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Dan Kelly was
Ned's younger brother ( born in 1861) and he wore Ned's outgrown
hand-me-downs.
Dan was an intelligent young man,
and had Ned listened to him history might have turned out differently.
At Stringybark Creek Dan suggested McIntyre (the policeman) might escape and
should be handcuffed,
he wasn't and the lucky officer
escaped. At Glenrowan Dan suggested the towns sole police officer named
Bracken be secured (handcuffed) and yet again he was ignored
and the policeman escaped.
It was Dan who foresaw the possible consequences of letting the Glenrowan Siege
prisoner schoolmaster
Thomas Curnow go home to collect his 'dancing boots', Dan realised Curnow lived near the police
station. It was a
visit to Dan in April 1878 by Constable Fitzpatrick that caused what was to be
known as the 'Kelly utbreak'.
Dan
Kelly.
"Dan
was the youngest of “Red” Kelly’s three sons. All accounts of
him show that he was of a quieter and less forceful nature than his
brother Ned, although the general public have been led, through the
vicious misrepresentation by the police, to regard him as a treacherous
and bloodthirsty scoundrel. This misrepresentation was encouraged
to some extent by the remarks of his brother Ned when addressing
the men imprisoned in the storeroom at Faithfull’s Creek station near
Euroa. In order to prevent anyone from attempting to escape Ned
Kelly said: “If any of you try to escape, Dan Kelly and Steve Hart
will shoot you down like rabbits just for the fun of it.” This was taken literally, and
Dan Kelly was regarded by those who were not personally acquainted with him as a
bloodthirsty ruffian. Although he was regarded as an outlaw from the time he was 17
years of age till he was 19 years at his death at Glenrowan, he killed no one, he shot
no one, offered violence to no neighbour and insult to no woman."
Source
: J.J. Kenneally.'The
Inner History of the Kelly Gang' 1969 edit.
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