THE ROAD TO RUIN.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 35, 12 March 1879, Page 3

THE ROAD TO RUIN.

VCX STOBT OP THJR KS&US& AND THBIB

Tte hißt^y;o£'the Kelly gang exceeds m thrimnß, incidents anything we have heard or 1 read v of "i^. colonial 'marauding, and we must go of old border reevinf and.r^ieing, with" their attendant crimes and, yiol^nce, to realise the- state of things w^6hAWs ftiiitecL m the Gireto district wiilffij&e 7 |asi '20' yearsr-^-ever since, m. f^j|6^.|iumiis^ Xloyds,.and Kellys hare 'beei^in^:p7)9sesßion -of. the 1 ranges. Lmked'togettie^^ai'bn'e fimily they have•cquired jpr^'petty under selecton'Vights, over » breadth' of country now almost their owßj »nd, v following their old patriarchal «*lling. of cattle-'stealer*, seem to hate •diopted . tne'6lWmbtto --of.-- ; ' *• " Let th'mfi feiiice^irnb have the pbwer, - Let. those keep who can." ._ Before attempting to recount the later deeds of the men <Who«» names are. m, every mouth, I. wiU-endeaTor, to throw, some .little light upon thV hißtbry.of the Kelly family. •'Red Kelly," ks he was called', is' the founder tfthe^clan. In the olden days they lived at. Cinueebura and Kilmore, where th«T'h»4 about' as bad a reputation as even «4ttle-stealer(||caa acquire, and it was a source of thanksgiving to the locality when they left it to ■ettje. m the. neighbourhood of Seyißbiir, upJn ai morsel of land, which <could .t\erer hare afEorded their required support unless supplemented 'by the family pursuit. BedXelly.-f or a lonja; time evaded the law^ut^pM.-at. Jast,,pTertaken. and . cpnat Beechworth pf-aowe-steiling, and died aboxit I?ror>l4'yetoß ago, leaVing chil-! dren— Edward>Kelly j , Dan Kelly, Kate, and' James.-' •• .vX^i;'. i ;v>;'::'.^: : : ; ::--:■ "The Qumni,'!^s»toteia .Melbourne biographer, " came from Ireland m the early days «f the, Colony, and after living a sort of gipsy life, knocking about all over the country,' commenced a miserable existence m the Ghreta Tteangjes".' There are two fam.ilies of Quinns.'orie of which, Jim Q.uinn is the father, aiid 1 * secondy of which Patrick Quinn is Chief. . Though of the same name, Patrick and^James Quran were not related by consanguinity, but onlj through Patrick having married Mrs. Kellv's sister. The -whole of the Quinns, as well as the Kellys, had the 'reputation of , being cattle-stealers for sereral genenitioris. The third branch of -this notorious! gang is the Lloyds who are brothew-m-l»w to Mrs. Kelly, having married into the Q.uinn fomiily." Thus it wiU.W seen, that they are all mixed up by blood and marriage, and that accounts for the way m 'wh'io'h they assist one another when : m- trouble. A strong feeling of fraternity has been engendered; amongst them, ' and that finds : substantial expression m times of d*nger. /Red Kelly, then, is to be regarded as , the-* founder and paterfamilias of thin clan, which has grown ia numbers with somewhat alarming rapidity. It has boen calculated that there are no less than 136 persons iii the ranges and flats who are more or less closely related to , the . Kellys. These relattrei art scattered all-over the country, from or»ta to the BufEalo Mountains, and they osn^easily render assistance to their friitnds jind convey them intelligvooe. \ ■'=-' : . v *;-ii.;A. 'J'.'V ':.'i'-. '■■ ' . '<:■. ; Amongst the worst of the clan wore the Quinns, wtio'had the reputation of holding human life T.ery cheap indeed. In the words of aufeld.X'ipperary^doggrel":-^- --■ ; " Shfflelagh wiu hiß writin' pen, ; And'all hofljoy wasfightin'men." Amongst - other act? of ' violence Jim Quinn was imprisoned for beating a neigh-* bojr with a bullock yoke. He threatened to murder ahotlier man by the; horrible process of bo^&ap*»ug'ef into his head ;' and for a {trampling assault m which he cruelly beat a man with a; heavy paling, he got three months. Tliie antipathy of the. clan to the police . w>s . inveteratej and we , find . Quinn, one day assaulting Senior Constable Hall, and splitting his h*ad open with a stick. - • -■ ' ■; : .."-/■ The village of Greta is within 40 miles of Mansfisld, and seven of the. . Gleprowan ' Railway Station, md the hut m whipH the KeUy.i.now_^ reside, is a few miles, from Greto. It is m the neighborhood of .tlie^rangM, whioh -may. be called theii:#wn,,,that the gang have taken shelter, and from which, iii defiance of the" polic©,\ they make thoir predatory' Taids. : In the old times of Morgan,' Ben Hall, Thunder^ %)lt, and Power, the Gret* Ranges werf the Alaatia to wETiih they rushed m extremity, and wereiwelobinedi The Kelly stronghold was m the Eleven Mile Creek, and along the Fifteen Mile Creek, up .fo Glenmoje, •near the Wombat HUIsV where the Quinns -Tesided. From that point there is one road running over' the tabielaud to Marisfi*ld, •nd «jßother U>wa»ds (^j|^g:Jßiyei^ -The King JUturer Range is cjross#d through a gap running back from" this stream, leaving the lower llafc ihtersectpd by lagoons. This gap can lie seen- from the heights, and the point is so commanding that no one can approach without being 'subject to view.. It v here*h»t :th« Keirys'haTe^keh. shelter, : and: ibeing suryd.undedjby. ifcheir, friends, itis im- ; pesstbl«4o 'approach them unawares j and iunless the^y are taken m the open, • I am of opinion thatit will be a long time before their capture is effected. : , As I have said their prmcipsl pursuit was catile-stealing : but it occupied all th'«ir spore time.'. It was not uncommon some member of the rlftD to cross to JXew South 'Wales, drive a herd over JthV bopd<r,; ;run thenf , into some.i j>!ac« m siflesslble .i-fxt: the policfeji wase, ,old brands, rebrand them, and send them into market foV^e .This was the' school m which the Kellys' were ' trained,; with what result* we . now see. Whea ISfecl Kelly— then,. d^^d^^^ng^feUo^ of good i«i*n>ieirs md appe*»nW^--was about 14, he f»ll m with Power, the bushranger, whose fnrorit« plac« of refuge Jwm ; m the js^eighr fcorhood, and became his associate. Power »?t«rbushraijging overmuch io Beechwortli^ which became Jboo hot for him, went to Geelon/?— Kelly, it ii said, being with him,£id returning after two days' stay by the Little Biver, he touched the Wombat ea-. pftmpment,' and thjsnce/ to Malmsbujry, where they attempted; nnsucceasfully, ,to •tick up the herdsmistt of the Malmsbnry Cotoinon. -Superintondent (now Assistant Commisgioaer) Nicholson, ' on receiving th& ißews, despatched a ,tppoper m pursuit, who came up to a grog shanty, where he saw ♦wo horsey at the.doop. He was quite certain, be had his man, but on entering found only young Ned, who, at once, went away arith him m custody. Pow«r, it !if ; supposed had escape^. WTieh the ob«rge Ws heard, the herdsman could not swear to Kelly, and the Ind w»« t eteased. The Superintendent, feeling an interest m the boy, induced him '♦» go, urto ,i;h* interior on a cattle station, irhich 1 hft di<i,.;but was soon afterwards Tji^nj^H^j^bji one of the tloyds. Shortly •forwards yower was hefcraved and'eaptured »t Pow»r*» Look-out,. jv rocky steep on the side of* mountain, commanding a viewerror the conptorv for many iDiles round. A^t the tund;yO*«g' Kelly had the odium of this trwehery, "birf. it was afterwards traced to Lloyd, who •Kjnnfced his faithful'nens by ; brwlcing his tiftck through a fall from his li-iwe^on iis way to Shortly after ■ Power -'wettt: tmwillt|igly to Peptridge, Xf Uy surrendtred himself to the police on: a charge ypf- hor^e-stealing, hflt the 1 dfcjji*!. fell tiiough, gnd he , was once ; f Pi%^d, » th» |

oldpnrsuit with more or ; less success, but ooßtmued iinmolosted untiiT 1870; when lie again came' into the hands of .the police for assaulting the same Senior-Constable Hall, who, as I have related, received the attentions of James Quinn. Hall' had a warrant against Ned for his old 'game, and' meeting his man, planed him under cover of his: rer: volver. Ned rushed him and tried to gain the weapon, but Hall .was top much for him. Taking the butt end of the pistol he deaft" Kelly a terrible blow, the marks of which, he .bears yet, and does hot' seem to forgefc.Aa usual he was acquitted on the charge of horse-stealing—^tht police so! far never could | catch : him there ; but he received three months' imprisonment for the assault;, and was bound over to keep the peace. By the time he emerged,. Hall the sworn foe of the clan, had woven his net securely, and young Kelly still but a lad, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for his attachment to horseflesh. Three- years m Pentridge was not the diet to which the scamp of the hills, and ranges was accustomed, and at the time of 'his release, to all appearance, the wild spirit was partially tamed, : and he settled down at station work. "Wherever he went -he gained the character of a ; capital servant, both willing and able,— ;and might have continued a nseful member of society, but for: an unlucky saddle and bridle which were missed and traced to Ned. Again, throwing off his allegiance to honest tou, he retreated to his old savage- life among the hills, where he was joined by his brother Dan, and nothing was seen or heard of him .until New Year's Day, 1878, when he rode into Benalla on the occasion, of sometpublio gathering. " "He was ; vye'ry reservedvan^l. quiet and associate^ with no one. ' The police although no doubt m possession of a- warrant, refrained from disturbing himior driving him to •xfcremities, and .gladly saw him quietly leave the place; Eromthat time to tl'e.shooting of Constable Fitepatrick no one .except his relatives and cronies knew of the whereabouts of young Ned Kelly. He asserts that he was not within 100 miles of the place ; but his sister's story is widely different, as will be seen m the subsequent part of this narration. Having brought the recital to this point, which was, unhappily^ the culminatingone of this unfortunate young fellow's career,- and has already cost thre* human livjes, I propose to: trace his steps, m f uther notices, along that dark road which he has choaen to travel, and by aicertaining and presenting the: truth, leave; my to judge where are the faults of a •system which have brought about a more disastrously immoral effect than has eves visited . this and the adjoining Colony of Victoria. In the raid oh Jerildic Kelly madeit a condition under levelled''re'vblveritth"at ; ;Q-ill, : thf. printer, should print: " his life." As much, of it as is procurable is as follows :-t 4 - , . The statement m writing given by Edward Kelly at Jerilderic, to Mr Gill to be^printed is r a wandering narrative, full of insinuations and statements against the police, of a type familiar to all who have had to do with tales from men of a criminal stamp. According to Edward Kelly, his, criminal careercom-, menced when he was 14 years of age, when h« received a sentence for three months' imprisonment for using a neighbor's horse without the consent of the owner. After this hisjconvictions were frequent, and, says Kelly, " the police became.a nuisance to the family." At one period of his life Kelly describes himself as a wandering gamester; When the affray with Constable JFitzpatrick took place, Edward Kelly wa« engaged .m horae-stealing business, and he says that he has stolen 200 horses. His narrative' of what took place, when Constable Fitzpatrick was shot may be given.- He says :—" Constable Fitzputrick came to apprehend my innocent brother Ban. His mother asked the Constablefor the warrant^ . He replied, I have a telegram.' Dan was haying fomefching to eat at the time. My mother said 'If my son Ned were at home he would throw yoiv'out of the house/ and looking out of the window, said j • Here he comes ' Fitzpatrick turned suddenly round to look, whenjnan threw down his knife and;fork,. jumped mp and seized him, and j m the sueffle, Fitzpatrick was shot.'-' This statement is quoted, be- , cause publicity has been given to the serious charges made, against Constable Fitzpatrick, and it has been alleged m Parliament that the policeman attempted to, take liberties with- Kelly's sister, and this -ijras the, cause that led to the fight m" 'the' huti A Mel- :( bourne journal actually published' a t&le to, the same effect, told by a woman of the family. Other tales ef constabulary have also been told, which .have had the effect, of ; creating sympathy for the Kellys ; but this ! account from the pen of Edward Kelly prows that the charge* hitherto made by them against the police are ■•• pure inyisntion.pf t^e woman, and the account' given; of>the conduct of the police at the, tre^gedjr of Mansfield is obviously a string of falsehoods. It is admitted that the police were not m any way the aggressors, but they were surprised and shot down m cold blood. — Otaga Daily Times.