The True Story of the KellyGang of Bushrangers Chapter 11 page 3

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Here the leader of the gang found everything just as he had left it, with the exception that the mob of prisoners had been added to by the capture of the telegraph repairer, Watt. Ned Kelly questioned him closely as to his movements and the time it would take to repair the break in the telegraph line, and then, having allowed the women and children to go into the kitchen, he shut up Scott and the clerks in the store.

After this, preparations were made in a leisurely way for departure. The horses were got in from the paddock, and the bag containing the plunder was strapped in front of Ned Kelly’s saddle. In addition to the money five revolvers had been taken from the bank, and these, with Gloster’s pistol and the rifle and guns of the shooting party, formed a considerable addition to the Kellys’ armoury. The outlaws determined to have tea before they left, and they also amused themselves by giving exhibitions of their horsemanship of which they were very proud, allowing the men to stand outside the lock up under guard to witness these feats. Ned Kelly in particular is reported to have distinguished himself as a horseman, galloping about, lying or sitting upon his saddle in all kinds of apparently impossible positions. Some of the men on patrol duty seem to have wandered a considerable distance from the house, and in so doing Steve Hart must have encountered Mr Wyatt, who, it will be remembered, had been accosted most uncivilly by some stranger when he drove out from Euroa to view the broken lines. At any rate Mr McCauley reported afterwards that Steve Hart had asked him ‘who the old buffer was’ whom he met on the road. The description given, and the fact that this was the day for Mr Wyatt’s Licensing Court in Euroa, led Mr McCauley to say that it must have been the police magistrate. ‘By G---,’ replied Hart; ‘If I’d know that at the time, I would have popped him.’ Later in the day Mr Wyatt had another chance of being ‘popped’, but nothing came of it. The train upon the engine of which he rode, and which stopped in front of Faithfull’s Creek to allow him to examine the wires, naturally caused the outlaws some apprehension. Ned Kelly called out to the others that a trainload of bobbies had come to arrest them, and speaking in a tone of bravado for the prisoners’ benefit, added that it did not matter, as they would shoot the whole -- lot of them. However, it proved to be a false alarm, and in a few minutes the train passed on without anybody from it approaching the homestead.

The Kellys by no means hurried themselves. Their meal and their riding exhibition took some time, and more they spent in conversing with the prisoners. It was evident that they wished to make a good impression, and to that end they showed great consideration to the women and made the servants gifts of money. To the boy who accompanied them to Euroa Ned Kelly also gave two pounds and the watch which he had taken from the body of Lonigan. The watch was afterwards handed over to the police. Apparently to make up for his loss, Ned Kelly asked Mr McDougall for his watch, but, on being told that it was a keepsake from Mr McDougall’s mother, magnanimously handed it back, robbing Mr McCauley instead, while Byrne appropriated Mr Scott’s time piece.

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