Testimony given by Constable Robert Alexander to the Royal Commission, with particular focus given to his presence at the murder of Aaron Sherritt.
Category: The Police
All about the men who pursued the outlaws.
“The excitement caused here by the conflict between the police and the Kellys, and the destruction of the desperate gang of outlaws, is subsiding. A general feeling of relief is experienced by the respectable inhabitants of the district, and it is pretty certain that now the gang are no longer to be feared that some of their movements during the past twelve months will be made known. Already stories concerning their movements are freely circulated, and from these it is apparent that the police have during the past month or six weeks made it very unpleasant for the outlaws.”
“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.'”
The following description of what took place at Glenrowan is taken from the Melbourne Age of June 29, and although going over the same ground as the telegrams already published, contains fuller information…
A compilation of interviews conducted by Brian Cookson of Ann Jones, Arthur Steele and Paddy Allen.
“But, all the same, I may as well say that my success was owing to my using a shot gun instead of a rifle or pistol. It was no use trying to reach a vulnerable place in that man’s armour with a bullet. Shot was the stuff for that job; good big shot. And that’s what I got him with at last…”
Constable James Arthur’s recollections of the siege given to the Royal Commission.
Witness testimony of Constable William Phillips regarding his involvement in the Kelly pursuit and the siege of Glenrowan.
Evidence from Constable Dwyer to the 1881 Royal Commission.
Testimony given by Senior-Constable John Kelly regarding his involvement in the Kelly pursuit and the Glenrowan siege.