and asked for some for him. It was brought, and he followed my advice.

" Shortly after, Mr Stanistreet and I were walking about at the back of his house, and Mr Stanistreet expressed a wish that an alarm could be given. Mrs Stanistreet came out to us, and I asked them if they thought it would be wrong to break a promise given to the outlaws. They said it would not. I then asked Mr Stanistreet if the outlaws had taken his revolver from him. He said they had not. I saw what use this fact could be made of by me in my efforts to gain the confidence of the outlaws, and to make them believe that they could safely allow me to go home. I said to Mr and Mrs Stanistreet that we had better go inside, for I was afraid of being suspected by the gang if they saw us in private conversation, and we did so. I do not know whether Mr and Mrs Stanistreet suspected the use I intended making of my liberty if I got it; but afterwards I heard Mrs Stanistreet saying to Ned Kelly that he ought to allow me to take home my sister, who was in delicate health.

"I was sitting in Mr Stanistreet's when Dan Kelly came in, inquiring for a parcel in a small bag, which he had lost. He seemed very anxious about it, and examined the house throughout in search of it. He could not find it, and went to McDonald’s hotel to see if it was there. He came back unsuccessful, and I went to Jones's with him, and he searched there, but failed to find it. When he gave up searching for it, I requested him to tell Ned that I wanted to speak to him. I was near the door of Jones's kitchen then. He went into the hotel and brought Ned Kelly out, and I told him that Mr Stanistreet possessed a loaded revolver from the railway department, and advised them for their safety to obtain it, as, some one might get it and do them an injury. They thanked me, and I perceived that I had in a great measure obtained their confidence by telling them this.

Going for Bracken

"About dusk I heard Ned Kelly saying to Mrs Jones (they were standing between the hotel and the kitchen, which was a detached building) that he was going down soon to the police barracks to capture Bracken, and that he was going to take her daughter down to call him out. Mrs Jones asked him not to take her. Ned Kelly said that he did not intend to shoot Bracken, and that her daughter must go, I advanced to them, and said to Ned Kelly that I thought it would be better for him to take Dave Mortimer, my brother in law, to call Bracken out, because Bracken knew his voice well, and by hearing it would suspect nothing. Ned Kelly, after a pause, said that he would do so. He then went to Mrs Jones’s stable, and I followed him, and asked if he would allow me to take my party home when he went down for Bracken; and I assured him that he had no cause for fearing me, as I was with him heart and soul. He replied, 'I know that, and can see it,' and he acceded to my request. I went over to Mrs Stanistreet's and brought my wife and sister to Mrs Jones's, and took them into the kitchen. Ned Kelly said that we must wait till he was ready to go. I found, on going back to Jones's, that a log fire had been made on the Wangaratta side of the hotel yard, and that many of the prisoners of the gang were standing around it.

"It was then dark. Other prisoners were in the hotel, and the outlaws encouraged them to amuse themselves by playing cards. I waited with my wife and sister in Jones's kitchen for, I believe, two or three hours, before Ned Kelly directed me to put my horse into the buggy. He and Byrne then went into the room which they had reserved for their own use. I drove to the front of Jones's hotel, and put my wife and sister and Alec Reynolds, the son of the postmaster at Glenrowan, who was about seven years of age, into the buggy. Ned Kelly directed me to take the little boy with use. We were kept waiting in front of the hotel about an hour. Ned Kelly then came to us on horseback, and told me to drive on.

" It was then, I believe, about ten o'clock. As we got into the road, I found that we were accompanied by Ned Kelly, Byrne, and my brother in law, each on horseback, and by a Mr E Reynolds and R Gibbins on foot, both of whom resided with Mr Reynolds, the Glenrowan postmaster. On the road down, Ned Kelly said that he was going to fill the ruts around with the fat carcases of the police. The outlaws each had a light coloured over coat on, and I was amazed at the bulky appearance which they presented. I had then no knowledge that the outlaws possessed iron armour. Each one carried a bundle in front of him, and in one hand a gun or a rifle.

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