A NARRATIVE OF THE KELLY GANG EXPIOITS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 73, 26 March 1879, Page 4

A NARRATIVE OF THE KELLY GANG EXPIOITS.

(rrmpiled fcr the Otnga Daily Times.) The hisJoryofthe Kelly gah? exceeds in thrilling incidents pnythin? we have hear*? or read of in Colonial tnnrsudirjg, nod wefrnupt go bsrk to thp Ptorjes of old border reeving and r«iFinp, with their attendant crimps and violence, »o realise th P Btßfe of ihinffg which has existed in ihe Greta district within thp »ast 20 years, ever sinne, in fact, «he Qiirne, Lloyd*, nn d Kelly? h»vp ieen i'd rc>fEfs=ion of the rani'FP. Liiked »ojrether as ma family, they bfiVH required p-operty under P p!ec(or ß ' riehtsovFrn hrfadth of country now almrst their own, and, following thfir own pntriHicbshaUine of CHttlf-slenlcrf., eeem t> bave n^ppfpd thp oil motto of ler thf m t ke who have the power, Let those kerp who can. l*?fore attempting to recount the Ictcr deeds of the men whose names arp in every mou'h, I will endeavor to throw Ff>me little light upon the history of the Kelly family. « K e d Ktlly," as lewoe railed, is the founder of the clan. Iv the oldfn days they lived at Croigieburn and Kilmore, where they had about as bad a repulsion as even cattle-dealers cau ncquire, and it wbs a source of thanksgiving to | De locality when they left it to settle in the neiahrothood of Seymour, upon a roomf of )»nd Which coull never heve effordel Ih'ir require.! support unless suppletnenfed by the family pureuif. R e ) Kelly for a long (i me evsdeJ the law, but was at Ust overtaken, and convicted at Beechworih of horse-stealing, and die I about 13 or 14 years ago, leaving ohiWrtn— Edw,rd Kelly, Dan Kelly Kite, nnd Jamee. " The QuiDus" (wroie a Melbourne biogrHphei) " CBme from Ireland in the farlydajs of the Colony, and after livio^ a sort of gipsy |ji e knocking abrut ail ovtr «h e country, ccmmecced a miserable existence in the Greta RHOgfs. There are two familys of Quirjns— one of *hich Jim Qjinn is the father, and B second of which Pa-ntk Quinn is the chief. Though of the. fame name, Patrick and Janfes Qaiou were not related by coneanguiruy, but rnly through Patrick bavin-* married Mrs Kelly's fister. The whole of the Quinns, as well as the Kelly*, had th« reputation of being cattlestealers for several generations The third branch of this uotorious gang is ihe Lloyde, w ho ere brothers io-law to Mrs Kelly, having married into the Quion family." Thus it will be seen ibat they are all mixtd up by blood and marriage, and that accounts for tl.-e way in which they assist one another when io ttouble A strong feeling of fraternity has been engendered amoogsr. lluin, end that finis substantial exprestion in time of danger. Red Kelly, ibeD, is to be regarded es the founder and paterfamilias of this clan, which bas grown in numbers with aotm«l<ai ttlarmiug rapidity. It has been calculated that there are no Itea than 125 p« raous in the ren.es nnd flam who are mote or less closely related to the Xe.ly*. These reMivea are ecatttred all over the country, from Greta to the B^ulo Mountain*, and tbty cud eaeily render assistance to lbuir irieuda uud coavey them iiittl!ii;eccc. Amongst the worst of the clan were the Quinnf, who had the reputation of holding human life very cheap indeed. In the words of an old Tipperary doggerel: Snillelagh w«s bis writtin' pen And all bit- joy was figHin' men. Amongst other acts of violence Jim Quitin was imprisoned for beatinp a neighbour with a bullock yoke. Hihrialened tp murder tnolber man by the horrible process of borinp an auger into his bead; and for a trampling apenult, in which be cruelly beat a man with a heavy paling, he got three months. The antipathy of the clan to the police ws» inveterate, and we find Quinu one day assaulting Stuior Conetable Hall, and splitting his head open with a stick. Tbe vilUge of Greta ia wiihin 30 miles o{ M ant-field and seven of the Glemowan railway station, Bnd the hut in which tbe Kellys now reside is a few miles from Greta. It ia in the im mediate neighbourhood of the ranges j which may be called their own that the gang have taken shelter, and from which, iv (U fiance of the police, they make their piedatory raids. Jo the old i times of Morgan, B<-n Hall, Thunderbolt, and Power, the Greta Rangts were the Alsatia to which they rushed in extremity, and were welcomed. The Kelly stronghold was in the Eleven-mile Creek, and along the FiUeeo-mile Creek up to Glenmore, near tbe Wombat Hiile, where the Quinos resided. From (hat point there is one road running over the tableland to Mansfield, and another towards the King River. Tbe King River RaDge is crossed through a gap running back from the stream, leaving the lower flat intersected by lagoonß. This gap can be Been from tbe heights, and tbe point is bo commanding that no one can approach without being subject to view. It ia here that the Kellys have taken shelter, and being Bur- j rouoded by their friends, it is im. possible to approach (hem unawares; and unless they are taken in the open lam of opinion that it will be a long time before their capture is effected. At I have said, their principal pursuit was cattle-stealing; this was necessarily varied by agriculture, but it occupied ail (heir spare time. It was not uncommon for some member of the clan to cross to New Sooth Wales, drive a herd over tbe border, run them in to some

place inoccessible lo the police, erase f Id brands, re-hrand tbero, and BPcd Inrm into market for sale. This was ihe scl 00l in which ihe Kellya' wore tr»infd, with what result we now see. When Ned Kelly — ilerj described as » young fellow cf good manners and appearance — was about 14, be fell in with Power, the bu£brnngfr, whose favorite place of refuge wns in the neigbboorhood, arjd became his associate. Power, after buehrancir>e overmuch in Tleechwortb, which became »co ho! for birr-, went to Geelong — lie'ly it ig Bai"r», beiDg with him, an I returning afte r two d&y> J stay by the Litt!« River, touched the Wamba encatnpmont, and theDce to Maltnshury, where they aifemfted, UDSucccpsfully, to ftiek up the lerdsmen of thn M-iiinsbury crmmon. Supi rirjtfndent (nowAsjisl-ant-Commissioner) Nicholson, on receirint! the nenp, despatched a trooper in puieuit, who came v.. to a grog tbanty, where he saw two horses at ihe door. He was quite certain be had his man, but on tnteriog found only young Ned, who at once went away with him in custody. Power, it is euppoatd, hai escaped. When the' charge was beard, the herdsmen could uot swear (o Killy, sod the lad was released. The superintendent, feeling an ioieiest in the boy, induced him to no info tie inierior on a cattle station, which he di<f, but was soon afterward brought l.atk by o. c i( the L'oydp, hie relative, Bnd n commenced his evil courses. SbciDy afterwards Power wes betrayed and captured at Power's Look-Out, a tocky steep on the side of a mountain, commanding a view over the country for many miles roun^. At the time young Kslly had the o.lium of this treachery, but it was afterwards (raced to Lloyd, who expiated his i faiibleßSDess by brehking his neck through a fall from his horse on his way to Greta. Shortly after Powor j went unwillingly to Pentridge, Kelly | surrendeied himself to the police nn a charge of boree stealing, but tha case /til through, and he was agaiu at large. His time was, however, by no means lost. He was still engage 1 ' in the old pursuit with more or lcds success, but continued unmolested uu'.il 3870, when ha agbia cam*? into the hwtds of the police for assaulting the same seuior constable Hail, who. j ac I have lelated, received tha attentions of James Q)inn. Hall had n wau-aQt against ftid for the old gnme and meeting his tn«n, placed him under cover of bin revolver. Ned rushed him and tried to pain he weapon, but Hall wbs too much for hiir. Ttking the butt end of the pistol he dtaU Kelly a ttnible blow, the marks of which he still bears, b nJ does not stem to fojger\ As usual, he was acquitted ou ihe horse - s;ealir g the police so far never could catch him there , but he receive! 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, bad woven his net securely, and young Kelly, still , but a lad, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for bis attachment to horseflesh. Three years in Pentridge i was not the diet to which tbe 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 to station work. Wherever he went he gained the character of a capital servant, both willing and able— and might have continued a useful member of society, but for an unlucky saddle and bridle which was missed and traced to Ned. Again throwing off his allegiance to honest toil, 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 Years Day, 1878, «hen he rode into Benalla on the occasion of some public gathering. He waß very reserved and quiet, and associated with no one. Tbe police, although no doubt in possession of a warrant, refrained from disturbing or driving him to extremities, and gladly saw him quietly leave the place. From that time to tbe shooting of Constable Pitzpatrick, no one ercept his relatives and cronies knew of the whereabouts of young Ned Kelly. He asserts that ho ■was not w thin 100 milea of the place ; but bis sister's story is widely different. Having brought |the recital to this point, which was unhappily the culminating one of this unfortunate young fellow's career, and has already "cost three human lives, I propose to trace his steps, in further notices, along that dark road which he has chosen to travel, and by ascertaining and presenting the truth, leave my readers to judge where are the faults ot system which have brought about a more disastrously immoral effect than has ever visited this and tbe adjoining colony of Victoria. °