TRIAL OF NED KELLY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 8 November 1880, Page 2

TRIAL OF NED KELLY.

(Sydney Morning Herald.) The trial of Ned Kelly was resumed this morning. The attendance on the part of the public was much smaller, and thpre yas an absence of excitement, prisoner appeared, listless, but generally paid great attention to the evidence. The witnesses examined were Frank Beecroft, a draper's assistant; Scott, the manager at Euroa Station ; Henry

Richards, constable at Jerilderie ; Edward Laving, clerk in the Bank of New South Wales, Jerilderie ; J. N. Tarelton, Seniorconstable Kelly, and Sergeant Steele. This closed the case for the Crown, and Mr. Bindon addressed the Court for the prisoner. When he concluded his speech, Judge Barry summed up, only occupying a few minutes, and the Jury brought in a verdict of guilty. The Prisoner having been asked iu the usual way if he had any statement to make, said : Well, it is rather too late to speak now ; I thought of speaking this morning, and all day, but there is little use in blaming anyone now. Nobody knew about my case except myself, and I wish I had insisted on being allowed lo examine the witnesses myself, for if I had examined them I am confident I would have thrown a different light 011 the case. It is not that I fear death ; I fear it as little as drinking a cup of tea. On the evidence that has been given no jurymen could liave given any other verdict; that is my opinion, but as I say, if I had examined the witnesses I would have shown matters in a different light, because no man understood the case as I do myself. I do not blame anybody, neither Mr. Bindcn nor Mr. Gaunson, but Mr. Bindon knew nothing about my case. I lay blame on myself that I did not get up yesterday and examine the witnesses, but I thought that if I did so it would look like bravado and flasliness. The Court having called upon all to observe a strict silence whilst the Judge pronounced the awful sentence of death, his Honor said : Edward Kelly, the verdict pronounced by the Jury is one which you must have fully expected. The Prisoner : Yes, under the circumstances.

His Honor : No circumstances that I can conceive could have altered the result of your triaT. The Prisoner : Perhaps not from what you now conceive, but if you had heard me examine the witnesses it would have been different.

His Honor : I will give you credit for all the skill you appear to desire to assume.

The Prisoner : No, I don't wish to assume anything ; there is no flashness or bravado about me. It is not: that I want to save my life, but because I know I should have been capable of clearing myself of the charge, and I could have saved my life in spite of all against me.

His Honor : The facts are so convincing, not only as regards the original offence with which you are charged, but with respect ,to a long series of transactions covering a period of 18 months, that no rational person would hesitate to arrive at any other conclusion than that the verdict of the jury is irresistible, and that it is right. I'have no desire whatever to inflict upon you any personal remarks ; it is not becoming that I should endeavor to aggravate the sufferings with which your mind is severely agitated.. The Prisoner: No j I think that my mind is as easy as the mind of any man in this world, as I am prepared to show before God and man.

His Honor : It is blasphemous for you to_ say that you appear to revel in the idea of having put men to death. The Prisoner ; More men than I have put men to death ; but I am the last man in the world that would take a man's life. Two years ago, even if ray own life was at stake, I am confident that if I thought a man would shoot mo, I would give him a chance of keeping his life, and would part rather with my own ; but if I knew that through him innooent persons' lives were at stake, I certainly would have to shoot him if he forced me to do so ; but I should want to know that he was really going to take innocent life.

His Honor : Your statement involves a cruelly wicked charge of perjury against a phalanx of witnesses.

The Prisoner : I dare say ; but a clay will come at a bigger Court than this when we shall see which is right and which is wrong. No matter how long a man lives, he is "bound to come to judgment somewhere, and as well here as elsewhere. It will be different the next time there is a Kelly trial, for they are not all killed. Ifc would have been for the good of the Crown had I examined the witnesses, and I would have stopped a lot of the reward, and I do not know but I will do it yet if allowed. His Honor : An offence of this kind is of no ordinary character. Murders have been discovered, which have been committed under circumstances of great atrocity ; they proceeded from motives other than those which actuated you ; they had their origin in many sources. Some have been committed from a sordid desire to take from others the property they had acquired ; some from jealousy ; some from desire or revenge ; but yours is of a more aggravated character, and one of larger proportions, for with a party of men you took arms against society, organised as it is for mutual protection, and for respect of the law, The Prisoner : That is how the evidence came out, It appears that I deliberately took up arms of my own accord, and induced the othor three men to join me for tho purpose of doing nothing but shooting down the police.

His Honor : In new communities, where the bonds of society are not so well linked together as in older countries, there is unfortunate]}' a class, which disregard the evil consequences of crime, Foolish, inconsiderate, ilbconduoted,and unprincipled youths unfortunately abound, and unless they are made to consider the consequences of crime, they are led to imitate notorious felons, whom they regard as self-made heroes. Ifc is right therefore that they should be asked to consider and reflect upon what the life of a felon is. A felon who has cut himself off from, and who declines all the affections and all the obligations of society, is as hopeless and degraded as a wild beast of the field; he has nowhere to lay his head ; he has no on<s to prepare for him the comforts of life > he suspects his friends and he dreads his enemies ; he is in constant alarm lest his pursuers should reach him, and his only hope is that he might lose his life in what he considers a glorious struggle for existence. That is the life of an outlaw or felon, and it would be well for those young men who are so foolish aa to consider that it is brave of a man to sacrifice the lives of his fellow creatures in carrying out his own wild ideas, to see that it is a life to be avoided by every possible means, and to reflect that the unfortunate termination of the felon's life is a miserable death, New South Wales united with Victoria in providing ample inducement to persons to assist in having you and your companions apprehended, but by some spell which I cannot understand—a spell which exists in all the largest communities, more or less, and which may be attributed either to a sympathy for the outlaws or a dread of the consequences which would result from the performance of their duties—no persons were found tempted hy the reward, or for love of their country or the love of order, to give you up. The love of obedience to the law has been set aside for reasons difficult to explain, and there is something extremely wrong in a country where a, lawless band of men are able to live for 18 months disturbing society. During your short life you have stolen, according to your own statement, over 200 horses.

The Prisoner : Who proves that ? His Houer : More than one witness has testified that you made the statement on several occasions. Tlie Prisoner : That charge has never been proved against me ; and it is held in English law that a man is innocent till he is found guilty. His Honer : You are self-accuscd ; the statement was made, voluntarily by yourself that you and your companions committed attacks on two banks, and appropriated therefroin l.a.vge sums of money,

amounting to several thousands of p oUn( ] Further, I cannot conceal from niyiHf tho fact that an expenditure of LjO Ofln has been rendered necessary in co'dsT quence of the acts with which you .Jj your party have been connected, \y have had felons, such as Bradley, o'Con° ner, Clarke, Gardiner, Melville,' Scott, and Smith, all of whom have cn'm' to ignominious deaths ; still tlio od'iw from their punishment has not been m-o duced. This is much to be deploy" when such examples as these are so oftm' repeated society must be re-organiseu or it must soon be seriously effected. Your unfortunate and miserable conipani otl3 have died a death which probably yon might rather envy, but of which you aro not offered the opportunity. The Prisoner : I don't think there is much proof they did die the death. His Honor : In your case tho law win bo carried out by its officers. The gnu],,, men of the jury have done their chitv and my duty will be to forward to tho proper quarter the notes of your trial, and to lay before the Executive all the circunistances connected with your trial that liny be required. I can hold out to y oll no hope, and I do not see that I can entertain the slightest reason for saying that yon can expect anything. I desiro to spare you any more pain, and I abaolvo myself from saying anything willingly in any of my utterances that may have unnecessarily increased the agitation of your mind. I have now to pronounce your sentence.

His Honor then sentenced the prisoner to death in the usual form, euding with the words, " May the Lord have moroy 011 your soul." The Prisoner : I will go a little further than that, and say I will seo you thoro when I go. The Court was then cleared, ami tho prisoner was removed to the Melbourne Gaol. Everything was very quiet, and nothing approaching to any sceno occurred, although some of Kelly's relations were in Court.