Black Snake (4 page)

“The police got great credit and praise in the papers for arresting the mother of 12 children one an infant on her breast and those two quiet hard working innocent men who would not know the difference [between] a revolver and a saucepan handle and kept them six months awaiting trial and then convicted them on the evidence of the meanest article that ever the sunshone on.”

Ned’s view of the police, Fitzpatrick in particular, Jerilderie Letter

Lapses of Memory

In Ned’s version of the story, he was more than 600 kilometres away at the time, still keeping a low profile. He said he heard about the incident later from his family. They told him that Fitzpatrick pulled his revolver and threatened to blow his mother’s brains out. Dan disarmed the policeman before he could carry out his threat and no shots were fired.

Mrs Kelly claimed that Fitzpatrick tried to kiss 14-year-old Kate and “the boys” were defending her honour.

Kate was reported as saying that she was alone when Fitzpatrick came to the house. Her brothers arrived just in time to witness Fitzpatrick “behaving improperly” to her.

A neighbour, Brickey Williamson, claimed he stood between Mrs Kelly and Fitzpatrick and took the shovel from her before she had a chance to hit the policeman.

Ned’s brother Jim said he was told that Fitzpatrick shot himself accidentally during the scuffle with Dan.

Ned’s cousin Tom Lloyd said Fitzpatrick was about to shoot Ned when Dan grappled him to the floor. The constable accidentally shot himself in the scuffle. He cut his wrist on the door latch.

We will never know what really happened, but the incident had far-reaching effects. Even though it only lasted a few minutes, the confrontation with Fitzpatrick was, ultimately, what turned the Kelly brothers from horse thieves into hunted outlaws.

“I have heard from a trooper that he never knew Fitzpatrick to be one night sober and that he sold his sister to a chinaman…the deceit and cowardice is too plain to be seen in the puny cabbage hearted looking face.”

More on Fitzpatrick, Jerilderie Letter

Alexander Fitzpatrick was only a young man himself. Younger than Ned, he was just 21 years old at the time of the “Fitzpatrick Affair”.

Fitzpatrick was thrown out of the police force three years later. Throughout his life he continued to deny that he had molested Kate Kelly, but he went down in history as the man who caused the Kelly Outbreak.

Bush Telegraph

Though Ned claimed he wasn’t at the house on that fateful day in April 1878, it seems likely that he was. Though he said no shots were fired, the evidence suggests that they were. But whatever the exact sequence of events was, the result was the same—Ned and Dan knew they were in trouble with the police and they both made themselves scarce. What they didn’t know, what they didn’t imagine in their wildest dreams, was that they weren’t the only ones in trouble. The Kelly brothers rode off that same night to hide deep in the bush. It was some time before they heard the news. The following day, their mother, a brother-in-law and Brickey Williamson had all been arrested for the attempted murder of Constable Fitzpatrick.

It must have been a terrible shock for Ned when he heard this news. He had high-tailed it from the scene of the crime and his own mother, with a three-day-old baby, had been arrested instead. His mother had been guilty only of hitting a man with a shovel. The two men were completely innocent. Brickey was guilty of nothing more than being present at the house when the shooting took place. Bill Skilling, who was married to Ned’s sister Maggie, hadn’t even been there at the time. Fitzpatrick swore that Bill was present, though it seems more likely that the other man was actually Ned’s friend Joe Byrne, and that Fitzpatrick made a mistake.

Adding to Ned’s worries, no one had yet come forward to pay the £200 bail, so his mother and newborn sister were in a freezing jail with winter setting in.

Enterprise

The Kelly brothers didn’t go far. They hid in the Wombat Ranges, close enough to home to hear regular news from friends who rode out to bring them food and other supplies. On hearing about his mother’s arrest, Ned immediately swung into action. He and Dan set up in an abandoned hut. Ned wanted to raise money for the legal defence of Mrs Kelly and the others. The two Kelly boys set about panning for gold at abandoned gold mines. They built a still and planted crops to provide the ingredients needed to brew whisky. Ned’s plan was that they would then sell the gold and the whisky to get money for a lawyer.

Even though Ned’s mother remarried in 1874 and became Ellen King, everybody including Ned, the police and the newspapers still referred to her as Mrs Kelly.

Guilty as Charged

Two months later, Ned was relieved to hear that someone had finally come forward to pay Mrs Kelly’s bail money. She was able to return home until the trial. It was a long six months before the trial.

The next news Ned heard was not so good. Sir Redmond Barry was to be the presiding judge at the trial. His determination to wipe out crime in the Victorian countryside was well known. There was worse news to come. All three were found guilty. Mrs Kelly was sentenced to three years hard labour. Skilling and Williamson each received sentenced of six years hard labour. These were very severe sentences. Justice Barry said he hoped that his tough sentencing would be a lesson to the gang of lawless people who were operating around the Greta district. He believed it would result in Ned and his friends giving up their lawless ways.

The Kelly Gang Is Born

Justice Barry couldn’t have been more wrong. His action of sentencing Mrs Kelly so severely only made her sons more convinced of the injustice of the legal system. Yet Ned and Dan’s time as wanted criminals might have ended there. Through an uncle, Ned made an offer to surrender if his mother was freed. The offer was not taken up. A reward of £100 was offered for information resulting in the capture of each of the Kelly boys.

Steve Hart, a good friend of Dan’s, had finished his prison sentence for illegally using a horse just after the Kelly brothers went into hiding. He had learned nothing from the experience. Instead of taking up honest work alongside his father at the Hart family’s property, he chose to join the Kellys. Joe Byrne, perhaps afraid that he would eventually be identified as the other man present at the Fitzpatrick incident, also joined the boys in the Wombat Ranges. The Kelly Gang was now complete.

Unreliable Witness

Fitzpatrick’s position in the police force was shaky. He was not a good policeman. He was known to be unreliable and to drink too much. He may have thought that if he arrested Dan his superiors would be impressed by his efficiency and he would keep his job. Perhaps that was why he went out to arrest Dan before he had a warrant. Things didn’t go as he planned.

The Other Members of the Kelly Gang

Dan Kelly

Dan was only 17 when he became a fugitive with his elder brother. Like a modern teenager he was concerned about the way he looked and dressed. He and his gang (known as the Greta Mob) had their own particular style of dress. Dan liked to grow his hair long and wear his hat tilted at an angle. He also devised the strange fashion of wearing his hat strap under his nose instead of under his chin. People also said that he and his friends wore brightly coloured sashes around their waists when out riding. The two surviving photos of Dan were taken when he was about 16. They show a shy, good-looking boy who wouldn’t look at the camera. He was dressed in rough, oversized, homemade-looking clothes and he had an air of self-consciousness.

Joe Byrne

Joe was Ned’s best friend. In his youth he was not as “flash” as the Kelly boys and was remembered as being quiet and well-mannered. He was better educated than the Kellys. Joe had neat handwriting, his spelling was good and he also liked to read. Ned would later rely on him to help write his famous letters. It was also reported that he could speak Chinese. This came about because he was an opium addict and had constant dealings with the Chinese gold miners living in the Chinese camp at Beechworth. He was not wanted by the police and chose to be an outlaw.

Steve Hart

Dan’s friend Steve was another volunteer outlaw. Although he had just served a year in jail for horse theft, he did not have the long association with crime and police attention that the Kellys did. He was a good horseman who rode horses at the local horse races and was remembered for jumping his horse over the railway gates. He was also a member of Dan’s Greta Mob and it seems he was attracted by the idea of being a fugitive on the run from the police. No doubt he thought it sounded like a more exciting life than splitting fence posts.

Dan Kelly

Joe Byrne

Steve Hart

Constable Fitzpatrick in police uniform.

What if you were there…

“Mother, I can’t get to sleep. I keep having scary dreams. Mother, I’m frightened.”

Why won’t she come? I’ve been shouting out for a long time. The doctor gave her medicine out of his black bag. It stopped her crying, but now she can’t hear me. “Please come, Mother.”

I wish Mary or Laurie were awake. I can hear them breathing. How can they sleep? It’s so dark. There’s no moon. I can’t see anything but a sprinkle of stars through the window. What’s that noise? There’s something outside my window. My heart’s beating like a drum. Is it one of the Kellys come to get me?

I wish Father were here. I wouldn’t be scared if he was here to protect us. My father’s a trooper. He’s got a jacket with gold on the sleeves and he wears a helmet like a big black egg squashed on his head. Some evenings when he comes home, he takes off his helmet and puts it on me. It’s miles too big and comes down over my eyes. That always made him laugh. He won’t be laughing anymore though. Last night he didn’t come home. My father’s dead. Ned Kelly did it. He shot him.

Father had been gone for a couple of days, searching for the Kelly Gang. They were wanted for trying to kill Constable Fitzpatrick. My father said we couldn’t have that. He didn’t think much of Constable Fitzpatrick, but he said people had to respect the troopers. The troopers are the law. If they don’t respect them, they don’t respect the law and if that’s the case, no one’s safe. He went off on Monday morning and he never came back.