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
I consulted with my brother officer as to what was best to be done,
and we decided to send the usual mounted constables in uniform, and
we then selected three good riders amongst the men, who were unknown
in the district, and sent them separately to the races. They were all
splendid riders and magnificently mounted. The men and horses could
have been backed against the Kelly gang, man for man, at anything. We
also arranged that I should ride out myself and appear to take great
interest in the races. I did go out, and saw the three constables in
plain clothes. One had a table and was playing the three-card trick;
another had erected an Aunt Sally, and was bawling out at the top of
his voice, and the third kept on his horse riding about. I was more
afraid of the third man than any of the others, because he was a most
excitable fellow and bold, and as good a rider as ever sat on a horse,
but with no discretion. He would have faced the four outlaws if he had
had the chance, and shot them one after another if it were possible.
I may as well give the names of these men. They were the most dashing
of all my party. The first was Tommy Lawless; the second, Faulkner;
the third, Johnstone; three pluckier fellows never trod the earth. My
fear was that the mounted police on duty would arrest some of my men
for gambling, as they were not known to each other; but they were not
interfered with.
After Lawless had been playing his three-card trick for some time, he
thought he would enter his horse for the steeplechase that Aaron was
supposed to ride in, thinking he would thus have a better opportunity
of seeing everything all round the course. At the time appointed for
this race to come off, we were all looking very anxiously for Aaron
to turn up on the black mare, but alas, we were disappointed. I saw
him anxiously looking out in the direction he thought the mare would
appear from, but there were no signs of it. Joe Byrne's brother (Paddy)
was a good deal with Aaron all that day, but the subject of Joe was
not mentioned by either of them to each other. Lawless rode in the
steeplechase and won it, and that was the only bit of excitement during
the day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account