REARDON

James Reardon Railway Repairer.

On May 14, 1881, on his oath, stated to the Royal Commission: "Shortly after two o'clock on Sunday morning, June 27, 1880, I heard the dogs barking, making a row, and I got up and dressed myself and went outside the door and heard a horse whinnying down the railway line, and went towards where I heard the noise. I thought it was the horse of a friend, and I went down, and Sullivan was coming through the railway fence, and I said, 'What is the matter?' and he said, 'I am taken prisoner by this man.' Ned Kelly came up and put a revolver to my cheek and said, 'What is your name? and I said, 'Reardon,' and he said, 'I want you to come up and break the line.' He said, 'I was in Beechworth last night, and I had a great contract with the police, I have shot a lot of them, and I expect a train from Benalla with a lot of police and blackfellows, and I am going to kill all the -----.' I said, 'For God's sake do not take me; I have a large family to look after'. He said, 'I have got several others up, but they are no use to me,' and I said, 'They can do it without me,' and he said, 'You must do it or I will shoot you'---- and he took my wife and seven or eight children to the station.

"When we came to the small tool-house the chest was broken and the tools lying out on the side of the line. He said, 'Pick up what tools you want,' and I took two spanners and a hammer, and I said, 'I have no more to take,' and he said 'Where are your bars? and I said, 'Two or three miles away in front of my place,' and he sent Steve Hart for them, who came in a few minutes after himself. When I went on the ground I said to, Hart, 'You have plenty of men without me doing it.' 'All right,' he says, and he pointed to the contractor from Benalla, and said, 'You take the spanner.'

"That was Jack McHugh, I think. He took the spanner and I instructed him, on being made, how to use it. Ned Kelly came up and said, 'Old man, you are a long time breaking up this road.' I said, -I cannot do it quicker.' And he said, 'I will make you do it quicker;
if you do not look sharp, I will tickle you up with this revolver.' And I said, 'I cannot do it quicker, do what you will'; and he said, 'Give me no cheek.' So we broke the road. He wanted four lengths broken. I said, 'One will do as well as twenty.' And he said, 'Do you think so? And I said I was certain. I said that, because I thought if only one was off, the train would jump it and go on safely. Hart pointed out the place.

"He then brought us all up to the station and remained at the gatehouse, where the stationmaster lived, for perhaps two hours. There were about twenty of us. All who came along were bailed up, and on Sunday evening he (Ned Kelly) had 62 which I counted.
"At the hotel he did not treat us badly-not at all. They had drink in them in the morning. When I first saw Steve Hart he was pretty drunk. I saw some people offer drink to Dan Kelly and Byrne, I believe, and they said, 'No; but if Ned Kelly drank I cannot say, for he was in the kitchen in the back. When it came night we were all locked in and kept there. There was no, opportunity of escaping at all-not the slightest. No chance. I was there when the police came. I was still there when he went for Bracken between nine and ten o'clock on Sunday night. They took him prisoner also. There was only one constable here at the time. During the night before the police came they were very jolly, and the people and Mrs. Jones cleared the house out. They would not have it without a dance. She wanted me to dance, and I said, 'No, something is troubling me besides dancing'.

Mrs. Jones said, we will all be let go very soon, but you may thank me for it'; and my misses asked Dan Kelly to let me go home with my children and family.
'We will let you all go directly,' she (Mrs. Jones) said. That would be two o'clock, about an hour before the police arrived.

"There was a dance, got up in the house; there were three of the Kellys, Ned, Dan and Byrne danced, and Mrs. Jones and her daughter, and three or four others I did not know. Mrs. Jones praised Ned Kelly; she said he was a fine fellow. Dan Kelly said, 'Now you can all go home , ' and I stood up and picked up one of my children in my arms and we were making for the door when Cherry picked up Ryan's child, and Mrs. Jones stood at the door and said, 'You are not to go yet, Kelly is to give you a lecture,' so we all turned back into the house again, and Mrs. Jones came in and said, 'Kelly will give you a lecture before you go.' A little later Byrne came in and said, 'The train is coming.' That stopped all the discourse. They turned into the back room --the three bushrangers; there was one (Steve Hart) taking care of Stanistreet's family. Then they went into one of the back rooms, dressing themselves in their armour. I could hear the armour rattling. We could have got clear away if we had been allowed to go when Dan Kelly said we could go.

"Mrs. Jones seemed to be very pleased that the outlaws were there."
Bracken saw where they planted the key, and at the time they went to put their armour on he went and took the key. He put the key in his trousers pocket and came back to the door and stood there till he got his opportunity, and opened the door and turned the key in the lock. When the police came the outlaws went round the house and fired. There were three (Dan, Byrne and Steve Hart) who came in again. I do not believe Ned came in at all. The police fired at once. There was a return shot immediately. There were two or three hot volleys very quick. We could see the light (outside). There was no light in the house. We were all frightened, and Bracken told us to lie down on the floor as flat as we could before he went away. The Kellys said they would allow us all to go if the police would. There was a tall chap-I forgot his name-he put a white handkerchief out of the the window, and there were three bullets sent in at once. The shots went straight from the drain into, the window. He threw himself on the floor. After the second or third round was fired things got quiet for a bit, when Hare said cease firing. Ryan and his wife and three or four children and three of mine, and a strange woman from Benalla, then rushed out, and the firing was on them as hard as it could be blazed from the drain, and I could not say where, and I rushed out and my son with me. It was just daylight. My wife and I got out, and we had to go back into the house because of the firing. The firing was from all directions. The most part of it was from the drain. The fire was strong up from the drain, and Mr. O'Connor popped his head up from the drain and said, 'Who comes there? with a loud voice. I recognised the voice. Ryan sang out, 'Women and children,' and the firing still continued.

"We went back again and said to, Dan Kelly, 'I wish to heaven we were out of this.' Byrne said, 'Mrs. Reardon, put out the children and make them scream, and scream yourself'; and she was coming past the rifles in the passage, and one of the rifles tangled in her dress, and Dan Kelly said to Byrne, 'Take your rifle, or the woman will be shot'; and I came out and she screamed, and the children, and they came out. The fire was blazing and a policeman called out-I thought it was Sergeant Steele-'Come this way'; and he still kept firing at her-at my wife with the baby in her arms. (He was not covering her.) Firing at her and covering her are two different things. She has a shawl with a bullet hole through the corner of it which she can show you. I heard a voice saying, 'Come this way.' Constable Arthur was standing close to Sergeant Steele, and he said, 'If you fire on that woman again, I am ---- if I don't shoot you, cannot you see she is an innocent woman? These were Arthur's own words, and I did not believe that the man would do that. Then I had to return back; there were bullets flying at me, and I crept on the ground, and went back to the house the children, and as my son returned he got wounded in the shoulder, and fell on the jamb of the door, and he has got the bullet yet and he is quite useless to me or himself. I would sooner have seen him killed. He is getting on to nineteen. I returned back to the house then and lay down among the lot inside, and put the children between my knees, when a bullet scraped the breast of my coat and went across two other men, and went through the sofa at the other end of it. We remained there expecting every minute to be shot, until we heard a voice calling us to come out, about half-past nine in the morning (Monday). We got ten minutes. I think it would be Mr. Sadleir's voice, to the best of my belief. I cannot say for certain. Mr. Sadleir was the first I recognised after I came out. We all came out. I was the last, for I had the two children, one in each hand, and as I was coming down there was a constable: named Divery, and he said, 'Let us finish this ------ lot , ' or something like that. Then the terror of that drove me -- I ran to the drain. A blackfellow there cocked his rifle at my face, and I did not know what to do with the children, and I ran away up to where Mr. Sadleir was."

By the Commission: That was hot work.---Hot work! You would not like to be there, I can tell you.

"Byrne had been shot at the end of the counter, going from the passage. He was standing still. I only heard him fall. I heard him fall like a log, and he never groaned or anything, and I could hear a sound like blood gushing. That was about five or six in the morning; but when I was coming out , the other two (Dan Kelly and Hart) were "both standing close together in the passage, with the butt end of their rifles on the ground (floor). They were struck while I was there; I could hear the bullets flying off the armour several times. Their lives were saved for the time being by the armour. They fired many shots before that in the early part, but I believe from the time it became daylight they did not fire but very few times that I could notice."

Question by Commission: At the time that Steele, you say, was firing upon you, and your wife escaping, were the outlaws firing from the hotel?-No, I am positive they were not.

Question: Why?-Because they were standing still, and I could hear if they did. They (Dan Kelly and Hart) said they would not fire until we escaped. Sergeant Steele told me and several others that he had shot my son.

Supt. Hare went to Benalla shortly after he received a wound in the wrist. In his absence Senior-Constable Kelly was in charge.

Sergeant Steele seemed to be too intent on shooting at women and children to take command. At about six o'clock Supt. Sadleir arrived from Benalla with reinforcements, and he was from that hour in supreme command. There was no order or discipline among the fifty policemen and several civilians who were assisting the police. At about seven o'clock a figure like a blackfellow appeared up in the bush. Someone called out , "Look at this fellow." Senior-Constable Kelly called out to Guard Dowsett to "Challenge him, and if he does not answer you, shoot him." Ned Kelly, who in armour and helmet looked like a blackfellow, pulled out a revolver and fired at Constable Arthur. Three or four constables fired at him, and he advanced. On coming towards the house in the direction of Jones' there were several shots fired at him, they had no effect. Constable Kelly sang out, "Look out! he is bullet proof." Ned Kelly was coming towards the position which Sergeant Steele had taken up. Dowsett fired at him with a revolver. Ned Kelly was behind a tree, but one hand was projecting outside the tree. Constable Kelly fired at the hand and missed; he fired again and hit the hand. Ned still advanced and moved over to a fallen log at Jones' side of the log. Ned was coming from the Wangaratta side of the hotel and was coming from the direction of the Warby Ranges. Several policemen fired at him. Senior-Constable Kelly said, "Come on, lads, we will rush him." Ned was firing under great difficulties. He appeared to be crippled; he was holding up his right hand with his left hand; consequently his shots fell short and struck the ground half-way. Steele now came close up behind Ned and fired at him. Constable Kelly fired two shots, and Steele also fired, and Ned Kelly dropped on his haunches. Steele ran and caught him by the wrist and under the beard. The helmet was on. Steele had one hand on his neck. Constable Kelly pulled the helmet off and said, "My God, it is Ned!" Constable Kelly threw Ned over on Steele.

Constable Dwyer rushed up and kicked the captured bushranger while he was held down. Steele was about to shoot him with his revolver when Constable Bracken prevented him. Steele seemed thirsting for blood--someone's blood. One of the police thought Ned Kelly was a ghost; some thought it was the devil. They were all in a state of great excitement, and Ned Kelly was taken to the railway station and examined by Dr. John Nicholson. It was now known that Joe Byrne was dead There were only Dan Kelly and Steve Hart left. As the day wore on the fifty policemen continued to fire at the hotel.

Dr. John Nicholson, of Benalla, made history by suggesting to Supt Sadleir that the latter should wire to Melbourne for a field gun (cannon) in order to make sure that these youthful warriors would not outwit the police and escape.

Supt. Sadleir sent a wire to headquarters in Melbourne for a cannon to be sent up to blow up the hotel. It was also known to the police that Martin Cherry was lying dangerously wounded in a detached back room of the hotel.

Source: The Inner History of the Kelly Gang J.J Kenneally 1969.

The Reardon family.**

Father : James Reardon. (Plate-layer)

Mother : Margaret Reardon.

Children alive during siege :

Michael b 1863 d 1942

Thomas b 1864 d 1944

Mary b 1867 d 1942

Ann b 1870 d 1955

Catherine b 1872 d 1964

Helena b 1875 d 1949

William b 1877 d 1956

Bridget b 1880 d 1966

Michael Reardon was badly wounded in shoulder at siege.

Baby Bridget Reardon was lucky when a bullet went through the shawl she was wrapped
in at the Siege.

Ned Kelly asked James Reardon to assist him in lifting the rails to stop/destroy the police
special.

Mr. Reardon brought his entire family along, including their eight children.
Along with Reardon came fellow plate-layer Sullivan and a man named Larkins.

Reynolds removed just one length of rails, hoping a train could jump the break.

**Most of the information re children's dates was found at this site.
Reardon family ( www.satlink.com.au/~greig/dat54.htm )