The Execution of Edward Kelly : As Announced in The Argus November 12th 1880

This  Newspaper report is a mostly accurate recounting of the story of the Kelly Gang, and of Neds execution 135 years ago today. Kelly sympathisers are busily posting their “RIP Ned”s on Facebook today, not realising that the person hanged was not the one they adulate in their imaginations. The real Ned Kelly was hanged, but the Myth had only just been born in Novenber 1880, and though these days is terminally sick, still hasn’t died. 

The Full text of this article is below:

THE EXECUTION OF EDWARD KELLY.

Much has been written during the last two years about the career and crimes of the bloodthirsty Kelly gang of bushrangers, and it will be with a sense of relief that the public will now read the final chapter of their history. At last the majesty of the law has been vindicated; for, at a few minutes past   10 o'clock yesterday morning Edward Kelly, the leader and only survivor of the gang, was executed in the Melbourne Gaol. However weary the public may be of the Kelly affair, it seems proper that, before relating the particulars of the execution, some account should be given of the crimes which brought the condemned man to his miserable end. This we shall relate as briefly as possible.

HISTORY OF THE GANG.

The gang first attracted public attention about two years ago by the perpetration of a tragedy unparalleled in the history of the colony. It consisted of four men—Edward  Kelly, Daniel Kelly, Joseph Byrne, and Stephen Hart—who were known to the police as notorious cattle-stealers. In April,1878, an attempt was made by Constable Fitzpatrick to arrest Daniel Kelly, for horse- stealing, when that officer was overpowered at the house of the Kellys by the outlaws, their mother, and two men named Williams and Skillian. The constable was shot at and wounded, and the criminals escaped. Mrs. Kelly, Williams, and Skillian were, however,   subsequently captured, and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment; but the two Kellys   eluded the vigilance of the police, and found hiding-places in the ranges.  

After a search of some months' duration, the police ascertained that the gang washiding in the Wombat Ranges, near Mans- field. Four officers stationed at Mansfield,namely, Sergeant Kennedy and Constables Scanlan, Lonigan, and McIntyre closed in upon the haunt of the criminals in October, 1878; but so far from taking the   gang unawares, as they had anticipated, the police were taken by surprise, the outlaws rushed upon them and demanded instant surrender. Almost before the officers had time to realise their position, Constables Lonigan and Scanlan were murdered in the most cold-blooded manner,   and Sergeant Kennedy, after fighting bravely, was wounded and captured. Kennedy, when   lying wounded, pleaded that his life might be spared for the sake of his wife and children;   but Kelly, turning a deaf ear to his entreaties, placed the muzzle of his gun to his breast, shot him dead, and then robbed the body. 

Constable McIntyre alone escaped to   tell the narrative of a tragedy that sent a thrill of horror through the whole colony. From many centres of population in the district search parties went out to assist in the capture of the perpetrators of the dastardly outrage, and the Government despatched re-inforcements of police in charge of Superin- tendent Nicolson. A reward of £8,000 was offered for the capture of the murderers. A measure passed by the Parliament of Victoria declared the marauders outlaws, and rendered all who sympathised with them liable to imprisonment, and other means of encouraging the pursuers of the outlaws and of putting a check upon their sympathisers were adopted. The ranges in which the murderers were hid, however, abounded in almost inaccessible fastnesses, the neighbourhood swarmed with friends and sympathisers of the outlaws, and the gang were able to set the police for a long time at defiance. In December, 1878, they descended on Faithfull's   Creek Station, under the shadow of their ranges, bailed up all the hands and many visitors, broke down the telegraph wires, plundered the bank in the neighbouring township of Euroa of £2,000, and made     prisoners for a time of all the men, women, and children on the establishment. Returning to their secure hiding-places, the outlaws were again lost sight of for a month or two. In February, 1879, they made their appearance at Jerilderie, New South Wales, taking   possession for the second time of a town,reducing a population to a state of helpless   terror; plundering at will, and escaping with impunity without a hand being raised or a shot fired against them. More than 12 months elapsed without any fresh outbreak. It was well known to the police that the outlaws had returned to their old haunts; but, owing to the assistance they received from sympathisers and friends, they continued to elude the hands of justice. A party of black trackers, hired from Queensland, had evidently the effect of deterring the gang from showing themselves openly, and as time wore on the police, under Mr. Nicolson, were, unknown to the public, drawing nearer and nearer to the culprits.

After being kept at bay for upwards of a year, the Kellys turned their attention to  those whom they suspected of betraying them, and commenced what was probably intended to be a series of reprisals by that desperate and dastardly act of revenge—the murder of Aaron Sherritt. Sherritt lived, with his wife and mother-in-law, in a hut at Sebastopol. On the night of the 27th of June last a man, who had been made a prisoner by the gang, was taken by them to his door, and compelled to call Sherritt out to show him the way home. No sooner did Sherritt show himself at the door than he was shot dead without a moment's warning. There were four police men in the hut at the time, but they were unable to stir without a certainty of being also shot down. The gang remained for some   time in the vicinity, and attempted to burn the hut down; but in this they failed, and they then hastened off before daylight toGlenrowan, a lonely wayside railway station, for the purpose of wrecking a special train with police which they knew would be sent up to pursue them as soon as the news of the fresh murder was known. They reached Glenrowan next day (Sunday), bailed up all the people there, and imprisoned them in Jones's Hotel, tore up the railway line   and awaited the passing of the expected train. They also clad themselves in bullet- proof armour made of plough-moulds.   and, as their leader stated, they intended visiting the wreck of the train, and shooting down any survivors. As they had anticipated, a special train was des- patched. It contained Superintendent Hare and a party of police, Sub-inspector O'Connor     and the black trackers, and representatives of the metropolitan press—in all 21 souls. 

Providentially, however, one of the prisoners of the gang—Mr. Curnow, the local schoolmaster—escaped and stopped the train by a   signal before it reached Glenrowan, and thus what would have been the most appalling tragedy of all was averted. The gang were attacked in Jones's Hotel at 3 o'clock in the     morning. The fight was commenced by the gang firing a volley on the police as they approached the house. Superintendent Hare was wounded, and had to retire. He continued long in a precarious state, but is now, we are glad to say, out of danger. The fight   was continued for three hours in the darkness before police reinforcements arrived,  but at 6 o'clock assistance came from Wangaratta and Benalla. At the commencement   of the fray the leader of the gang was wounded in the foot and arm, and he retired into the bush. At daylight, however, he returned, attacking the police in the rear, and after a desperate fight, which proved that his armour was bullet proof, he was brought down by firing at his legs. His wretched companions perished in the house. Byrne was shot in the groin whilst in the act of drinking at the bar, and died immediately.

It is not known when the other two were killed, but that they were also shot there is  little reason to doubt. In the belief that they were still alive, the police set fire to the house to drive them out; but on the building being entered, just before the flames had taken full possession, the three murderers were seen lying dead. Byrne's body was removed, but the other two could not be reached, and they were burned to cinders. Thus perished three of the murderers, two of them at least coming to a horrible end—an end with which they had often threatened others, for they were accustomed to declare that they would roast certain members of the police force. But one, then, remained to be dealt with—the arch offender Edward Kelly. 

He had been outlawed, but he was allowed a fair trial before his fellow countrymen. The verdict of the jury was, of course, "guilty of wilful murder," and there could not possibly have been any other result. Although he was convicted of but one murder, he was guilty, according to his own admissions, of three;   and to his action was due the deaths of no fewer than nine human beings. He murdered Constable Lonigan, Constable Scanlan, and Sergeant Kennedy; he or his gang murdered   the man Sherritt; through his illegal proceedings the old man Martin Cherry and the boyJones were shot; and it was he who led his brother Daniel and the two other outlaws, Hart and Byrne, into the crimes which brought them   to their tragic end. It was on behalf of this man that Mr. David Gaunson, M.L.A., and  his brother William were fomenting agitations and scandalising the city. The Executive, however, stood firm and directed that the law should take its course.

THE EXECUTION.

Immediately after sentence of death was passed on Kelly, additional precautions were taken to ensure his safe custody in the Mel- bourne Gaol. He was placed in one of the cells in the old wing, and irons were riveted upon his legs, leather pads being placed round his ankles to prevent chafing. The cell had two doors—an outer one of solid iron, and an inner one of iron bars. The outer door was always kept open, a lamp was kept burning overhead, and a warder was continually sitting outside watching the prisoner. During the day he was allowed to walk in the adjoining yard for exercise, and on these occasions two warders had him under surveillance. He continued to maintain his indifferent demeanour for a day or two, professing to look forward to his execution without fear but he was then evidently cherishing a hope of reprieve. When he could get anyone to speak to, he indulged in brag, recounting his exploits and boasting of what he could have done when at liberty had he pleased. Latterly, however, his talkativeness ceased, and he became morose and silent. Within the last few days he dictated   a number of letters for the Chief Secretary, in most of which he simply repeated his now well-known garbled version of his career and   the spurious reasons he assigned for his crimes. He never however, expressed any sorrow for his crimes; on the contrary, he always attempted to justify them. In his last communication he made a request that his body might be handed over to his friends—an application that was necessarily in vain. 

On Wednesday he was visited   by his relatives and bade them farewell. At his own request his portrait was also taken for circulation amongst his friends. He went to bed at half-past 1 o'clock yesterday morning, and was very restless up to half-past 2, when he fell asleep. At 5 o'clock he awoke and arose,   and falling on his knees prayed for 20 minutes, and then lay down again. He rose finally at about 8 o'clock, and at a quarter to   9 a blacksmith was called in to remove his irons. The rivets having been knocked out, and his legs liberated, he was attended by Father Donaghy, the Roman Catholic clergy- man of the gaol.


Immediately afterwards, he was conducted from his cell in the old wing to the condemned cell alongside the gallows in the new or main building. In being thus removed, he had to walk through the garden which surrounds the hospital ward, and to   pass the handcart in which his body was in another hour to be carried back to the dead-house. Making only a single remark about the pretty flowers in the garden, he passed in a jaunty manner from the brilliant sunshine into the sombre walls of the prison. In the condemned cell the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church were administered to him by Father Donaghy and   Dean O'Hea. In the meantime a large crowd   of persons had commenced to gather in front of the gaol, and the persons who had received cards of admission assembled in the gaol yard. A few minutes before 10 o'clock,   the hour fixed for the execution, Colonel Rede, the sheriff, and Mr. Castieau, the governor of the gaol, proceeded to the condenmed cell, followed by the persons who had   been admitted. The latter numbered about 30, and included Superintendent Winch, Subinspector Larner, several constables and detectives, three or four medical men, a number of justices of the peace, and the representatives of the press. 

The gallows is situated in the centre of the new wing, and consists simply of a beam of timber running across the transept over the first gallery,with rope attached and a trap-door in the gallery floor. Warders were arranged on the side galleries, and the onlookers stood on   the basement floor in front of the drop. The convict had yet two minutes to live, but they   soon flew away. The sheriff, preceded by the governor of the gaol, then ascended to the cell on the left hand side of the gallows, in which the condemned man had been placed, and demanded the body of Edward Kelly.

The governor asked for his warrant, and   having received it, in due form bowed inacquiescence. The new hangman, an elderly   grey-headed, well-conditioned looking man,     named Upjohn, who is at present incarcerated for larceny, made his appearance at this juncture from the cell on the opposite side of the gallows, entered the doomed man's cell with   the governor, and proceeded to pinion Kelly. At first Kelly objected to this operation, saying, "There is no need for tying me;" but he had   to submit, and his arms were pinioned behind by a strap above the elbows. He was then led out with a white cap on his head. He walked steadily on to the drop;  but his face was livid, his jaunty air gone, and there was a frightened look in his eyes as he glanced down on the spectators. It was his intention to make a speech, but his courage evidently failed him,and he merely said, "Ah, well, I suppose it has come to this," as the rope was being placed round his neck. He appeared as in court, with beard and whiskers, never having been shaved. The priests in their robes followed him out of the cell repeating prayers, and another official of the church stood in front of him with a crucifix. The noose having been adjusted, the white cap was pulled over his face, and the hangman stepping to the side quickly drew the bolt, and   the wretched man had ceased to live. He   had a drop of 8ft., and hung suspended about 4ft. from the basement floor. His neck was dislocated and death was instantaneous; for although muscular twitching continued for a few minutes, he never made   a struggle. It was all over by five minutes past 10 o'clock, and was one of the most expeditious executions ever performed in the Melbourne gaol. Half an hour afterwards the body was lowered into the hospital cart, and taken to the dead-house. On removing the cap the face was found to be placid, and without any discolouration, and only a slight mark was left by the rope under the left ear. The eyes were wide open. The outside crowd had increased by 10 o'clock to about 4,000—men, women, and children;   but a large proportion of them were larrikin- looking youths, and nearly all were of the lower orders. When the clock struck 10 the   concourse raised their eyes simultaneously to   the roof of the gaol expecting to see a black flag displayed; but they looked in vain, for no intimation of the execution having taken place was given. One woman, as the hour   struck, fell on her knees in front of the entrance, and prayed for the condemned man. As the visitors left the prison the crowd     dispersed also, and no disturbance occurred.

An inquest was subsequently held upon the body, and the jury returned a verdict that de-   ceased had been judicially hanged, and that the provisions of the act for the private   execution of criminals had been properly   carried out. The remains will be interred   in the gaol yard this morning.

One Hundred Posts about Kelly Mythology

With this commentary, we have now reached the milestone of 100 Posts,  close to 58,000 visits, and 1342 Comments, as good a place as any to reflect what the Blog has achieved in its 18 month existence, on what I have learned, and to contemplate the future of  Kelly mythology. 

Survival has been the first achievement! My first two attempts to create an alternative Kelly space on the internet -  two ProBoards forums  - were sabotaged in a matter of weeks by Pro Kelly  internet bullies who vowed they would do the same to this one. Happily, they have failed, though numerous attempts to wreck this Blog were made in the early days last year. The worst they’ve managed to do was to have one post removed from the Australian version of this Blog, but it can still be read by changing the Blog address from .com.au  to .co.nz and look for the post in June 2014 “Site Guide Part one: The NKF”.

In fact, the Blog has not merely “survived” – it has thrived and grown steadily to become by far the most lively “Ned Kelly” place on the Internet, as evidenced by the growing numbers of daily reads, and by the amazing number of thoughtful contributions by readers. When I reviewed the numbers at the end of 2014 there was an average of 1225 visits and 22 comments per month. This year the monthly averages are 4745 visits and 116 comments, a gratifying increase in activity and interest in the demythologizing of the Kelly story. At the same time that this Blog has been expanding, the other Internet Kelly places have all been shrinking, a decline that I would like to think has something to do with this Blog. However I cant take credit for that because as I showed in my February 2015 analysis of  activity on the Iron Outlaw site, as a proxy for interest in Kelly mythology generally, the decline has been continuous since 2009:

The Chart of Iron Outlaws decline is a Proxy for Interest in Kelly Mythology  

This year Brad Webb’s much vaunted Iron Outlaw web site, inspite of a lackluster makeover, is continuing its decline into irrelevance and is on track to record its lowest ever number of reader letters, about 20; there has been NO activity on the Ned Kelly Forum for over six weeks; the anti Kelly Gang Unmasked Book Facebook Page has had NO activity for four MONTHS and we have now been waiting for his “Lonigan Part Two” for almost 150 days.  The NKF and IO Facebook Pages are only kept going by reposting of news items with vague connections to Ned Kelly, but nothing original takes place on them, and the 13 year run of Ned Kelly Weekends has come to an end with bitter infighting between factions of Kelly sympathisers. It would seem that among others the NKF Key Master has been shown the door by the BHRG who have once again restated their intention to focus on their original aim of performing historical re-enactments and move on from Kelly worship. 

Alongside all these “own goals” by Kelly sympathisers intent on wrecking their Brand, the demythologizing of Ned Kelly has been continuing apace this year, not just on this Blog but in the world of Publishing, with Morrisseys book “Ned Kelly : A lawless Life”, and Trudy Toohills “The reporting of Ned Kelly and the Kelly Gang.” (to be reviewed by me soon) Even the Arts have been looking  a bit more critically at Ned with the Imagining Ned exhibition and Morrissey book launch linked at Bendigo. I noticed quite recently that my review of the Morrissey Book Launch has been reposted on a Blog related to an Arts course centered on the Imagining Ned Exhibition! 

A site Ive often enjoyed visiting but have barely mentioned that is also engaged in the demythologizing of Ned and seems to be thriving is the Facebook Page of The Ned Kelly Vault. It prominently declares itself to be a history museum and “NOT a SHRINE” making a determined point that its not about Kelly mythology but about Kelly history, I would imagine in part to distance itself from the Kelly sympathizer thugs on other sites; a very wise move! Kelly history is endlessly fascinating, and the Museum itself seems to be very popular but I think its clear people are sick and tired of having the Kelly religion rammed down their throats by intolerant know-alls. I plan to visit it sometime soon.

But what of this Blog?

Essentially, Death of the Legend Blog is the record of my own explorations, experiences and discoveries within the Kelly world. Ive been surprised at how all the prominent Kelly Sympathisers, Blog and Facebook spokespeople for Ned Kelly and self proclaimed “ Neducators” have been unwilling - with a few notable exceptions - or more likely unable - to defend their Mythology. In fact they made a point of  excusing themselves from the debate with pathetic excuses about being offended by the grammar and the use of American spelling, or  the tone of the Blog, and the like.  I continue to receive vulgar abuse from Anonymous commenters who “ Dare” me too publish their obscene garbage - as if! But if they don’t want to take the opportunity offered here to defend their hero and critique my Posts, its the Kelly Sympathisers loss, not mine. 

So far in 2015 I’ve read and reviewed the following :

I am Ned Kelly by John Molony,

Ned Kelly Our Historic Outlaw You Tube Video by John Molony

Glenrowan by Ian Shaw,

TheTrue Story of Ned Kellys Last Stand by Paul Terry,

Ned Kelly, and Horse and Cattle Stealing by Doug Morrissey

Ned Kelly: A Lawless Life by Doug Morrissey,

Ned Kelly Man and Myth edited by Colin Cave, and

The Kelly Outbreak by John McQuilton.

Ned Kellys Trial the 60 Minutes re-enactment

The Last Outlaw  the Ian Jones produced TV Miniseries from 1980 

  (Part 2 and Part 3)

Ive reviewed in detail in a series of Posts Ned Kelly’s entire criminal record, (starting here) the tragedy of the Police murders at Stringybark Creek, the details of Lonigans murder, the murder of Sergeant Kennedy,  the murder of fellow selector Aaron Sherritt and the debacle at Glenrowan. (Part 2 and Part 3)

Ive exposed the pathetic behaviour of modern Kelly sympathisers in various ways this year. I posted a review of the Iron Outlaw site on the occasion of its 20^th birthday, challenged the NKF member who claimed to have solved the riddle of Lonigans injuries, critiqued The Beechworth Ned KellyWeekend, and a magazine article about a TV programme on Ned Kelly that was supposed to be historical. I also discussed Capital punishment at the time of the execution of two Australians in Indonesia, and the over-reaction by Sympathisers to the discovery of a letter written by a Banker in 1879.

I wrote about my two visits to Bendigo, firstly to the Imagining Ned exhibition, and  later to the launch of  Doug Morrisseys book, Ned Kelly : A Lawless Life. Meeting Leo Kennedy, a direct descendant of a central figure in the Outbreak, at that same book launch was quite special.

We’ve examined the origin of Kelly myths in general and the particular mythology of Ned Kellys supposed devotion to his mother, the myth of his so-called “straight”years, the myth of his claim that everything originated from Police Persecution, the whereabouts of Ned Kellys skull, and the biggest myth of them all, The Republic of NorthEast Victoria. Lastly Ive been discussing the profound implications of the letters  (and here) Ned Kelly wrote in Melbourne Gaol before being hanged, letters which demonstrate finally and unequivocally the mans unredeemed villainy.

For me it has been a fascinating year of non-stop learning and discovery, not just of the life and times of Ned Kelly but of the world of the modern Kelly sympathizer. Something that has amazed me almost more than anything, was discovering the way in which the Kelly scene has been so completely dominated by Ian Jones and his version of Kelly history for most of the last 50 years.  So pervading and powerful has been his influence that only two years ago Peter Fitzsimons declared that when writing his huge pro-Kelly biography he refused to read or reference “The Kelly Gang Unmasked” because Ian Jones “hated it”. A truly professional Journalist would have seen Jones “hate” as an alert to issues that warranted investigation, and would have made that book required reading. Instead the supine Fitzsimons dedicated his book to Ian Jones saying “He, more than anyone has kept the Kelly story alive in modern Australia” In that, Fitzsimons is correct but he missed an opportunity to discover that the version Jones has been keeping alive is a  wildly romantic and gross misrepresentation of the truth about Ned Kelly.

Jones’ domination over the decades was undoubtedly greatly assisted by the TV miniseries he produced in 1980, The Last Outlaw which was beamed into the living room of every Australian home. It was a masterstroke by Mr Jones that  I suspect made Ned Kelly a household name and cemented in peoples minds the unhistoric Jones vision of an heroic Ned Kelly that  many still believe is the truth about him today. I have been surprised as I have done my own reading and thinking, at how very easy it is to see through the Jones mythology of Ned Kelly, to spot the mistakes, the distortions, the almost complete lack of evidence for much of it, the misrepresentations and the fallacious reasoning that props it all up. My findings are the content of my Posts and the point of the Blog, what I called “truth telling” about Ned Kelly.

This has led me to wonder why it was that until the publication of The Kelly Gang Unmasked in 2012 nobody seriously challenged Mr Jones.  I have come across a few names of people who appeared from time to time to challenge him – Christopher Bantick and Alex McDermott for example – but they have more or less disappeared without trace and the Jones Kelly Myth has continued on. 

I have wondered if perhaps the Kelly sympathiser tactic of claiming that it is impossible to be sure if Kelly was a villain or a hero had discouraged us from even trying, thinking that it would be a close run thing and difficult to decide.

But its not! When you look as I have in this Blog at what Kelly actually planned for Glenrowan, when you look at how, in the Jerilderie letter he displayed as an adult no insight into his foolish  larrikin behaviour as a youth, when you see how often he told outrageous lies, how he allowed Aaron Sherritt to be murdered, when you read his boasting about being a horse thief and being able to beat people up with his fists and how threatening he was with a gun in his hand and how even at the end of his life he wrote long rambling untruthful letters that mentioned none of the things he was supposed to have stood for - such as family, such as a Republic, such as the poor and the oppressed - the hero disappears and you are left with a villain.

And when you properly check out as I have done, the claims that are made for him, such as  that he was Australias Robin Hood,  that he wanted to establish a Republic of North East Victoria, that he was driven to criminality by Police persecution, and that he was honest - again, because the evidence supporting these claims is so pathetically weak, the hero disappears and you are left with a villain. 

He was of course unique, colourful, larger than life, passionate and with a clever turn of phrase, physical prowess and charisma, but a  villain never-the-less. The misfortunes in his life, such as losing a father at age 11, or being poor were not exceptional or extreme and in no way excuse the course he chose for himself. And neither is he less of a villain because he was charming to women hostages, was a clever horse rider, wore unique home-made armour and confronted overwhelming odds at Glenrowan. None of this compensates for the terror he inflicted on hostages, the economic losses he inflicted by his thieving, and as a direct result of his choices the deaths of three Police, a former friend, two innocent hostages, two fellow Gang members and his own brother. No, a proper accounting of the truth about Ned Kelly identifies him as a villain. No doubt about it.

Finally  I want to thank all the people who have contributed to the success of this Blog by reading and especially by posting all sorts of helpful interesting and learned comments, as well as many gentle corrections of my own mistakes. Its all greatly appreciated. I haven’t finished yet, but somehow don’t see another hundred Posts in me but I still have a few ideas left ...so stay tuned!

Ned Kellys Letters reveal the pathetic truth about him

On November 3^rd, 5^th and 10^th 1880 in the Condemned Cell at Melbourne Gaol, Ned Kelly dictated three more letters, his last. They were addressed  to the Governor  of Victoria and contain Kelly’s final attempts at defending his actions and pleading his case.

In the first, dated November 3^rd, he mostly concentrates on the Fitzpatrick affair, and he repeats his claim to have been “a great many miles from the place at the time” something which even Ian Jones accepts is a lie. He also briefly discusses the events at Stringybark Creek.  McIntyre’s testimony undermined Ned’s claim that he killed Lonigan in self defence , so Ned has a go at McIntyres testimony, writing “You will see, if McIntyres statements are compared, the disparity, without me making further mention”.  One of the disparities Ned points out is that in his statement about the original bail up at SBC, McIntyre claimed that the man “on the extreme right (was) armed with two guns” but Ned claims that in Court he said that the man on the extreme right had “only one gun and a revolver” . Ned was clearly clutching at straws if he thought identifying such a trivial semantic discrepancy would make a difference to anything. 

He also blames the death of the other two Policemen on McIntyre, and writes in the letter that McIntyre “told a falsehood” when Kennedy and Scanlan returned to the camp because he told them they were surrounded and should dismount and surrender. According to Ned, because of this “falsehood” Kennedy and Scanlan reacted in such a way that they ended up being shot. What McIntyre should have said, according to Ned, was that he (McIntyre) “was covered by Ned Kelly and three other armed men and not to move or they would be shot as Lonigan had got shot, and have pointed to the fact, then his companions would have understood their position…” 

This is what nowadays we call ‘blaming the victim’, wherein the person who actually did the crime says it was the victims fault, not his. The reality is that nobody knows how Scanlan and Kennedy might have responded to a different form of words, or how events would have unfolded if they had surrendered. My feeling is they would have been shot with the slightest of excuses, but its a moot point.

The next letter, quite a long one, was dictated on November 5^th and contains nearly 2000 words. It begins “I now take the liberty of bringing under your notice a statement of the facts of the Glenrowan affair”   Ned Kelly then provides in detail his version of  the entire episode from start to finish. At the end of the letter he states “ I don’t wish to trouble you any further with my case but if it was looked into in a proper manner, if witnesses were examined and which many of the Police force at Glenrowan at the time could prove, what I say is correct”

In fact, if Neds statements in this letter are looked into “in a proper manner” as he asks, they are quickly found to be very far from “correct”. More bluntly stated, this letter is full of very obviously self-serving lies, as he attempts to recast the events at Glenrowan in a wholly different light, a light makes Ned look a whole lot less sinister. 

I think that among Kelly buffs of all persuasions there is general agreement that Kelly planned to cause a catastrophic derailment of the Special Police train by secretly tearing up the tracks just past Glenrowan, and then, with the armour to protect them, the Gang would engage any survivors in a gun battle and hopefully kill them off. However, on the night in question Ned and Steve Hart were unable to rip up the tracks on their own, and were forced to find people who could – at gunpoint of course -  and thus it became necessary to bail them up at the Hotel afterwards to preserve the cloak of secrecy about the fate that was intended for the train. That is the established sequence of events.

However, the narrative supplied by Ned in this letter contradicts the known facts and offers a completely different sequence of events. In the first few lines of Neds “statement of the facts of the Glenrowan affair”, he asserts that his plan was not to wreck the train at all, but to get the Stationmaster simply to stop it at the Station. He writes that because Stanistreet wouldn’t guarantee that he could, Ned was forced to bail up various people and order them to tear up the railway tracks. This is the reverse of the order in which these things actually took place.  Ned deliberately conceals the fact that he at first tried but failed to lift the tracks himself, and that he intended the train to be stopped by a derailment at speed with the inevitable result that it would crash off the line into a gully and kill many of the people on board.

“The first thing I waited for was the last passenger train to pass at nine o’clock. I then bailed up a lot of men in tents around the stationmaster’s house as I suspected there were detectives amongst them. I then bailed up Mrs Jones’ Hotel, then Mr Stanistreet the stationmaster, and asked him if he could stop a special train with police and black trackers on. He said he could stop a passenger train, but would not guarantee to stop a special train with police and blacktrackers exactly where I wanted it. So then I bailed up the platelayers and overseer and ordered them to pull up the line a quarter of a mile past the station, so as the train could not go any further. My intention was to have the stationmaster to flash the danger light on the platform so as the stop the train, and he was to tell the police to leave their firearms and horses in the train and walk out with their hands over their heads, and their lives would be spared.”

Another outright lie that he attempts to pass off as a “statement of fact” is this remarkable claim:

“Then I let a man go to stop the train about a mile below the railway station and opposite the police barracks and to tell them that they were in the barracks. He had a double-barrel fowling piece and cartridges to fire as a signal for me if the police got out and surrounded the barracks….”

Here of course he is referring to Thomas Curnow, the brave man who stopped the train and saved many lives after he tricked Ned into letting him go free from the Ann Jones Inn. Here Ned tries to cover his embarrassment by claiming that rather than being tricked by Curnow, it was Neds idea all along to have someone go back and stop the train, and it was he who sent Curnow to do it. This is simply nonsense. These statements are either deliberate lies, or else they are coming from a man who is seriously out of touch with reality.

Kelly writes in this letter that his original plan had been to capture senior Police and hold them hostage until his mother was released from Prison. But then he writes that he decided instead to take possession of the train and head back up the line to rob banks. You will never believe the reason he gives for deciding to abandon his plan to attempt to free his mother and rob banks instead:

“The reason I differed from the first plan is I wanted the man that stopped the train to have the reward, as I heard it was to be done away with in three days.”

The idea that Ned would have changed the entire plan from hostage taking to bank robbing to help Thomas Curnow in preference to helping his own mother is simply preposterous. Does ANYONE believe this?  If Ned Kelly did then we would have to seriously reconsider the notion that Ned was fanatically devoted to his mother.  The kindest interpretation of this sort of bizarre nonsense is to say that it reflects the desperation of a condemned man with less than a week to live, making a last frantic attempt to spin a tale that might excuse him and thereby almost miraculously save him from the inevitable gallows.

Ian Jones mentions the November 5^th letter in A Short Life, and briefly discusses Neds  revised plan to assist Curnow to get the reward money. However he avoids drawing anyones attention to the claim by Ned that to help Curnow, Ned  abandoned his plan to help his mother, a quite sensational revelation, that puts Ned in a very poor light. Jones writes “It all seems an aberration of the moment”

But is it an aberration? Thinking about it, rather than an “aberration” I believe these lies and self serving attempts to rewrite history are actually not much different to the style of Neds  outpourings in the Jerilderie Letter, wherein he also attempts to rewrite history and to blame everyone else for his troubles. In the Jerilderie Letter Ned Kelly blames Whitty for his decision to become a stock thief, blames McCormick for the punch he received from Ned’s fist, tells lies about his whereabouts at the time of the Fitzpatrick incident, blames Fitzpatrick for his mothers imprisonment, blames a spiked drink on his misbehavior when drunk, claims he killed the Policemen in self defence…

All that seems to have happened is that the desperate and extreme confines of Death Row have resulted in letters which contain the most desperate and extreme examples of the way Ned habitually approached reality and explained himself. As in the Jerliderie letter, here he is once again using lies and self serving re-interpretations of events to cast himself in a better light and try to absolve himself of responsibility for what took place. The major difference of course is that he no longer has the freedom, or the weaponry to threaten violence and mayhem to anyone who doesn’t do as he demands. Instead he has to try to convince them that they have the story all wrong, and like a child he somehow seems to imagine that adults might be persuaded by his quite preposterous and easily demonstrable lies. Why else would he have told them?

There are a couple of other things about this letter that also seem to have escaped commentary.  The first is that in style and  content it is at odds with the “I-don’t-pretend-to-have-lived-a-blameless-life” letter and adds significant weight to the argument that Gaunson was indeed the main author of it. 

The second much more important  point to consider is that these are the last words of a man purported to have been planning to establish some kind of a Republic of North East Victoria,  a man apparently motivated by some sort of ethical position about the rights of the poor, about Justice and about the immorality of Police behaviour, a man whose grand political vision has been brought to an ignominious and violent end. But where, in all these letters is even a SINGLE word about this vision, this dream that he risked everything to realise? Where does the defeated but defiant visionary state his case for the Republic, invoke noble sentiment about freedom and justice and a higher cause, make the expected rallying call to arms or at least to the cause, urging the Sympathisers not to abandon the noble cause but to continue the fight for justice? The answer of course is he doesn’t, and the reason he doesn’t is that such thoughts and sentiments were never in his head. He was not a visionary. He was not planning a revolution. These last letters, wherein Ned Kelly had nothing to lose by giving voice to his deepest convictions and greatest visions, contain not a single whisper about anything to do with a Republic or anything like it, and in truth, prove the completely fanciful nature of Ian Jones proposition that there was ever such a dream. There is nothing in these letters about his family, about the poor, about anything noble or grand, no concern is expressed for the deaths of hostages or Police, or even of his own brother and the other Gang members - instead these letters are about self justification, and are full of lies and childish attempts to rewrite history in a naive hope that they might be believed, that Glenrowan wasn’t about murder but about Bank robbery, that Curnows bravery was Neds idea, that the Police got it all wrong. To curry favour he even pretends that he was planning to throw his own mother under the bus in preference to Curnow. A true visionary and leader wouldn’t have wanted his last words to be so utterly self centred and backward looking. A true visionary and leader might at least have simply told the truth.

I wish I hadn’t waited so long to get around to reading these letters, because they reveal so much more about who the man Ned Kelly REALLY was. Being his own words, they provide a direct view into his thoughts and motivations and reveal much more than do any oral  historical traditions, police records, Newspaper accounts and other peoples biographies and opinions of him. I also wish that the horde of Kelly buffs who have lauded Ned so comprehensively over the years, right up to the latest effort by Peter Fitzsimons, had not engaged in a kind of cover-up of the implications of the content of this letter in particular. Mostly they ignore all the difficult stuff and all they quote from it is the last sentence :  “I should have made a statement of my whole career but my time is so short on earth that I have to make the best of it and prepare myself for the other world”  What a shame that the time he did spend making statements was wasted by his inability to tell the truth.

The meaning of these letters is not that Death Row transformed Ned into something that he wasn’t, that the writing in these letters is an “aberration”. I think its exposed him for what he always was, and its not a good look. Its actually quite sad and pathetic. I once asked the question “Did Ned Kelly ever grow up?” The answer, given what he wrote in the last week of his life, is “No, he didnt."