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June 28 1880 Many people wrote in to the newspapers with their thoughts on the Kelly Gang and the uselessness of the Victoria police in their ability to capture them. People also wrote in to support the gang or as the first letter below shows, to discuss their glee that Ned was caught and we would now be rid of the 'criminal'. It seems nothing has changed in all these years, people still write in to newspapers to view an opinion on Ned and the Kelly gang. Take a look at what they used to write and what they still write.
MELBOURNE,
June 28 1880. Up
to the morning of Monday the only subject of interest
to us was the dissolution and the consequent forthcoming
general election. But on a sudden the news
of the
Kelly outrage and the destruction of the gang
have taken the place of the political complications. There
is, therefore, nothing but Kelly on everybody’s lips to-day. Every two persons you meet in the street
are speaking of the Kellys; in railway carriages the
conversation is entirely Kelly; the children prattle to
each other of Ned Kelly, and the talk on 'Change, on
block,
and by the fireside very much Kelly. There is a
strange feeling of relief in men's minds that, at last we
have got rid' of a reproach. There has always seemed
such a preposterous disproportion be- tween
these outlaws and the means taken to extirpate
them. It has looked like four men defying a million. Of course, it has
been always
proper to bear in mind both the nature of the country selected by these
villains for their fastness, and the extent of But
by strangers these circumstances could not be well understood.
I lately spoke to a gentleman travelling through
these colonies, and he told me the people
in England, or at least those who con descended
to trouble themselves with our affairs, sneered at
us a good deal for not being able to hunt down four bushrangers
within a week. And it must
be confessed, there
bas always been a spice of the absurd in the situation,
and even at the very last, the
conclusion of the
game has required a very large number of candles. It is certainly a pity the whole four could not have been taken
alive. Considering the money and irritation, not to say
the loss of life, this Kelly
maraud has cost us, it is but
poor satisfaction to be able to show only three cinders
and a bullet riddle as the returns. And if Ned Kelly
should die before there is time
to hang him, there will
be still further occasion of regret. All we can do is
to hope that the resources of surgery may be equal to preserving
so criminally valuable a life. Every body
is glad that Superintendent Hare has had the glory
of being in command in the final onslaught on
these scoundrels. For he is one of those thoroughly manly men whom everybody likes, and, therefore, everybody hopes he will have a very substantial acknowledgment of the service he has rendered. And when all the excitement attendant upon the extinction of the gang is over, it is generally hoped there will be a searching investigation into the whole police system of this colony, for there is a prevalent belief that, if there had been less red‑tape and pipe-clay in the regulations, the Kellys would, long ago, have become only execrated memories. And it is also felt that something ought to be done in the direction of uprooting bush-ranging as
a system, for nobody believes that, because the Kelly gang
is now extinct, Kellyism is destroyed. It is well understood
that, during all the time these brigands
have held possession of the country where
they reigned, they have excited and kept alive in the
minds of the young men of the district a feeling of spurious
emulation, and that, therefore from their ashes may
spring up a whole race of robbers and murders. (Missing
remainder) Source: Sydney Mail 1880. The Kelly Gang. Sir- I was very much surprised, and greatly pained, to hear expressions of sym- pathy openly avowed and confessed for the Kelly Gang, at a meeting of the elec- tors of Richmond held in the Oddfellows' Hall on Tuesday the 11th inst.. And, to give more force to their expressions, they gave three hearty cheers for the leader of the gang, who now lies in the Melbourne Gaol awaiting trial, and, I have no hesitat- ion in adding, execution. Now, Sir, it is a matter of great regret to every law- abiding citizen to hear such sympathy ex- pressed for a band of murderers - incar- nate fiends I call them - who coolly plot and devise means to basely murder their fel- low - citizens, and who have outraged the laws of God and man, and set them at de- fiance. Some aver that the conduct of the police at the siege of Glenrowan (as they sarcastically term it) is a blot upon the fair fame of this golden clime of ours; this i will not argue, for the means do not always justify the end. but I will say that there is blot of a still darker. dye cast upon us, which caused justice to weep, and to the point to onr (sic) fair land with scorn, saying- "Look upon the land of Victoria, see within its boundaries a set of men who have cast me hence in exile, whose sympathies with a lawless band for the space of two years have aided them to defeat the instruments I used to mete out to them, and the punishment their crime justly deserved, and as long as sym- pathy and crime go hand in hand, Vic- toria, to thee I bid farewell." Have we driven justice from our midst by offering a premium to crime ? How many wild, lawless men have we wander- ing about our country who would only be to eager to take advantage of our sym- pathy and the success of the Kelly Gang, by breaking out, and following their bad example. No doubt there is little ro- mance attached to their attrocities by the manner in which they eluded the police, but a word about their undaunted cour- age, and I have done. In the first instance, when Fitzpatrick, acting under orders proceeded to arrest Dan Kelly upon a charge of horse-stealing, and in execution of his duty was gallantly assaulted by Mrs Kelly and her two bright sons, and shot through the wrist, he barely escaping his life. For this offence a warrant was issued for their arrest, and Sergeant Kennedy, with Con- stables Scanlon, Lonigan, and McIntyre, were commissioned to execute it. Source: Richmond Guardian. (more to come)
Mrs. Jones and the Kellys.-The follow- ing letter has been addressed by Mrs Jones, Glenrowan, to the leader : - "Sir,- I perceive the leader of the tenth instance states I prevented the outlaw Ned Kelly letting the prisoners leave the hotel when he was disposed to do so, hence the death of my own son and the line repairer Cherry. In the first place it is rather ridiculous to think that I could influence a man like Ned Kelly who had suspected me to be an enemy, one way or the other; but as a matter of fact the exertion made is untrue. Ned Kelly said, 'boys, you can all go home ; but you Reardon, and you Sullivan, stop till I give you a lecture.' He them accused Reardon of being his enemy, and the other pri- soners voluntary stopped to hear what he had to say. Now how am I to blame for this? This could be proof by half-a-dozen witnesses. Trust- ing you will insert this, I am, yours and & C., Ann Jones. Wangaratta, 9th December." Source: The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express. Note:
The following three letters are from the THE KELLY CAPTURE REWARD.―“Lounger” in the “Herald” has the following:―I am seriously considering whether or not to send in a claim for a share in the “Kelly Award.” I really do not see any reason why my claim should not be held as reasonable as some others which have been sent in. To be sure, I had nothing to do with the Kellys (save as an ardent sympathiser), and I have not been up their way for many a year. But it appears to me that I have quite as good a right to a share in the reward as several other gentleman who have tabled their demands. And it is astonishing how quickly claimants spring up under the conditions of earning money without an effort. Just as I have personally known some eighteen hundred people who were survivors of the light cavalry charge of the six hundred at Balaclava, so do I discover people on all sides with proper claims upon the purse which has no limit―the credulity of the public. However, there is only one way to settle this matter. Nobody will be satisfied, that is certain, save upon the principle of “Yankees grab.” I commend the idea to Mr Berry. ———————— PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES.―Owing to the statements which have been made in the public press from certain quarters, that there is a probability of an outbreak of Kelly sympathisers, the Chief Secretary on Thursday instructed Mr Chomley, the Acting Commissioner of Police, to proceed to Benalla to-day (says Friday’s “Telegraph”), to make enquiries into the state of the North-eastern district, and to acquire other necessary information. On receipt of Mr Chomley’s reports, Mr Berry intends to make complete arrangements in the Police Department for preventing any repetition of the recent Kelly outrages. A SCARE.―A contributor to the “North-Eastern Ensign” writes:―It looks to me that Mr Sadleir’s statement about a “fresh outbreak,” is working its way into the belief of timid folk. I do not think that they need be afraid. The “end” at Glenrowan is roo vivid as yet, and most of the wild bushmen will think the matter over many a time before they dare implicate themselves. If they should break out, then it will be a short life and a merry one. The police are better prepared for these things now then when but Kelly took to the bush, and if they have young and energetic officers to lead them, bushranging in Victoria may be set down as not paying speculation. Horses are said to be stolen as of old, and some of our storemen in Benalla are a little nervous about leaving a valuable horse in a paddock. Mr Anxious has a horse for which he asks a good price, and he wants to sell him. When asked to show his horse, his reply was, “He is in the paddock now, but I must bring him in, at these blessed Kellys are at their old tricks again and they might take a fancy to him.” Very peculiar how, the name of the ill-fated Kellys should live, and be attached to any foolish bush swell who dreams of glory in cattle-stealing and bushranging.
Source: Herald Sun Melbourne.
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