“I came up with the train that left Benalla at 5 o’clock on Monday morning, and on arriving at Glenrowan I found they were still firing at the hotel.”
Tag: Jesse Dowsett
“Curnow’s life is not safe a moment here. The most bitter and horrible threats are used against him, and also against Constable Bracken, who escaped from the hotel; and Dowsett, the railway guard, who is acknowledged by officers and men to have behaved most pluckily in the fight and capture of Ned Kelly.”
Mr Jesse Dowsett, who was a guard in the special train which took police to Glenrowan when Ned Kelly was captured in June, 1880, died at his home in Dandenong, early today, aged 88. Mr. Dowsett assisted in the capture of Ned Kelly, and was one of the very few participants in the affair commended by the Royal Commission which sat subsequently.
In his home at Glenhuntley he still treasures the relics of that memorable morning when the reign of terror of the Kelly gang came to an end. In a green baize he keeps the revolver which he took from Ned. It is the weapon that Kelly took from the police sergeant at Jerilderie when the gang held up the town and robbed the bank. A chip from the handle shows where one of the police bullets caught Ned. Kelly’s thumb at Glenrowan. Another interesting relic in Mr Dowsett’s possession is the long boot worn by Kelly in the final fight. It was used as evidence at the trial and shows the hole made by one of Sergeant Steele’s bullets. The mustard tin in which Kelly kept his ammunition shows two holes made by the bullets fired at him by Dowsett. One of the bullets was found inside the tin, and is shown by Mr Dowsett as evidence of his good aim.
A contemporary new report describing the siege and Ned Kelly’s arrival in Melbourne.
An account of the events at Glenrowan told by the medic who attended Superintendent Hare and Ned Kelly.
A first-hand account of Jesse Dowsett’s rescue of Margaret Reardon and his involvement in Ned Kelly’s capture.
Glenrowan 