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Apart from the four above, there was a man named Tom Lloyd Jr who was at pretty much every gang activity and somehow despite the police knowing this was to live a free mans life. Another man, named Aaron Sherritt also spent a lot of time with the gang, before being killed by best friend and gang member Joe Byrne. As a gang, they robbed two banks, whilst holding up entire towns in meticulously planned raids. The raid on Glenrowan was to be their downfall and would see the destruction of the gang. There were four 'official' gang members, brothers Ned & Dan Kelly, Joe Byrne & Steve Hart. They were all young men and had been convicted of minor crimes prior to the police killings at Stringybark Creek. The Kelly gang according to the Royal Commission. Power, who is said to have given Ned Kelly his first lesson in bushranging. Edward Kelly, the leader of the outlaws, was born in 1854, at Wallan Wallan, and from an early age was regarded by the Police as an incorrigible thief. In company with Power the Bushranger he, on the 16th of March 1870, robbed Mr. McBean; and on the 25th of April stuck up Mr, John Murray of Lauriston. Kelly was arrested for the latter offence on the 4th of May following, but escaped conviction owing to want of identification. He was implicated in several outrages; and at Beechworth, in 1871, he received a sentence of three years for receiving a stolen horse. He led a wild and reckless life, and was always associated with the dangerous characters who infested the neighbourhood of Greta until the shooting of Constable Fitzpatrick, on the 15th of April 1878, when he took to the bush. Daniel Kelly was born in 1861, and from the age of 16 years was, with his elder brother Ned, a noted criminal. Joseph Byrne, the third outlaw, was born in 1857, and lived with his parents, who were Irish extraction and respectable antecedents, at the woolshed, about seven miles from Beechworth. When 16 years of age he was in trouble, and from the first appears to have developed vicious and cruel propensities. In 1876, along with Aaron Sherritt, who figures so prominently throughout the Kelly campaign, so to speak, and with whom he was on terms of the closest intimacy, he was arrested and sentenced to six months' imprisonment for having stolen meat in his possession; and he was also believed to have been connected with numerous cases of horse stealing in the North-Eastern district, which ultimately led to his joining the Kelly gang. Steve Hart, the fourth member of the gang, was born in 1860, and was the second son of Richard Hart, of Three-mile Creek, near Wangaratta. Stephen, at an early age, became the associate of disreputable persons, and carried on a system of stealing horses and planting them until such time as rewards were offered by the owners for there recovery. He received a sentence of imprisonment in July 1877, and subsequently was sent to gaol for ten months for horse stealing. On his release he returned to Wangaratta, and for a time appeared disposed to lead a more honest and reputable life. One day, however, while at work cutting timber, he suddenly threw down his axe, exclaiming to his mate, "A short life and a merry one." He then rode off, stating that he was going to New South Wales. Nothing further was heard of him until the murders of the police at Wombat, when it was reported that a man answering to his description was seen near Greta; but it was not until the Euroa bank robbery that his identity was established as one of the accomplices of the murderers, Ned and Dan Kelly. HOW THE
KELLY GANG WAS FORMED.
Mention has been made of the fact that Ned Kelly was at
one time associated with Power in his horse stealing and bushranging exploits;
but in the latter he appears to have served only as a scout and occasional
assistant, merely holding Power's horse during the time he was overhauling his
victims on the road. As a horse "lifter," however, he had even a
greater reputation than Power; horse-stealing was the calling to which he had
devoted his life, and he followed that calling with untiring assiduity. He
commenced his career by removing carriers' and travelers' horses during the
night to a safe "plant," where
he would keep them until a reward was offered for their recovery, and then he
would hand them over in the most innocent manner and claim the reward.
Naturally, the next step was to horse-stealing pure and simple, any stray animal
worth picking up being appropriated and kept in a secure place until an
opportunity presented itself of turning it into money. Before he had fully grown
a beard he became acquainted with prison life, and served several short
sentences for horse-stealing, being recognised as a confirmed criminal by the
authorities while yet in his teens—a circumstance which is not to be
considered wonderful when the nature of his surroundings is taken into account.
Although he was known to be connected with the escaped convict and bushranger
who was causing such trouble, he was not called to account for any offence
committed in Power's company; and it was generally believed that the police had
obtained from him the information which enabled them to track Power to his
hiding place on the mountain—Power himself at one time entertaining that
opinion—but the arresting Superintendents invariably denied any statement to
that effect.
Power had been in gaol for about eight years, however,
before what is known as the Kelly Gang of bushrangers was formed and began to
operate openly, and although the influence and example of the older bushranger
may have had something to do with shaping the subsequent career of the leader of
that gang, it cannot be said that the one was the direct outcome of the other.
But before proceeding to narrate the extraordinary doings of the
gang, it is necessary that I should give a brief sketch of the earlier life of
the different members.
I have already mentioned that Ned Kelly had two
brothers and four sisters—Dan, Jim, Mrs. Gunn, Mrs. Skillian, Kate, and Grace.
Dan Kelly was seven years younger than Ned, having been born in 1861, but from
the time he was able to sit upon a horse he was more or less associated with his
elder brother in criminal pursuits. The boy "lifters" were the terror
of carriers and drovers who had to pass through the district in which they
resided, and it is said that persons in charge of stock not infrequently went
many miles out of the direct course in order to avoid Greta, fearing that some
of their cattle would miss their proper destination if they attempted to pass
through the "Kelly Country." Night and day young Dan would prowl about
looking for "game," and knowing the bush intimately, he could at any
time get away with that "game" when he found it, to some spot where it
would be beyond reach of the proper owners. It will thus be seen that he was
well qualified to act as his brother's lieutenant, and, indeed, it was through
him that the outbreak occurred. The third member of the gang was a young fellow named Steve Hart, a native of Wangaratta, who had also made a name for himself as a horse thief, indulging in night prowling in search of stray animals. He was born in 1860, and was therefore a year older than Dan Kelly, who was his closest "chum" during the campaign, and his companion in
The fourth member of the gang was Joe Byrne, who was
born at the Woolshed, near Beechworth, in 1857. He was a splendid sample of a
young Australian, and had received a fairly good education, but abandoning
himself to criminal pursuits had joined the Kelly boys in several of their
horse-stealing raids. He had served one sentence of six months in Beechworth
Gaol before joining the gang. Byrne acted as scribe to the party, reducing to
writing the plans for the attacks upon banks and other contemplated robberies,
which were rigidly adhered to.
These four formed the gang, but there were others
associated with them as scouts and "telegraphs" and harbourers, whose
names will appear as occasion arises for mentioning the service rendered by
them. Aaron Sherritt was one of the most active of these assistants during one
part of the campaign. He had attended the same school as Joe Byrne, and the
intimacy that had grown up there was continued after school days were over, the
two engaging in horse-stealing raids together, and forming close criminal
business relationships with the Kellys. Sherritt was a native of Beechworth, his
parents being most respectable people.
In March, 1878, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Dan Kelly on a charge of
cattle stealing; and as it became known that he was at his mother's house at
Greta, a constable named Fitzpatrick, stationed at Benalla, proceeded thither to
arrest him. Fitzpatrick's version of what took place was that when he got to the house he found Dan Kelly there, and arrested
him in the presence of his mother and sisters. He was proceeding to take his
prisoner to Benalla, when he was asked to permit him first to take a meal, with
which request he complied. While the meal was in progress, Ned Kelly, with
Skillian, his brother-in-law, and a man named Williamson, came in, and Ned at
once demanded if Fitzpatrick had a warrant for the arrest of Dan. The constable
replied in the negative, and then Ned drew a revolver and declared that his
brother should not be taken without one. Fitzpatrick pulled out his revolver to
protect himself, and ensure the safe custody of his prisoner, when Ned Kelly
fired and wounded him in the wrist, the result being that the revolver fell out
of his hand and was secured by the Kellys. Fitzpatrick was then, according to
his account, secured, and it was proposed to shoot him; but upon his solemnly
promising to say nothing of the affair, he was allowed to go. The wound in his
wrist was very trivial, and the bullet had been picked out with a knife before
he reached Benalla. His promise of silence was not kept, and warrants were
immediately issued against Ned Kelly for shooting with intent to murder, and
against Dan Kelly, Skillian, Williamson, and Mrs. Kelly for aiding and abetting.
When it was attempted to enforce these warrants, it was found that the brothers
Kelly had disappeared; but the others named were arrested, tried, and sentenced
each to lengthy terms of imprisonment, Fitzpatrick's version of the occurrence
at the house being accepted as correct.
But the Kellys and their friends gave altogether different versions
of the story; they emphatically denied the truth of Fitzpatrick's statements,
and complained very bitterly that their relations were unjustly cast into prison
on his unsupported evidence. One version was that no shooting at all took place,
but that Fitzpatrick had concocted the whole affair in a spirit of revenge,
because certain improper advances which he had made to one of the female members
of the family had been rejected with considerable warmth; another was that
Fitzpatrick never had Dan Kelly in charge, and that the arrest was resisted
because of the absence of a warrant, and in a scuffle Fitzpatrick slightly
wounded himself with his own revolver; and a third was that Mrs. Kelly took no
part whatever in the affair, not being in the house at the time—that Skillian
and Williamson were miles away at the time, and that Dan and Ned Kelly were
alone concerned in what took place.
After the disappearance of Ned and Dan from the home at
Greta, nothing more was heard of them for some months, although the Government
offered £100 reward for their apprehension, and every effort was made by the
police to capture them. It was then known that they had "taken to the
bush" and there was a general impression that they were concerned in
several cases of road robbery that took place about that time in remote portions
of the district; but, reckless and daring though they were known to be, it was
never for a moment thought that they were capable of the fearful crimes by which
they were shortly to make themselves notorious.
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The
Kelly gang, as they were known, came into existence by sheer misfortune.
The young men (Joe Byrne & Steve Hart) who were with Ned & Dan at Stringybark Creek at the time of
the police shootings would become 'the Kelly gang'. Up until this point
they were merely four bush larrikins.