The True Story of the KellyGang of Bushrangers Chapter 14 page 6
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On March 6, when Mr Hare was watching for the Kellys at Mrs Byrnes’;, the forces engaged in hunting the outlaws were added to by the arrival from Queensland of a Queensland officer, Sub Inspector O’Connor, a white senior constable, and six native black trackers—Corporal Sambo, and troopers Hero, Johnny, Jimmy, Barney, and Jack. Early in the Kelly campaign the Queensland authorities had offered the services of some of their native police, who did excellent work in the northern colony in following tracks often invisible to white men, but Captain Standish had been averse to employing them, though Mr Sadlier and Mr Nicolson made use when they could of Victorian aboriginals who possessed something of the same skill. However, after the Jerilderie affair Captain Standish saw the necessity of taking every possible measure against the Kellys, and sank his own prejudices against the trackers in so far as to allow of the acceptance of the men offered by Queensland. On their arrival he met them and their officer, Mr O’Connor, at Albury, and experiments were very shortly made of their powers of tracking. These, though carried out under conditions which by no means satisfied Mr O’Connor, greatly impressed the Victorian officers, including even Captain Standish, who nevertheless to the last maintained that they were comparatively useless in following men who moved in celerity which characterised the journeys of the Kellys. This, however, was not the opinion of Mr Hare, Mr Sadlier, and Mr Nicolson, who placed great reliance on the trackers, nor of the Kellys, who feared them more than all the other police in the district.
Very shortly after the black trackers arrival one of the troopers died of congestion of the lungs, and all of them seemed to feel the change from the warm climate of Queensland to the frosty air of the Victorian highlands. For a time Mr O’Connor, Mr Sadlier, Captain Standish and Mr Hare all lived in unity together at police head quarters in Benalla, but before Mr O’Connor had been very long in the colony unfortunate quarrels arose between him and Captain Standish, with the result that much of the usefulness of the trackers was discounted by Captain Standish’s refusal to employ them on certain occasions when reliable news of the outlaws had been obtained.
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