Reports

REPORTS OF THE KELLY GANG IN LATE 19TH & EARLY 20TH CENTURY NORTH
AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS

BY SHARON HOLLINGSWORTH

There have been many ties between the United States and Australia as far
as the Kelly Gang is concerned, most notable of these ties is the fact
that Ned Kelly's step-father, George King, was an American. He was just
one of many his fellow countrymen who made their way Down Under to seek
their fortune and fulfill their Destiny. To mention a couple of more,
there was G.E. Buckmaster, former U.S. military man and Texas Ranger,
who moved to Australia and became a member of the Victorian Police for a
while. After he retired to Brisbane, he carried on correspondence with
the Victorian Police as to how to best catch the gang and offered his
services to come and assist them, but his services were declined.

Another tie was a Civil War ship, the C.S.S. Shenandoah. When the
Confederate raider docked in Melbourne it created a sensation amongst
the populace and almost sparked an international incident. Several key
Kelly players were involved with the Shenandoah and her crew while in
Melbourne, among them Charles Nicolson, Frederick Standish, and to a
lesser extent, Dr. Edward Barker (I believe). When the Shenandoah
arrived in Australia they were met with the news (presumably from
newspapers) that Washington, North Carolina had fallen to Union forces
(quite an uncanny coincidence, as that was my hometown).

Newspapers and periodicals were very important in the days before
television and radio, as they were the only way for people to get their
news (even if a bit late). Of course, there was also word-of-mouth, but
that usually came from newspapers somewhere down the line. All of which
leads us to the intent of this article in which I examine how the
American press reported on the Kelly Gang.

The Southern Hemisphere in times past seemed to be awash in a sea of ink
as newspapers and periodicals kept their readers up-to-date on all of
the Kelly Gang's exploits.
The Kelly Gang had been a veritable goldmine for the newspaper business
Down Under long before the Siege of Glenrowan (which was described by
Ian Jones in "A Short Life" as "a media event of a scale never before
seen in Australia.") Even decades after the Gang's demise they were
still holding newspaper readers in thrall, most especially in the
popular Sydney Sun series "The Kelly Gang From Within"by B.W. Cookson in
1911.

Right up into modern times the Kellys continue to be reported on in
newspapers in Australia. But what about across the sea in the North
Hemisphere, most notably the United States and Canada?

I have long wondered, did any of my favourite "wild west gunslingers"
ever hear anything about the Gang? What about the average American
citizen? Few books with information on the Kellys were published in the
U.S. back over a hundred plus years ago (though many were produced in
Australia and the UK which might have made their way there). Offhand I
can only think of a couple of volumes, most notably Francis Hare's "Last
of the Bushrangers" (originally published in London
1892) and Charles Ferguson's "The Experiences of a Forty-niner during
Thirty-four Years' Residence in California and Australia" (1888). That
leaves us with newspapers/periodicals to inform the public of the career
of Ned Kelly. But did they? The answer is yes, the American press did
report on the Kellys. Actually, I was a little bit surprised to find out
what some of the North American newspapers reported about the Kelly
Gang, not just in the late 19th century, but in many decades to follow,
right up into the early 20th century!

Of course in the latter part of the 20th century the art of Sidney Nolan
(and others), Douglas Stewart's play and the 1970 "Ned Kelly" film
brought Ned Kelly to the American people's attention, but our ancestors
seem to have gotten some really interesting tidbits in their papers
about the Gang, including an "odd court incident" involving a knife from
the gallery falling at Ned's feet while in the dock(!), as well as info
about Kate Kelly's stage appearances, an exploding gum tree caused by
the Gang's gunpowder cache, and even a report of Jim Kelly's death and
lots more. Of course, some (most?) of it could be taken with a grain of
salt, but it was all reported in good faith as being true. (Stick with
me as I will be giving text from some of those articles throughout the
rest of this narrative.)

In Justin Corfield's "Ned Kelly Encyclopaedia" he has an entry on
"Overseas Coverage of the Kelly Outbreak" and has reproduced the article
from The New York Times dated August 22, 1880 in which the particulars
of the Glenrowan incident and capture of Ned were detailed. The article
was titled

"Outlaws Hunted Down"
"The Terror of the Colony of Victoria–End of the Notorious Kelly
Band"

and he also had snippets regarding the hanging of Ned dated Nov.
11, 1880 from the same paper, but he gave no other info on American
press coverage. I always figured that New York Times article was
probably syndicated and used in part or full by other newspapers around
the country. I was able to find at least one other example of that
article being quoted in part by The Marian (Ohio) Daily Star of
September 27,
1880. This particular quote stands out in both:

"When on the ground he roared with savage ferocity, cursing the police."
The next mention I was able to dig up in American newspapers was again
in the New York Times, dated April 4, 1886, as it discussed books for
youngsters:
"But no unsophisticated boy, with a taste above the adventures of Ned
Kelly the Bushranger, can be happier than he is made by "Quentin
Durwood" and "Ivanhoe.."

So, this suggests that American youngsters were quite familiar
with Ned Kelly!

The next example I found was an 1895 article about the convict hulk
Success in which it mentioned about there being

"wax counterfeits of notorious bushrangers, including the Kelly Gang.."

aboard the ship for viewing.

1904 was a banner year, as several fascinating articles about the Gang
appeared in some newspapers.
In both the Lima (Ohio) Times Democrat of June 6, 1904 and the Newark
(Ohio) Advocate dated August 12, 1904 there was this hard-to-swallow
incident reported:

"An Odd Court Incident. Sensational incidents are not uncommon in the
closing stages of famous criminal trials. One of the most remarkable
occurred in Melbourne on the list day of the trial of Ned Kelly, known
as the "ironclad bushranger of Australia." A knife dropped from a
gallery overhead and fell at the feet of the desperado in the dock. He
had every temptation to grasp it and put an end to his existence, for
there was not the slightest chance of his escaping the gallows. But it
was promptly picked up by a bailiff, and its owner was arrested and
brought before the judge. He pleaded that the occurrence was purely
accidental, and the explanation was accepted by the court."

(See what I mean about a grain of salt?)

In May of 1904, the Atlanta (Georgia) Constitution had an article about
Bob Ford (Jesse James' assassin) and his brother Charlie, who had toured
around the country trying to capitalize on their notoriety. The article
made mention of Kate Kelly:

"Katie Kelly, the sister of the notorious Australian bushranger Ned
Kelly, may also be numbered among the ex-crimnals who have had wit
enough or hardihood to turn their misfortunes to good account
pecuniarily. While the hunt for the gang was In progress. Katie,
together with several other members of the family, had been arrested.
But they were never brought to trial, and soon after Ned was captured
they were released. Thereupon the girl, who was very [word missing] and
liked being noticed, accepted an engagement at a Melbourne music hall.
She proved a great draw too for the colonies were, of course, ringing
with the exploits of her family. But the reaction came when she had the
effrontery to appear on the stage, in company with her brother Jim on
the very day that Ned was executed. Some among the audience hissed,
there was a disturbance, and the authorities intervened to stop the
[word missing]. Katie then went to Sydney, but there again the
government stepped in.... Nevertheless, it was said at the time that the
girl netted enough by her [words missing] to set up comfortably for
life."

(Kate arrested?! An ex-criminal? Pass the salt, please!)

How about this from October 10, 1904 from the Wellsboro (Pennsylvania)
Agitator:

"More than a quarter of a century has passed since Ned Kelly, the
"ironclad bushranger of Australia" to quote the title of a popular penny
dreadful, was hanged in the Melbourne Jail. The northeastern district of
Victoria, which he once terrorized and which a humorist of the period
called "Kellifornia" is now largely opened up and occupied by farmers,
according to the Indianapolis News. One of them received a shock the
other day. He was burning off some of the dense brush on his land when
suddenly there was a tremendous explosion, and a giant gum tree, nearly
300 feet high, was scattered into space. The Kelly gang had hollowed-out
a portion of the trunk and used it as one of their secret receptacles
for the storage of gun-powder."

In 1908, papers in Iowa (The Iowa City Citizen, Feb. 19), Indiana
(Indiana Weekly Messenger, Feb. 12) and Maryland (Denton Journal, Feb.
15) carried an article about Bushrangers, singling out the Kellys in
which this was said (among other things):

"After many daring crimes and hairbreadth escapes the Kellys actually
held up the entire village of Jerilderie, N. S. W., which had a
population of 200. Ned Kelly looted the bank.....while his three pals
held the men of the village cooped up in their homes. Although there was
a special bushranging act in force at the time authorizing the detention
of persons supposed to be in communication the outlaws, the Kellys were
not heard of again for nearly a year, when they "stuck up" the small
town of Glenrowan, in Victoria..."

The Washington Post newspaper carried a weekly series between December
1910 and March 1911 called "World-Famous Police Mysteries" (which was
syndicated to other papers in 1912). The article for the week of January
15, 1911, was about the Kellys. The subtitle read:

"Thrilling Campaign of Crime Carried on by the Famous Kelly Bushrangers
of Australia, who showed Daring and Warlike Genius in their Startling
Murders and Robberies. Whole Towns Were Held in Awe While the Bandits
Plundered Banks at their Leisure and then Rode Away Unmolested–One
Deed Too Many and All Were Slain."

The article was a lengthy one, filling the whole upper portion above the
fold. It went into great detail about the Kelly's cattle stealing (but
oddly said that the NE triangle of New South Wales came to be known as
Kelly Country), about the Euroa and Jerilderie raids, as well as the
exploits at Glenrowan. Of interest is this bit reported to have happened
at Euroa:

"Within the station house the utmost good humor prevailed. One woman
remarked in a jocular manner: "Well, Mr. Kelly, if I was single I think
I would marry you if you asked me." "There is only one woman I care for,
and that is my [word missing] the leader of the band answered, smiling."

(Regarding the missing word, one can easily assume he said 'mother'.)

The article went on to say more, including:

"The robbing of the Euroa bank on December 10, 1878, displayed that cool
judgment, forethought and intimate attention to details which are among
the most essential requisites of military generalship."

Then later when telling about Glenrowan it said:

"The outlaws perceived that the warning had been given, but they had no
thought of flight and, having locked up their prisoners, went into a
room together and assisted each other to don the iron armor which they
had manufactured out of old pots and scrap iron. Thus equipped, they
awaited the attack."

In 1912, in the Evening Post (Frederick, Maryland) and in the Sheybogan
(Wisconsin) Press, and the Van Nuys (California) News, a gentleman who
was a lecturer, told of his trip to Beechworth in glowing, descriptive
terms, and he touched on the gang, here is just part of what he had to
tell:

"Gold and bushrangers? There is an affinity between the two. But for the
presence of the one, the others would not have come into existence.
Beechworth was once the center of the operations of the most desperate
gang of bushrangers Australia has ever known. The Kelly Gang. I heard
the story from the lips of the oldest [word missing] a vigorous old
Scotsman who has passed his eighty-fourth year, and who retains a clear
memory and a youthful spirit. He was one of the magistrates who tried
the members of the terrible "Kelly gang." He pointed out the place where
stood the prison in which the precious scoundrels were incarcerated.
With pride he conducted us to a rock which is named after [words
missing] which we obtained a marvelous panorama of a hilly country
extending many miles in every direction. And there, deep down in the
dell, lay caves and other hiding places In which the thieves found
shelter from the harassing police and soldiery. We stood in the heart of
the bushrangers' country. The story of that time when told today makes
the flesh shiver. As we purveyed the beautiful landscape and shared the
deep tranquillty of hill and dale, we found it difficult to believe that
only thirty years ago this country-side was at the mercy of three or
four desperadoes, who kept the inhabitants in a state of continual
terror. Three or four armed with guns and revolvers, raided [word
missing] they pleased, killed whom they pleased, and lived as they
pleased. Soldiers, and police alike were foiled by them, and when they
were at last taken, it was more by accident than design. Dick Turpln, so
far as England is concerned, belongs to a past age. Don Quixote may be
still wandering in some guise or other amongst the Spanish mountains.
But that a band of Irishmen should at the [word missing] of the
nineteenth century and upon British territory continue the exploits of
the old-world is almost incredible...."

I am sure there must have been many more reports of the Kellys in the
American press that I have not yet run across for the decades since
1880, but there is one last one I did find, from a Canadian newspaper,
the Lethbridge Herald dated Dec. 19, 1946, that I will close with:

"....Jim Kelly, the last member of Australia's notorious bushranging
family is dead. He died in his sleep near the small Victorian town of
Glenrowan, the scene of the Kelly gang's last flght with police on June
29, 1880. He was more than 90 years old. Jim was in jail for bushranging
in the Australian bush when four members of the Kelly [words missing]
large areas of New South Wales and Victoria from 1878 to 1880. In
February, 1879, they took control of the New South Wales town of
Jerllderie for three days. Eventually, however, the four were cornered
in a Glenrowan hotel. Their 26-year-old leader, Ned Kelly, wearing a
100-pound suit of armor made from plowshares, emerged and fought 10
policemen for [words missing] before leg wounds disabled him. The three
other bushrangers held out in the hotel against 50 police until the
building caught fire and they died in the flames. Ned was hanged at
Melbourne Jail Nov. 11, I880."
..........................
Notes: I would like to thank Michael Ball and Brian Stevenson for hints,
tips and suggestions which helped to enhance this article.

The clip art used to illustrate this article is originally from a 1912
edition of The Book of Knowledge encyclopedia found on an excellent (and
free!) clip art site which can be found at http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/