THE KELLY GANG (Cont.)

CHAPTER XIX.

THE KELLY GANG (cont.).

A LOST OPPORTUNITY.

Very early on the morning of the 4th or 5th November—there is some difficulty about the precise date—four men on horse-back were seen galloping through the outskirts of Wangaratta. They were not identified positively as the four members of the Kelly gang, but those whose judgment was best worth having felt satisfied that the men were the Kellys, as subsequent events proved them to be. Inspector Smith, who was then at Wangaratta, received prompt information. The Inspector was so dilatory in starting and so bungled the whole business that the pursuit, as he conducted it, was hopeless. He appears not to have taken the information seriously, for he made no report to headquarters at all. His failure of duty was most unfortunate, since the gang and their horses were at the time completely knocked up, and prompt pursuit could scarcely have failed to effect the breaking up of the gang within a week of the murders at the Wombat range.

For some weeks, nothing further occurred of special interest in regard to the gang, who soon obtained fresh horses. Attempts were made once or twice to follow their tracks, but the only natives available were altogether useless for the purpose. The chief reliance had to be placed on scouts—persons who lived in localities likely to be frequented by the Kellys. Search parties were, however, sent out on the slightest information. Night

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parties watched on roads and at river crossings, but timorous travellers, who tried to bolt when challenged, had so many narrow escapes of being shot by the police that these night watches had to be greatly reduced. I was on one of these parties myself in the very centre of the Kelly country, when some travellers rode into our lines, but fortunately they halted to our challenge. Had they tried to ride away I hardly see what the police could have done but fire on them. Nothing could exceed the zeal of the men who were sent out on these night parties. The work was particularly trying; there was not only the strain of eager watchfulness through the long hours of darkness, but there was the fear lest some of the police might be too precipitate and do injury to innocent persons; or, by over-caution, they might let the men they wanted pass through and escape. The officers had no doubt about the good sense of their sub-officers and men as a whole, but among so large a number some act of indiscretion was to be feared.

Here, to anticipate events a little, is an instance in which an entirely unexpected and indeed blameable act of imprudence spoiled a very promising night’swork.

A NIGHT WATCH ON THE OVENSRIVER.

A sub-officer named Flood, stationed at Hedi on the King River, alocality near where some very special friends of the Kellys resided, reported that a letter had passed through the local post office, containing particulars of an arrangement made for a meeting of the Kellys and a Chinese gold-buyer, on a certain night at a place known as Spink’sCrossing on the Ovens River, a very retired spot and seldom used. How Flood became possessed

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of this information was, I think, never particularly enquired into. It was said that he was very intimate with the local postmaster, and that he even on occasion took charge of the Post Office. Joe Byrne, one of the members of the Kelly gang, had lived much with Chinese and had picked up their language, and the particulars in the letter Flood had the privilege of reading were supposed to have been suggested by him. This was after the robbery of the Euroa Bank, from which, besides notes and coin, the Kellys had taken an ingot of gold. This gold they had found a difficulty in turning into cash, hence the proposed meeting with the Chinese gold-buyer.

I reconnoitred the place a day or two before the time appointed, and then, with superintendent Francis Hare, who at this time had relievedNicolson, arranged to collect a fairly strong party of police atSpink’s Crossing at sunset on the day indicated by Flood. The men were to approach the place in ones and twos, to avoid observation as much as possible, and there await Hare and me. When we reached the spot from another direction just at sunset, we were astonished to hear a tumult of voices from the river, and we immediately rushed forward, assuredly believing that some fight was on. As we hurried forward a Chinese, who had been concealed in some bushes overlooking the river, ran across our path, but we paid no heed to him in our eagerness to get to the scene of the tumult. There to our confusion we found several of our men, regardless of all caution, ducking and splashing each other in the water. By this time the Chinese could not be found, and, with diminished hopes, we settled down to watch throughout the night—a fruitless job, for the Kellys did not turn up.

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THE EUROA BANK STUCK UP.

I just now made allusion to the robbery of the Euroa Bank, the story of which is told in a very spirited manner by Dr. Fitchett in the October, 1909, number of Life. He describes how that about mid-day on December 9th, 1879 (not on December 8th, as is erroneously stated) the Kellys stuck up Younghusband’s station, a place situated about three miles from Euroa. It was harvest time, and there were many workers on the place, besides several travellers who happened to call. All these men, to the number of about thirty, were shut into a storeroom from the afternoon of the 9th till late on the evening of the 10th. Of all these there was only one man, a hawker named Gloster, who made any show of resistance, if such it could be called. He refused to leave his cart, but against four armed men threatening his life he could do nothing single-handed; nor should it be expected, I think, that as long as these four desperadoes were there together any effective resistance could have been offered by the prisoners. But a time did come, on the afternoon of December 10th, when the prisoners, if there had been any sprinkling of enterprising men amongst them, could easily have asserted themselves.

At this time only one of the gang, Byrne, was on guard, the other three having gone to Euroa. Byrne was but a stripling compared to most of his prisoners, and was overloaded with weapons, carrying a rifle in each hand. Amongst those who came upon the scene at this time was one of the telegraph staff, a man over six feet high. Although he saw Byrne was so nervous

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that he could scarcely fix the key in the lock, yet he submitted without a word. This sort of pusillanimity on every side during the Kelly pursuit made the work of the police much more anxious and difficult than it need have been.

There was one man, however, amongst this crowd of timid prisoners who would have led a sortie, an ex-constable named Stephens. He had noticed that Byrne sometimes stood with his back against a small window in their prison house, and Stephens searched amongst the tools that were about for a hay work, with which he hoped to reach Byrne through the window, but none could be found; then he took an axe, but the window opening was too narrow to allow an effective blow. When the other prisoners discovered what Stephens was after, they simply mobbed him and threatened to hand him over to the Kellys. The story of this exploit by the bushrangers closes with the return to Younghusband’s station of the remainder of the gang, bringing with them as prisoners the manager of the Euroa Bank and his family, together with some ₤1800 and an ingot of gold, the property of the bank. As the evening approached the Kellys took their departure, carrying the spoil with them.

Dr. Fitchett, in his account of these events, when relating how Mr. Wyatt, P.M., had seen the telegraph wires cut away near Younghusband’s station and informed Mr. Nicolson and myself of the fact later, has fallen into error. It was eight o’clock at night when Mr. Wyatt met Mr. Nicolson and myself at the Benalla railway station, and the Kellys had already got out of reach of immediate pursuit. I did not hear Mr. Wyatt’s story at all, for in his excitement he shut me out of the

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room into which he took Nicolson. I could see, however, that something must have happened along the railway line, and made inquiry of passengers, and of the guard and driver of the train, but there was not one word of information to be had from them. This reticence was due to Mr. Wyatt’s silly injunctions to the guard and others not to make known to anyone that the telegraph line had been interfered with.

Mr. Nicolson, who heard Mr. Wyatt’s story, was not impressed by it, and one can scarcely be surprised at this, for the narrator must have been almost incoherent in the few moments that he had to tell his story, nor had Nicolson time to weigh it before the train continued on its way, bearing him and me to Albury on what at the time appeared a very important mission.

“ASSISTANT POSTMASTER” FLOOD AGAIN.

The river Murray still continued high in early December, and all bridges and crossing places were receiving special attention from the police, especially from those on the New South Wales side, for their desire and that of the police on the southern side of the river was to keep the bushrangers in Victoria. In those early days, and before the police came to have better knowledge of the tactics of the Kellys, it was feared that the members of the gang might separate and endeavour to find their way singly to some remote parts ofNew South Wales or Queensland; and possibly leave the country altogether. Undesirables as they were, this latter alternative would have been regarded, by the police at least, as a great misfortune. It was not known then that the members of the gang distrusted each other too much to

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separate in this manner, so when fresh news came from Flood at Hedi of certain plans on foot by the Kellys to make their way into New South Wales, it was taken seriously.

Flood had seen a letter, a copy of which reached me a day or two before the robbery of the Euroa Bank. It was to this effect: Arrangements were being made by the editor of one of the small newspapers on the New South Wales border, to provide a boat and fresh horses, to enable the Kellys to make their way across the Murray into New South Wales. The place of crossing was indicated, and it was clear that the date was near at hand. When this communication was received, Nicolson was out with a party of police. What added point to the communication was the fact that the newspaper man referred to was well known to be one of the few cranks who had taken up the cause of the Kellys. I had arranged to go to Albury and consult with the police there, in order that a special watch should be kept up on both sides of the river.

Later on the same day, December 10th, Nicolson returned from his expedition and, though very tired, he considered the information from Flood important, and determined to accompany me. It was when we reached the Benalla railway station to join the Albury train that Mr. Wyatt made the communication to Nicolson that Dr. Fitchett has referred to. There was no pressing reason why Nicolson and I should both proceed to Albury, but there was little time for reflection, and there was no possibility of returning, once the train had started.

We had scarcely reached Albury when the news was flashed to us of the robbery of the bank at Euroa a

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few hours before. It might appear unfortunate that the two principal officers should be absent together from headquarters at such a crisis, but as we returned by special train during the night and were out with our several parties at daybreak—I from Wangaratta, and Nicolson from Benalla—the public interests suffered no loss. Nicolson’s party started from Younghusband’s station on the tracks of the Kellys, but the blacks he had with him would not follow, and after a vain but strenuous search he was forced to return. My own party also found traces of the Kellys, as we believed, but our “scratch” trackers failed us also. In the face of so many misadventures and failures, it is well again to remind the reader of the character of the forest country, into which each pursuit by the police led. Every part offered hiding places for fugitives such as the Kelly gang, and all search seemed hopeless unless their very footprints could be traced.

SUPERINTENDENT FRANCIS HARE.

This last expedition left Nicolson worn out and suffering from inflamed eyes, and Frank Hare took his place as principal officer in charge of the Kelly pursuit. Both officers were my senior in rank, and were men with whom I could readily co-operate. I felt Hare gave too much attention to the sending out of search parties on the mere hope of their coming across the Kellys. He certainly did not spare himself, and he shared with his men all the discomforts of camping out, but his fault, as I have always thought, was in confining his efforts to this one line and dispensing with

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the use of secret agents.He did indeed use Aaron Sherritt, if Sherritt did not use him, but he had none of the skill and patience of Nicolson in handling aids of this sort.

THE JERILDERIE (N.S.W.) BANK ROBBED.

As I have related, it was while Nicolson and I were conferring with a New South Wales officer at Albury that the news of the Euroa Bank robbery reached us. The New South Wales officer could not conceal his satisfaction that the exploit had occurred in Victoria, and not in his own territory. Not that he boasted of any superiority; he simply rejoiced at his own good luck, and attempted to offer us such sympathy as decency required. The robbery of the bank at Jerilderie, however, more than equalised matters, for on the night of Saturday, February 8th, 1879, the Kellys by a ruse got hold of the two police stationed in the town, and locked them up in their own cell. They had called the two police out of their beds late at night, saying that a murder had just been committed. The police came out undressed and unarmed, and were an easy prey to the four armed bushrangers. It was a clever piece of strategy, no doubt, but one might ask—What of the two or three hundred residents of the town? Were not they to be reckoned with?

The Kellys moved about amongst these people all through the next day, Sunday, but remained incognito until Monday morning. Then they declared themselves as the Kelly bushrangers and proceeded at once to rob the local bank, the manager of which they found in his

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bath naked and unarmed. Then they shut up a few of the town people in a room in a public house, leaving the other inhabitants free to do as they pleased; and, having cut the telegraph wires, felt themselves free to frisk about the town, not as a united band, but singly, enjoying the sociability of the goods people of Jerilderie and entertaining them with stories of their prowess.

We are told in Bible history that the patriarch Abraham, when pleading for the cities of the Plain, asked—that if there were fifty righteous men therein the cities might be saved; step by step reducing the numbers until he thought he got near enough to zero to make things safe. So we might imagine some Britisher in his pride of race saying there are in Jerilderie fifty, forty, and so on until he reached below Abraham’sminimum, saying surely there are five men of sufficient pluck to resent the indignity of having their town laid under tribute by four hooligans who moved carelessly to and fro. The fact is that one bold man, armed with say a double gun, could have picked them off one by one. Jerilderie had not that one man within its bounds that day!

There was, however, one person who stood manfully to his special line of duty—the telegraph officer at Jerilderie. I regret that I cannot give his name. The Kellys kept a watchful key on him, and time after time, in spite of threats, he endeavoured to get his line into working order, until they broke up his instruments altogether.

It is not very likely, perhaps, that such a tribulation as the Kelly outbreak will fall on the people of Australia ever again, but, should such a thing happen, it might be well to remember, that a crowd of persons submitting