Mr Mortimer’s Statement (03/07/1880)

Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 – 1918, 1935), Saturday 3 July 1880, page 6

MR. MORTIMER’S STATEMENT.

Mr. Mortimer states: “After we were bailed up we were taken over to Mrs. Jones’s Hotel, and were kept there until it was determined by Kelly to stick-up Constable Bracken. He permitted Curnow, Mrs. Curnow and myself to go with him in our buggy to the police station, which is about three-quarters of a mile from the railway station, and is not far from Mr. Curnow’s residence. Kelly permitted Mrs. Curnow to get out of the buggy in case there might be some firing when Bracken was bailed up. I was ordered by Kelly to knock at the front door and call Bracken, and I did so, but he did not answer, and then Kelly, with a young Reynolds, whom he had just bailed up, went to the back door and succeeded in arousing Bracken, who came to the door without dressing. What Bracken states then occurred is substantially correct. Byrne was with Kelly, and Curnow asked Ned if he would not let him go home with his wife. Kelly replied, ‘Oh, yes, you may go home and have a sleep; but mind you don’t dream too loud.’ Having given this warning to him, he was permitted to go home. I do not know how he heard that the line had been torn up, but I suppose he heard it at the hotel, and after he obtained his liberty he determined to warn the train of the danger. Reynolds, Bracken and myself were taken back to the hotel. We all then heard that the line had been torn up. The whole of the members of the gang were very jolly, and Ned told us that they had come there to settle the black trackers, and that he would be on the spot when the train ran over the culvert, and would shoot all who were not killed. We knew we could do nothing, and therefore did not take any steps to warn those in the train of the danger. Every member of the gang was then sober. They showed us their armor, and seemed to think that the police could do them no harm. At half-past two on Monday morning Ned Kelly said something to the effect that he did not think the special train was coming, and I then asked him if we could go home. He said ‘Yes,’ and I thanked him. We could all then have gone, with perhaps the exception of Bracken, but foolishly stopped listening to the remarks of Kelly. Just then Dan Kelly, who had been standing outside, rushed in and said, “Ned, here comes the —— train.” Our opportunity of escape was gone. Ned Kelly rushed out, and commenced to examine his firearms. He spoke to one of the gang, and then left on horseback. Byrne locked the doors, and I believe that Bracken then succeeded in stealing the key. Ned Kelly returned in a few minutes, but remained outside. He asked some of the others to come out with him, but none of them did so. Just then we heard the train stopped at the station, and it then became apparent that the gang expected they would have to fight. Almost immediately the firing commenced, and we dropped on the floor. The bullets whizzed through the weatherboards in all directions. Our feelings at that time were indescribable. The poor women and children were screaming with terror, and every man in the house was saying his prayers. Poor little Johnn Jones was shot almost at once, and I put my hands in my ears so as not to hear his screams of agony and the lamentations of his mother and Mrs. Reardon, who had a baby in her arms. We could do nothing, and the bullets continued to whistle through the building. I do not think that the police were right in acting as they did. We were frightened of them, and not of the bushrangers. It was Joe Byrne who cursed and swore at the police. He seemed perfectly reckless of his life. But the three of them got into an inside room into which the bullets seldom penetrated. We frequently called on the police to stop firing, but we dared not go to the door, and I suppose they did not hear us. Mrs. Jones was slightly wounded by a bullet, and when Mrs. Reardon and Mrs. Jones with the children ran out, Reardon and his son attempted to follow, but as soon as the police saw the figures of the men they fired. Young Reardon was hit by a bullet in the shoulder, and he and his father ran back into the house. One of the men carried young Jones away, and succeeded in passing the police without being fired on. Dan Kelly told us we had better remain in the house, because the police would shoot us if we attempted to leave. Someone said to him, ‘You had better go out and surrender;’ and he replied, ‘We will never surrender, but most likely we will leave directly.’ I think they intended to do so, but shortly after five o’clock in the morning Byrne was shot. He had just walked into the bar and was drinking a glass of whisky when a ball struck him in the groin. I heard him fall, and saw the blood spurting from him. I think he died very soon. This seemed to dishearten Dan Kelly and Hart. They had been calling for Ned all night, and they renewed their calls for him. We had not seen the leader of the gang since the firing commenced, and did not know where he had gone to. Dan and Hart went into the inside room, and I heard one say to the other, ‘What will we do?’ I thought they intended to commit suicide. We prayed for daylight, thinking that we might then escape, but even when the morning broke we dared not venture out. It must have been about this time that poor Martin Sherry was shot. He was sitting on the floor of the kitchen at the time. There were two other men there

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When Ned Kelly returned in the morning to fight the police, he evidently expected that the other members of the gang would join him. They undoubtedly saw him, and When engaged with Senior-constable Kelly, Sergeant Steele and Guard Dowsett he called on his companions to come out and back him up. After the hotel had been destroyed by fire, and the charred remains of Dan Kelly and Hart removed from the debris, the brother of Hart requested that the remains of both men should be handed over to himself and Mrs. Skillian. I was very much surprised to hear that the request had been acceded to. Captain Standish arrived soon afterwards, and I suppose he acceded to the proposition. The remains were then taken to the residence of Mrs. Skillian, where a wake was held. The coffins were ordered from Wangaratta, and arrived there this morning. Soon afterwards an intimation was received from the coroner to stop the burial, as it was intended to hold an inquest on the remains to-morrow. Wild Wright remained at Glenrowan to-day, and became considerably the worse for liquor. During the morning four of the horses used by the Kelly gang were found by the police. Strange to say, they were stabled at M’Donald’s Hotel, within 100 yards from the railway station. The bushrangers stuck M’Donald up, but gave him his liberty before the arrival of the police, but M’Donald did not say one word about the horses being in his stable. They were seen in the stables during the night by a reporter who had been accommodated with a shakedown in the hotel. He suspected that the horses belonged to the Kelly gang. Wild Wright was in the hotel, and he thought it best to keep his suspicions to himself. Detective Ward was a passenger by the morning train, and the reporter told him about the horses. Constable Bracken, in turn, was then placed in possession of the information, and on going to the stables he found the four horses, which he brought at once to Benalla. A very fine upstanding chesnut horse was identified as the property of Mr. Ryan, of Major Plains. The horse was stolen from Mr. Ryan about sixteen days ago. There was a new saddle on the horse which had been recently made by Bullivant, of Wangaratta. It was the horse ridden by Joe Byrne on the night Sherritt was murdered. A brown mare, which had been used as a pack-horse, was also identified as the property of Mr. Ryan, and was stolen at the same time as the chestnut horse. Another brown mare was identified as the property of Mr. Fitzsimmons, stolen from his farm at the Ten-mile Creek about ten days ago. The other horse has not yet been identified. Ned Kelly’s favorite mare was seen in the bush near to Glenrowan during the progress of the fight. It is believed she is wounded.