The Last of the Bushrangers: An Account of the Capture of the Kelly GangHare, Francis Augustus
History
The Last of the Bushrangers: An Account of the Capture of the Kelly Gang
Hare, Francis Augustus
Brigands and robbers -- Australia; Kelly, Ned, 1855-1880
The outlaws, after the Jerilderie bank robbery, evidently returned back
to their mountain retreats in Victoria. No end of Bank of New South
Wales notes were in circulation shortly afterwards, but the numbers of
the stolen notes were not known, beyond the fact, that the head office
at Sydney had sent these identical notes to Jerilderie for circulation,
but no account was kept of the notes that were paid out of the bank.
Hence no prosecution could be instituted, as the bank officials could
not swear the notes found in the possession of the friends of the
outlaws had not been paid over the counter. Notwithstanding that all
the wires of the telegraph lines were cut at Jerilderie, and the
outlaws departed from there at seven o'clock, at nine o'clock that
night I received a wire at Benalla from Jerilderie informing me of all
the facts of the matter. I at once took steps to give instructions to
all crossing-places on the Murray river to keep a sharp look out, and
sent men during the night to every known crossing-place, to endeavour
to effect their capture, but all to no effect. The distance between
Jerilderie and Benalla, where I was stationed, was over 100 miles, and
the first tidings we heard of their return was that Dan Kelly was seen
two or three days after the bank robbery making back to the mountains
in this colony, some fifteen miles from Beechworth.
I have written fully on the subject of this bank robbery, because
the plans were well laid, and everything carried out in such an able
manner. I am indebted to the newspapers of the day for refreshing my
recollection of the facts that took place after the bank robbery, as I
did not like to trust to my memory as to the numerous incidents that
occurred during that exciting time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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