| Jerilderie
Letter |
Euroa/Cameron Letter
|
THE
JERILDERIE LETTER was written in early 1879, By Joe and Ned. It's
56 page, 8000 word document must have taken a hell of a lot of time
to complete.
The letter, was handed
to Mr Living, the bank clerk, how it ended in his hand is a pure
matter of coincidence. As Ned and Joe, were in the bank, in waltzed,
Mr Gill the newspaper editor, and the man Ned Kelly wanted to publish
his letter to let the public read and acknowledge it, also Mr Harkin
& Mr Rankin both of who were Justice of peace.
As they walked in
Ned who was kneeling down at the fire place, called " Just
a minute....." the voice made the trio bolt and run, Harkin
and Gill escaped, but poor old 22 stone Rankin fell in the doorway
and became Ned's prisoner.
As you read the next
8000 words just remember and acknowledge Ned and Joe wrote this,
and was one of the only pleasures they had during their outlaw days.
THE JERILDERIE
LETTER
Dear Sir,
I wish to acquaint
you with some of the occurrences of the present past and future.
In or about the spring of 1870 the ground was very soft a hawker
named Mr Gould got his waggon bogged between Greta and my mother's
house on the eleven mile creek, the ground was that rotten it would
bog a duck in places so Mr. Gould had abandon his waggon for fear
of loosing his horses in the spewy ground. he was stopping at my
Mother's awaiting finer or dryer weather Mr. McCormack and his wife.
hawkers also were camped in Greta the mosquitoes were very bad which
they generally are in a wet spring and to help them Mr. Johns had
a horse called Ruita Cruta although a gelding was as clever as old
Wombat or any other Stallion at running horses away and taking them
on his beat which was from Greta swamp to the seven mile creek consequently
he enticed McCormack's horse away from Greta.
Mr. Gould was up
early feeding his horses heard a bell and seen McCormack horses
for he knew the horse well he sent his boy to take him back to Greta.
When McCormack's got the horse they came straight out to Goold and
accused him of working the horse; this was false, and Goold was
amazed at the idea I could not help laughing to hear Mrs. McCormack
accusing him of using the horse after him being so kind as to send
his boy to take him from the Ruta Cruta and take him back to them.
I pleaded Goulds
innocence and Mrs McCormack turned on me and accused me of bringing
the horse from Greta to Goolds waggon to pull him out of the bog
I did not say much to the woman as my Mother was present but that
same day me and my uncle was cutting calves Gould wrapped up a note
and a pair of the calves testicles and gave them to me to give them
to Mrs McCormack. I did not see her and I gave the parcel to a boy
to give to her when she would come instead of giving it to her he
gave it to her husband consequently McCormack said he would summons
me I told him neither me or Gould used their horse.
he said I was a liar
& he could welt me or any of my breed I was about 14 years of
age but accepted the challenge and dismounting when Mrs McCormack
struck my horse in the flank with a bullock's skin it jumped forward
and my fist came in collision with McCormack's nose and caused him
to loose his equillibrium and fall postrate I tied up my horse to
finish the battle but McCormack got up and ran to the Police camp.
Constable Hall asked me what the row was about I told him they accused
me and Gould of using their horse and I hit him and I would do the
same to him if he challenged me McCormack pulled me and swore their
lies against me I was sentenced to three months for hitting him
and three months for the parcel and bound to keep the peace for
12 months.
Mrs McCormack gave
good substantial evidence as she is well acquainted with that place
called Tasmania better known as the Dervon or Vandiemans land and
McCormack being a Police man over the convicts and women being scarce
released her from that land of bondage and tyranny, and they came
to Victoria and are at present residents of Greta and on the 29th
of March I was released from prison and came home Wild Wright came
to the Eleven Mile to see Mr Gunn stopped all night and lost his
mare both him and me looked all day for her and could not get her
Wright who was a stranger to me was in a hurry to get back to Mansfield
and I gave him another mare and he told me if I found his mare to
keep her until he brought mine back I was going to Wangaratta and
seen the mare and I caught her and took her with me all the Police
and Detective Berrill seen her as Martains girls used to ride her
about the town during several days that I stopped at Petre Martains
Star Hotel in Wangaratta.
She was a chestnut
mare white face docked tail very remarkable branded (M) as plain
as the hands on a town clock. the property of a Telegraph Master
in Mansfield he lost her on the 6th gazetted her on the 12th of
March and I was a prisoner in Beechworth Gaol until the 29 of March
therefore I could not have Stole the mare. I was riding the mare
through Greta Constable Hall came to me and said he wanted me to
sign some papers that I did not sign at Beechworth concerning my
bail bonds I thought it was the truth he said the papers was at
the Barracks and I had no idea he wanted to arrest me or I would
have quietly rode away instead of going to the Barracks.
I was getting off
when Hall caught hold of me and thought to throw me but made a mistake
and came on the broad of his back himself in the dust the mare galloped
away and instead of me putting my foot on Halls neck and taking
his revolver and putting him in the lock up. I tried to catch the
mare. Hall got up and snapped three or four caps at me and would
have shot me but the colts patent refused.This is well known in
Greta Hall never told me he wanted to arrest me until after he tried
to shoot me when I heard the caps snapping I stood until Hall came
close he had me covered and was shaking with fear and I knew he
would pull the trigger before he would be game to put his hand on
me so I duped, and jumped at him caught the revolver with one hand
and Hall by the collar with the other.
I dare not strike
him or my sureties would loose the bond money I used to trip him
and let him take a mouth ful of dust now and again as he was as
helpless as a big guano after leaving a dead bullock or a horse.
I kept throwing him in the dust until I got him across the street
the very spot where Mrs 0'Briens Hotel stands now the cellar was
just dug then there was some brush fencing where the post and rail
was taking down and on this I threw big cowardly Hall on his belly
I straddled him and rooted both spurs onto his thighs he roared
like a big calf attacked by dogs and shifted several yards of the
fence I got his hands at the back of his neck and trid to make him
let the revolver go but he stuck to it like grim death to a dead
volunteer he called for assistance to a man named Cohen and Barnett,
Lewis, Thompson, Jewitt two blacksmiths who was looking on I dare
not strike any of there as I was bound to keep the peace or I could
have spread those curs like dung in a paddock they got ropes tied
my hands and feet and Hall beat me over the head with his six chambered
colts revolver nine stitches were put in some of the cuts by Dr
Hastings And when Wild Wright and my mother came they could trace
us across the street by the blood in the dust and which spoiled
the lustre of the paint on the gate-post of the Barracks Hall sent
for more Police and Doctor Hastings
Next morning I was
handcuffed a rope tied from them to my legs and to the seat of the
cart and taken to Wangaratta Hall was frightened I would throw him
out of the cart so he tied me whilst Constable Arthur laughed at
his cowardice for it was he who escorted me and Hall to Wangaratta.
I was tried and committed as Hall swore I claimed the mare the Doctor
died or he would have proved Hall a perjurer Hall has been tried
several times for perjury but got clear as this is no crime in the
Police force it is a credit to a Policeman to convict an innocent
man but any muff can pot a guilty one Halls character is well known
about El Dorado and Snowy Creek and Hall was considerably in debt
to Mr L. O.Brien and he was going to leave Greta Mr O.Brien seen
no other chance of getting his money so there was a subscription
collected for Hall and with the aid of this money he got James Murdock
who was recently hung in Wagga Wagga to give false evidence against
me but I was acquitted on the charge of horsestealing and on Halls
and Murdocks evidence I was found guilty of receiving and got 3
years experience in Beechworth Pentridges dungeons.
this is the only
charge ever proved against me Therefore I can say I never was convicted
of horse or cattle stealing My Brother Dan was never charged with
assaulting a woman but he was sentenced to three months without
the option of a fine and one month and two pounds fine for damaging
property by Mr. Butler P.M. a sentence that there is no law to uphold
therefore the Minister of Justice neglected his duty in that case,
but there never was such a thing as Justice in the English laws
but any amount of injustice to be had. Out of over thirty head of
the very best horses the land could produce I could only find one
when I got my liberty. Constable Flood stole and sold the most of
them to the navvies on the railway line one bay cob he stole and
sold four different times the line was completed and the men all
gone when I came out and Flood was shifted to Oxley. he carried
on the same game there all the stray horses that was any time without
an owner and not in the Police Gazette Flood used to claim He was
doing a good trade at Oxley until Mr Brown of the Laceby Station
got him shifted as he was always running his horses about.
Flood is different
to Sergeant Steel, Strachan, Hall and the most of Police a they
have got to hire cads and if they fail the Police are quite helpless.
But Flood can make a cheque single-handed he is the greatest horsestealer
with the exception of myself and George King I know of. I never
worked on a farm a horse and saddle was never traced to me after
leaving employment since February 1873 I worked as a faller at Mr
J. Saunders and R Rules sawmills then for Heach and Dockendorf I
never worked for less than two pound ten a week since I left Pentridge
and in 1875 or 1876 I was overseer for Saunders and Rule.
Bourke's water--holes
sawmills in Victoria since then I was on the King River, during
my stay there I ran in a wild bull which I gave to Lydicher a farmer
he sold him to Carr a Publican and Butcher who killed him for beef,
sometime afterwards I was blamed for stealing this bull from James
Whitty Boggy Creek I asked Whitty Oxley racecourse why he blamed
me for stealing his bull he said he had found his bull and never
blamed me but his son-in-law Farrell told him he heard I sold the
bull to Carr not long afterwards I heard again I was blamed for
stealing a mob of calves from Whitty and Farrell which I knew nothing
about. I began to think they wanted me to give them something to
talk about.
Therefore I started
wholesale and retail horse and cattle dealing Whitty and Burns not
being satisfied with all the picked land on the Boggy Creek and
King River and the run of their stock on the certificate ground
free and no one interfering with them paid heavy rent to the banks
for all the open ground so as a poor man could keep no stock, and
impounded every beast they could get, even off Government roads.
If a poor man happened to leave his horse or bit of a poddy calf
outside his paddock they would be impounded. I have known over 60
head of horses impounded in one day by Whitty and Burns all belonging
to poor farmers they would have to leave their ploughing or harvest
or other employment to go to Oxley.
When they would get
there perhaps not have money enough to release them and have to
give a bill of sale or borrow the money which is no easy matter.
And along with this sort of work, Farrell the Policeman stole a
horse from George King and had him in Whitty and Farrells Paddocks
until he left the force. And all this was the cause of me and my
step-father George King taking their horses and selling them to
Baumgarten and Kennedy. the pick of them was taken to a good market
and the culls were kept in Petersons paddock and their brands altered
by me two was sold to Kennedy and the rest to Baumgarten who were
strangers to me and I believe honest men.
They paid me full
value for the horses and could not have known they were stolen.
no person had anything to do with the stealing and selling of the
horses but me and George King. William Cooke who was convicted for
Whittys horses was innocent he was not in my company at Petersons.
But it is not the place of the Police to convict guilty men as it
is by them they get their living had the right parties been convicted
it would have been a bad job for the Police as Berry would have
sacked a great many of them only I came to their aid and kept them
in their bilits and good employment and got them double pay and
yet the ungrateful articles convicted my mother and an infant my
brother-in-law and another man who was innocent and still annoy
my brothers and sisters and the ignorant unicorns even threaten
to shoot myself But as soon as I am dead they will be heels up in
the muroo.
there will be no
more police required they will be sacked and supplanted by soldiers
on low pay in the towns and special constables made of some of the
farmers to make up for this double pay and expence. It will pay
Government to give those people who are suffering innocence, justice
and liberty. if not I will be compelled to show some colonial stratagem
which will open the eyes of not only the Victoria Police and inhabitants
but also the whole British army and now doubt they will acknowledge
their hounds were barking at the 20 wrong stump.
And that Fitzpatrick
will be the cause of greater slaughter to the Union Jack than Saint
Patrick was to the snakes and toads in Ireland. The Queen of England
was as guilty as Baumgarten and Kennedy Williamson and Skillion
of what they were convicted for When the horses were found on the
Murray River I wrote a letter to Mr Swanhill of Lake Rowan to acquaint
the Auctioneer and to advertize my horses for sale I brought some
of them to that place but did not sell I sold some of them in Benalla
Melbourne and other places and left the colony and became a rambling
gambler soon after I left there was a warrant for me and the Police
searched the place and watched night and day for two or three weeks
and when they could not snare me they got a warrant against my brother
Dan And on the 15 of April Fitzpatrick came to the Eleven Mile Creek
to arrest him he had some conversation with a horse dealer whom
he swore was William Skillion this man was not called in Beechworth,
besides several other Witnesses, who alone could have proved Fitzpatricks
falsehood after leaving this man he went to the house asked was
Dan in Dan came out.
I hear previous to
this Fitzpatrick had some conversation with Williamson on the hill.
he asked Dan to come to Greta with him as he had a warrant for him
for stealing Whitty's horses Dan said all right they both went inside
Dan was having something to eat his mother asked Fitzpatrick what
he wanted Dan for. the trooper said he had a warrant for him Dan
then asked him to produce it he said it was only a telegram sent
from Chiltren but Sergeant Whelan ordered him to releive Steel at
Greta and call and arrest Dan and take him into Wangaratta next
morning and get him remanded Dans mother said Dan need not go without
a warrant unless he liked and that the trooper had no business on
her premises without some Authority besides his own word The trooper
pulled out his revolver and said he would blow her brains out if
she interfered.
in the arrest she
told him it was a good job for him Ned was not there or he would
ram the revolver down his throat Dan looked out and said Ned is
coming now, the trooper being off his guard looked out and when
Dan got his attention drawn he dropped the knife and fork which
showed he had no murderous intent and slapped heenans hug on him
took his revolver and kept him there until Skillion and Ryan came
with horses which Dan sold that night. The trooper left and invented
some scheme to say that he got shot which any man can see is false,
he told Dan to clear out that Sergeant Steel and Detective Brown
and Strachan would be there before morning Strachan had been over
the Murray trying to get up a case against him and they would convict
him if they caught him as the stock society offored an enticement
for witnesses to swear anything and the germans over the Murray
would swear to the wrong man as well as the right.
Next day Williamson
and my mother was arrested and Skillion the day after who was not
there at all at the time of the row which can be proved by 8 or
9 witnesses And 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 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 sun shone on it seems that the
jury was well chosen by the Police as there was a discharged Sergeant
amongst them which is contrary to law they thought it impossible
for a Policeman to swear a lie but I can assure them it is by that
means and hiring cads they get promoted 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 but he looks a young strapping rather
genteel more fit to be a starcher to a laundress than a Policeman.
For to a keen observer
he has the wrong appearance or a manly heart the deceit and cowardice
is too plain to be seen in the puny cabbage hearted looking face.
I heard nothing of this transaction until very close on the trial
I being then over 400 miles from Greta when I heard I was outlawed
and a hundred pound reward for me for shooting at a trooper in Victoria
and a hundred pound for any man that could prove a conviction of
horse-stealing against me so I came back to Victoria knew I would
get no justice if I gave myself up I enquired after my brother Dan
and found him digging on Bullock Creek heard how the Police used
to be blowing that they would not ask me to stand they would shoot
me first and then cry surrender and how they used to rush into the
house upset all the milk dishes break tins of eggs empty the flour
out of the bags on to the ground and even the meat out of the cask
and destroy all the provisions and shove the girls in front of them
into the rooms like dogs so as if anyone was there they would shoot
the girls first but they knew well I was not there or I would have
scattered their blood and brains like rain I would manure the Eleven
mile with their bloated carcasses and yet remember there is not
one drop of murderous blood in my Veins
Superintendent Smith
used to say to my sisters, see all the men I have out today I will
have as many more tomorrow and we will blow him into pieces as small
as paper that is in our guns Detective Ward and Constable Hayes
took out their revolvers and threatened to shoot the girls and children
in Mrs Skillions absence the greatest ruffians and murderers no
matter how deprived would not be guilty of such a cowardly action,
and this sort of cruelty and disgraceful and cowardly conduct to
my brothers and sisters who had no protection coupled with the conviction
of my mother and those men certainly made my blood boil as I dont
think there is a man born could have the patience to suffer it as
long as I did or ever allow his blood to get cold while such insults
as these were unavenged and yet in every paper that is printed I
am called the blackest and coldest blooded murderer ever on record
But if I hear any
more of it I will not exactly show them what cold blooded murder
is but wholesale and retail slaughter something different to shooting
three troopers in self defence and robbing a bank. I would have
been rather hot-blooded to throw down my rifle and let them shoot
me and my innocent brother, they were not satisfied with frightening
my sisters night and day and destroying their provisions and lagging
my mother and infant and those innocent men but should follow me
and my brother into the wilds where he had been quietly digging
neither molesting or inter-fering with anyone he was making good
wages as the creek is very rich within half a mile from where I
shot Kennedy.
I was
not there long and on the 25 of October I came on Police tracks
between Table top and the bogs. I crossed them and returning in
the evening I came on a dif-ferent lot of tracks making for the
shingle hut I went to our camp and told my brother and his two mates
me and my brother went and found their camp at the shingle hut about
a mile from my brothers house saw they carried long firearms and
we knew our doom was sealed if we could not beat those before the
others would come As I knew the other party of Police would soon
join them and if they came on us at our camp they would shoot us
down like dogs at our work as we had only two guns. we thought it
best to try and bail those up take their fire-arms and ammunition
and horses and we could stand a chance with the rest We approached
the spring as close as we could get to the camp as the intervening
space being clear ground and no battery We saw two men at the logs
they got up and one took a double barreled fowling-piece and fetched
a horse down and hobbled him at the tent we thought there were more
men in the tent asleep those being on sentry we could have shot
those two men without speaking but not wishing to take their lives
we waited McIntyre laid the gun against a stump and Lonigan sat
on the log I advanced, my brother Dan keepin McIntyre covered which
he took to be constable Flood and had he not obeyed my orders, or
at-tempted to reach for the gun or draw his revolver he would have
been shot dead but when I called on them to throw up their hands
McIntyre obeyed and Lonigan ran some six or seven yards to a battery
of logs insted of dropping behind the one he was sitting on, he
had just got to the logs and put his head up to take aim when I
shot him that instant or he would have shot me as I took him to
be Strachan the man who said he would not ask me to stand he would
shoot me first like a dog
But it happened to
be Lonigan the man who in company with Sergeant Whelan Fitzpatrick
and King the Boot maker and constable O.Day that tried to put a
pair of hand-cuffs on me in Benalla but could not and had to allow
McInnis the miller to put them on, previous to Fitzpatrick swear-ing
he was shot, I was fined two pounds for hitting Fitzpatrick and
two pounds for not allowing five curs like Sergeant Whelan O.Day
Fitz-patrick King and Lonigan who caught me by the privates and
would have sent me to Kingdom come only I was not ready and he is
the man that blowed before he left Violet Town if Ned Kelly was
to be shot he was the man would shoot him and no doubt he would
shoot me even if I threw up my arms and laid down as he knew four
of them could not arrest me single-handed not to talk of the rest
of my mates, also either me or him would have to die, this he knew
well therefore he had a right to keep out of my road, Fitzpatrick
is the only one I hit out of the five in Benalla this shows my feeling
towards him as he said we were good friends & even swore it
but he was the biggest enemy I had in the country with the exception
of Lonigan and he can be thankful I was not there when he took a
revolver and threatened to shoot my mother in her own house it is
not fire three shots and miss him at a yard and a half I dont think
I would use a revolver to shoot a man like him when I was within
a yard and a half of him or attempt to fire into a house where my
mother brothers and sisters was. and according to Fitzpatricks statement
all around him a man that is such a bad shot as to miss a man three
times at a yard and a half would never attempt to fire into a house
among a house full of women and children while I had a pairs of
arms and bunch of fives on the end of them that never failed to
peg out anything they came in contact with and Fitzpatrick knew
the weight of one of them only too well, as it run against him once
in Benalla, and cost me two pound odd as he is very subject to fainting.
As soon as I shot
Lonigan he jumped up and staggered some distance from the logs with
his hands raised and then fell he surrendered but too late I asked
McIntyre who was in the tent he replied no one. I advanced and took
possession of their two revolvers and fowling-piece which I loaded
with bullets instead of shot. I asked McIntyre where his mates was
he said they had gone down the creek, and he did not expect them
that night he asked me was I going to shoot him and his mates. I
told him no.
I would shoot no
man if he gave up his arms and leave the force he said the police
all knew Fitzpatrick had wronged us. and he intended to leave the
force, as he had bad health, and his life was insured, he told me
he intended going home and that Kennedy and Scanlan were out looking
for our camp and also about the other Police he told me the N.S.W
Police had shot a man for shooting Sergeant Walling I told him if
they did, they had shot the wrong man And I expect your gang came
to do the same with me he said no they did not come to shoot me
they came to apprehend me I asked him what they carried spenceir
rifles and breech loading fowling pieces and so much ammunition
for as the Police was only supposed to carry one revolver and 6
cartridges in the revolver but they had eighteen rounds of revolver
cartridges each three dozen for the fowling piece and twenty one
spenceir-rifle cartridges and God knows how many they had away with
the rifle this looked as if they meant not only to shoot me only
to riddle me but I dont know either Kennedy Scanlan or him and had
nothing against them, he said he would get them to give up their
arms if I would not shoot them as I could not blame them, they had
to do their duty I said I did not blame them for doing honest duty
but I could not suffer them blowing me to pieces in my own native
land and they knew Fitzpatrick wronged us and why not make it public
and convict him but no they would rather riddle poor unfortunate
creoles.
but they will rue
the day ever Fitzpatrick got among them, Our two mates came over
when they heard the shot fired but went back again for fear the
Police might come to our camp while we were all away and manure
bullock flat with us on our arrival. I stopped at the logs and Dan
went back to the spring for fear the tropers would come in that
way but I soon heard them coming up the creek. I told McIntyre to
tell them to give up their arms, he spoke to Kennedy who was some
distance in front of Scanlan he reached for his revolver and jumped
off, on the off side of his horse and got behind a tree when I called
on them to throw up their arms and Scanlan who carried the rifle
slewed his horse around to gallop away but the horse would not go
and as quick as thought fired at me with the rifle without unslinging
it and was in the act of firing again when I had to shoot him and
he fell from his horse.
I could have shot
them without speaking but their lives was no good to me. McIntyre
jumped on Kennedys horse and I allowed him to go as I did not like
to shoot him after he surrendered or I would have shot him as he
was between me and Kennedy therefore I could not shoot Kennedy without
shooting him first. Kennedy kept firing from behind the tree my
brother Dan advanced and Kennedy ran I followed him he stopped behind
another tree and fired again.
I shot him in the
arm pit and he dropped his revolver and ran I fired again with the
gun as he slewed around to surrender I did not know he had dropped
his revolver. the bullet passed through the right side of his chest
& he could not live or I would have let him go had they been
my own brother I could not help shooting there or else let them
shoot me which they would have done had their bullets been directed
as they intended them. But as for handcuffing Kennedy to a tree
or cutting his ear off or brutally treating any of them, is a falsehood,
if Kennedys ear was cut off it was not done by me and none of my
mates was near him after he was shot I put his cloak over him and
left him as well as I could and were they my own brothers I could
not have been more sorry for them this cannot be called wilful murder
for I was compelled to shoot them, or lie down and let them shoot
me it would not be wilful murder if they packed our remains in,
shattered into a mass of animated gore to Mansfield, they would
have got great praise and credit as well as promotion but I am reconed
a horrid brute because I had not been cowardly enough to lie down
for them under such trying circumstances and insults to my people
certainly their wives and children are to be pitied but they must
remember those men came into the bush with the intention of scattering
pieces of me and my brother all over the bush and yet they know
and acknowledge I have been wronged and my mother and four or five
men lagged innocent and is my brothers and sisters and my mother
not to be pitied also who has no alternative only to put up with
the brutal and cowardly conduct of a parcel of big ugly fat-necked
wombat headed big bellied magpie legged narrow hipped splaw-footed
sons of Irish Bailiffs or english landlords which is better known
as Officers of Justice or Victorian Police who some calls honest
gentlemen but I would like to know what business an honest man would
have in the Police as it is an old saying It takes a rogue to catch
a rogue and a man that knows nothing about roguery would never enter
the force an take an oath to arrest brother sister father or mother
if required and to have a case and conviction if possible
Any man knows it
is possible to swear a lie and if a policeman looses a conviction
for the sake of swearing a lie he has broke his oath therefore he
is a perjurer either ways. A Policeman is a disgrace to his country,
not alone to the mother that suckled him, in the first place he
is a rogue in his heart but too cowardly to follow it up without
having the force to disguise it. next he is traitor to his country
ancestors and religion as they were all catholics before the Saxons
and Cranmore yoke held sway since then they were perse cuted massacreed
thrown into martrydom and tortured beyond the ideas of the present
generation What would people say if they saw a strapping big lump
of an Irishman shepherding sheep for fifteen bob a week or tailing
turkeys in Tallarook ranges for a smile from Julia or even begging
his tucker, they would say he ought to be ashamed of himself and
tar-and-feather him
But he would be a
king to a policeman who for a lazy loafing cowardly bilit left the
ash corner deserted the shamrock, the emblem of true wit and beauty
to serve under a flag and nation that has destroyed massacreed and
murdered their fore-fathers by the greatest of torture as rolling
them down hill in spiked barrels pulling their toe and finger nails
and on the wheel. and every torture imaginable more was transported
to Van Diemand's Land to pine their young lives away in starvation
and misery among tyrants worse than the promised hell itself all
of true blood bone and beauty, that was not murdered on their own
soil, or had fled to America or other countries to bloom again another
day, were doomed to Port Mcquarie Toweringabbie norfolk island and
Emu plains and in those places of tyrany and condemnation many a
blooming Irishman rather than subdue to the Saxon yoke Were flogged
to death and bravely died in servile chains but true to the shamrock
and a credit to Paddys land What would people say if I became a
policeman and took an oath to arrest my brothers and sisters &
relations and convict them by fair or foul means after the conviction
of my mother and the persecutions and insults offered to myself
and people Would they say I was a decent gentleman, and yet a police-man
is still in worse and guilty of meaner actions than that The Queen
must surely be proud of such herioc men as the Police and Irish
soldiers as It takes eight or eleven of the biggest mud crushers
in Melbourne to take one poor little half starved larrakin to a
watch house.
I have seen as many
as eleven, big & ugly enough to lift Mount Macedon out of a
crab hole more like the species of a baboon or Guerilla than a man.
actually come into a court house and swear they could not arrest
one eight stone larrakin and them armed with battens and neddies
without some civilians assistance and some of them going to the
hospital from the affects of hits from the fists of the larrakin
and the Magistrate would send the poor little Larrakin into a dungeon
for being a better man than such a parcel of armed curs. What would
England do if America declared war and hoisted a green flag as its
all Irishmen that has got command of her armies forts and batteries
even her very life guards and beef tasters are Irish would they
not slew around and fight her with their own arms for the sake of
the colour they dare not wear for years. and to reinstate it and
rise old Erins isle once more, from the pressure and tyrannism of
the English yoke, which has kept it in poverty and starvation, and
caused them to wear the enemys coats.
What else can England
expect. Is there not big fat-necked Unicorns enough paid to torment
and drive me to do thing which I dont wish to do, without the public
assisting them I have never interefered with any person unless they
deserved it, and yet there are civilians who take firearms against
me, for what reason I do not know, unless they want me to turn on
them and exterminate them without medicine. I shall be compelled
to make an example of some of them if they cannot find no other
employment If I had robbed and plundered ravished and murdered everything
I met young and old rich and poor. the public could not do any more
than take firearms and Assisting the police as they have done, but
by the light that shines pegged on an ant-bed with their bellies
opened their fat taken out rendered and poured down their throat
boiling hot will be fool to what pleasure I will give some of them
and any person aiding or harbouring or assisting the Police in any
way whatever or employing any person whom they know to be a detective
or cad or those who would be so deprived as to take blood money
will be outlawed and declared unfit to be allowed human buriel their
property either consumed or confiscated and them theirs and all
belonging to them exterminated off the face of the earth, the enemy
I cannot catch myself I shall give a payable reward for,
I would like to know
who put that article that reminds me of a poodle dog half clipped
in the lion fashion, called Brooke E. Smith Superin-tendent of Police
he knows as much about commanding Police as Cap-tain Standish does
about mustering mosquitoes and boiling them down for their fat on
the back blocks of the Lachlan for he has a head like a turnip a
stiff neck as big as his shoulders narrow hipped and pointed towards
the feet like a vine stake and if there is any one to be called
a murderer regarding Kennedy, Scanlan and Lonigan it is that mis-placed
poodle he gets as much pay as a dozen good troopers, if there is
any good in them, and what does he do for it he cannot look behind
him without turning his whole frame it takes three or four police
to keep sentry while he sleeps in Wangaratta, for fear of body snatchers
do they think he is a superior animal to the men that has to guard
him if so why not send the men that gets big pay and reconed superior
to the common police after me and you shall soon save the country
of high salaries to men that is fit for nothing else but getting
better men than him self shot and sending orphan children to the
industrial school to make prostitutes and cads of them for the Detectives
and other evil dis-posed persons
Send the high paid
and men that received big salaries for years in a gang by themselves
after me, As it makes no difference to them but it will give them
a chance of showing whether they are worth more pay than a common
trooper or not and I think the Public will soon find they are only
in the road of good men and obtaining money under false pretences,
I do not call McIntyre a coward for I reckon he is as game a man
as wears the jacket as he had the presence of mind to know his position,
directly as he was spoken to, and only foolishness to disobey, it
was cowardice that made Lonigan and the others fight it is only
foolhardiness to disobey an outlaw as any Police-man or other man
who do not throw up their arms directly as I call on them knows
the consequence which is a speedy dispatch to Kingdom Come, I wish
those men who joined the stock protection society to with-draw their
money and give it and as much more to the widows and orphans and
poor of Greta district wher I spent and will again spend many a
happy day fearless free and bold as it only aids the police to procure
false witnesses and go whacks with men to steal horses and lag innocent
men it would suit them far better to subscribe a sum and give it
to the poor of their district and there is no fear of anyone stealing
their property for no man could steal their horses without the knowledge
of the poor if any man was mean enough to steal their property the
poor would rise out to a man and find them if they were on the face
of the earth it will always pay a rich man to be liberal with the
poor and make as little enemies as he can as he shall find if the
poor is on his side he shall loose nothing by it, If they depend
in the police they shall be drove to destruction,
As they can not and
will not protect them if duffing and bushranging were abolished
the police would have to cadge for their living I speak from experience
as I have sold horses and cattle innumerable and yet eight head
of the culls is all ever was found I never was interfered with whilst
I kept up this successful trade. I give fair warning to all those
who has reason to fear me to sell out and give £10 out of every
hundred towards the widow and orphan fund and do not attempt to
reside in Victoria but as short a time as possible after reading
this notice, neglect this and abide by the consequences, which shall
be worse than the rust in the wheat in Victoria or the druth of
a dry season to the grasshoppers in New South Wales I do not wish
to give the order full force without giving timely warning. but
I am a widows son outlawed and my orders must
be obeyed.
EDWARD KELLY.
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