“THE KELLY TRAGEDY” Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 – 1954) 10 July 1880: 7.
THE KELLY TRAGEDY
(FROM OUR SPECIAL REPORTER.)
INTERVIEW BETWEEN MR. C. COX AND NED KELLY.
A most interesting interview took place on Friday morning between Ned Kelly and Mr. Charles Cox, the landlord of the Royal hotel, at Jerilderie, who was stuck up on the occasion of the memorable visit of the gang to that town. Cox obtained an order from the Chief Secretary to see the outlaw, for reasons that are at present enveloped in mystery, and at 10 o’clock he drove up to the gaol with a spanking pair of bays and a liveried coachman, and presented his passport. Mr. Castieau, the governor of the gaol, having understood that no one was to be permitted to see his prisoner, looked at the order somewhat dubiously, when Mr. Cox suggested that if there was a doubt about the matter, he would go away. Mr. Castieau accepted the order, and allowed the visitor to see the outlaw.
Mr. Cox, after shaking hands with the outlaw, said: All I want to know is what you did with the jewellery which you took out of the bank at Jerilderie belonging to Mrs. Masby.
Ned Kelly: No, I can’t tell you. It was taken away, but I do not know what became of it.
Mr. Cox asked him, as a particular favour, to say how it had been disposed of, especially as it was but an old watch, valueless for ordinary use, but which was an heirloom in the Masby family, and they greatly desired to regain possession of it.
Ned Kelly: Charlie, if I knew anything about it, I would tell you. The only I thing I got out of the bank was an old watch, but I do not know what has become of it. If I knew that my sisters had it, I would get them to return it to you at once.
Some other general conversation took place, during which Ned Kelly said that he would rather be dead than living, and that he could have got clear away on his grey mare, but he would not desert his comrades; and Mr. Cox left, without having succeeded in obtaining a clue to the stolen jewellery.
WANGARATTA, Saturday.
The story about a constable and Sherritt having occupied the same hut with Mrs. Skillion and Kate Kelly is substantially correct. They were treated with the greatest kindness by them, and during the week or ten days in which they were watching for the outlaws, not the remotest suspicion of the constable being otherwise than what Sherritt represented him to be — viz., a horsestealer from New South Wales hiding from the police, or that Sherritt had turned traitor, ever entered their minds. Many a night, the constable told me, he never got a wink of sleep, but lay with his hand on his revolver, ready to spring out or fire at the least alarm. The plan of operations was, that immediately on the appearance of the Kellys at the door, or in the house, they were to fire, and drop one each, if possible, when it would then be a man to man fight between the other two and the watchers. I asked the constable if he was not afraid to trust Sherritt, knowing that he had been a bosom friend of Joe Byrne’s, and might perhaps turn round and sell the police in the same way as he was betraying the Kellys, but his reply was that he had implicit faith in Sherritt, and would trust him anywhere, though at the same time he kept a keen eye on him, and many a time when a false alarm was given, and he saw Sherritt put his hand on his revolver, he would watch him narrowly, and in the event of his exhibiting the least sign of treachery, as the constable expressed it, he kept the first bullet in his revolver for Sherritt, and the remainder for the Kellys. Many a sleepless night, too, the constable told me he had in that hut, even when they had overheard conversations which denoted that the Kellys had gone to another part of the district, as they were never sure that some of the relations might not come and, demanding a night’s lodging, recognise him as a constable. It is needless to state that the police officer I refer to was not one of the gallant four who were afraid to face Joe Byrne and Dan Kelly, when they shot Sherritt, and foolishly allowed them to escape without firing a shot; but at the time he undertook the dangerous and courageous act of going right into the head-quarters of the Kellys, he was not under any immediate orders, having obtained leave of absence, and took this manner of enjoying a holiday and recruiting his health.
ARRIVAL OF THE BLACK TRACKERS FROM QUEENSLAND.
BENALLA, Saturday.
This day, about 2 p.m., Superintendent Chomley arrived with five black trackers from Queensland. They had been obtained by the Victorian Government to track the Kelly gang, in consequence of the threatened withdrawal of Lieutenant O’Connor and his black police, and are a strong, healthy-looking lot, apparently none the worse for their rapid journey from Maryborough, which place they left on Sunday last, at noon, and came on to Brisbane, from whence they came by sea to Sydney, leaving there on Tuesday morning, and coming overland to Benalla. They came originally from Frazer’s Island, near the mouth of the Mary River, and are supposed to be the best trackers in Queensland. They are all about the middle size, and are dressed in black jumpers, trimmed with red, mole-skin trousers, black cap, with red band, and navy blue monkey jackets as overcoats, their names are — Jim Crow, Peter, Harry Brown, Billy Nut, and Monkey Brown, and I understand they are now to be kept permanently attached to the police force of the colony.
AN INTERCHANGE OF COMPLIMENTS.
Speaking about the black trackers reminds me of a humorous incident which occurred during the attack on Jones’s hotel to one of these gentlemen. Constable Milne and Constable Gascoigne were standing behind a tree in front of the house keeping a steady fire directed towards it, when a black boy of O’Connor’s, standing under cover a few yards off, called out at he wanted to light his pipe, and asked the constables for a match, Milne thereupon placed a few matches in a blank cartridge, and plugging the end with a piece of paper, threw it towards the tracker. The cartridge, however, did not fall within three or four yards of the tracker, and for a moment the latter was puzzled how to reach it without exposing himself to the fire of the outlaws. At last, after glancing earnestly towards Jones’s hotel, he called out, “Ned you —— ; don’t shoot me till I get the matches” and sprang forward at the same instant as one of the outlaws sent a bullet within an inch of his head as he stooped, and which would have gone through his body if he had been standing straight. In return for this salute — as soon as the tracker got back to his shelter — he delivered the contents of his rifle into the house, with the remark, “Take that Mr, Kelly, and put it in your pipe.”
MR. INSPECTOR SADLEIR.
Since Mr. Inspector Montford has been directed to take charge of the Benalla police district, Mr. Inspector Sadleir, who was in charge of the police at Glenrowan after Superintendent Hare left the field wounded, has returned to Melbourne, and officially reported himself to the Chief Commissioner on Monday morning. Up to the present the movements of the police have been confined to the return of a few of the troopers to the Richmond depôt, and it is not probable that the men now doing duty in the Kelly country will be recalled till Ned Kelly is disposed of by the process of law. It is not apprehended that any further disturbances will take place in the district, but it is considered advisable to be prepared for any emergency that might occur.
NED KELLY’S CONDITION.
A slight change took place in the condition of Ned Kelly, who is still confined in the hospital in the Melbourne Gaol, on Sunday, but no symptoms of a dangerous nature have appeared. He became somewhat excited and feverish, but the symptoms are not considered serious. He complains of insufficient food, and continues to request larger quantities that Dr. Shields deems advisable at present, and, consequently, his demands have not been supplied. It is feared that if he is permitted to indulge his craving at the present juncture, his recovery may be retarded, if not endangered, and, therefore, Dr. Shields has directed that no departure shall be made from the dietary table that has been followed since his admission to the gaol. On inquiry at the Melbourne Gaol on Monday, we ascertained that no change had taken place in the condition of Kelly, who will probably be detained in the gaol hospital for several weeks to come. He was visited on Monday by the Rev. Dr. Singleton, who conversed with him for some time, but nothing transpired to call for special mention.
VISIT OF NED KELLY’S RELATIVES TO MELBOURNE.
On Saturday last an application was made to the authorities for an interview with Ned Kelly by some of his relatives and friends; and on the strength of its being granted, Mrs. Skillion (the outlaw’s sister), Tom Lloyd (his cousin), and T. M’Ilroy, a family connection of the latter, arrived in town from Beechworth on Monday. It had somehow got abroad that Kate Kelly, the more notorious sister of the outlaws, was coming down to visit her brother, and consequently, with the morbid curiosity excited by the circumstances, a large crowd had gathered at the Spencer street Railway station when the train came in. Anxious inquiries were made in all directions as to whether Kate Kelly was in the train, and not content with peering into the faces of many ladies who were trying to force their way through the crowd, inquisitive individuals interviewed the railway officials, and finally ascertaining which were Mrs. Skillion and her companions, formed a circle around them, and triumphantly escorted them from the Spencer street station to the heart of the city.
In an article on the Kelly capture, the Hobart Town Mercury, while complimenting Mr. Ramsay upon his activity in despatching the train which took the Melbourne police to the scene of the siege of Glenrowan, adds :— “It is a wonder Mr. Ramsay’s purpose was not defeated by the disregard to discipline which permitted the wife of a sub-inspector and another female to accompany the police detachment in the Sunday night special train. It hardly requires to be said that female curiosity will lead into situations from which female courage and presence of mind may fail to extricate. Under the circumstances which necessitated the despatch of the special train, it was an act of cruelty to allow females to expose themselves; an act of reckless inconsiderateness to expose the police to being hampered by such impediments. As it turned out, gallantry allows the ladies to be complimented on the plucky manner in which they behaved. But that was not the place or occasion for a display of female pluck. A very trifling turn in the tide of affairs might nave involved the ladies in the melee, in which case, the alternative, might have been the lives of the two venturesome women, or the escape of the Kellys. We have purposely passed over with silent contempt the poltroonery of the four constables, who, glad of the shelter of Sherritt’s hut, did not dare to fire a shot; who still kept themselves ensconced long after the Kellys had left. If there were such a thing as drumming out of the force, this offers an opportunity.”
TRIAL OF NED KELLY.
At the City Police Court on Monday morning, before Mr. Panton, P.M., and a bench of magistrates, the name of Edw. Kelly, charged, on remand from Benalla, with wilful murder, was formally called. Mr. C. A. Smyth, the Crown prosecutor, appeared, and stated that he had a certificate from the visiting medical officer at the gaol, intimating that the prisoner was unwell, and would not be able to appear, and he therefore asked for a remand for a week. He stated that the prisoner’s appearance would depend upon the progress which he made towards recovery, and as it would be slow, he might therefore have to apply for one or two further remands. The Bench granted the remand for seven days. There were a large number of people in and about the court anxious to be present, but the general understanding which prevailed as to the impossibility of the prisoner’s putting in an appearance, greatly diminished the attendance.
Glenrowan 