Sydney Morning Herald
7 / 2/1914
... part of the KellyGang story
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Mr Edwin R Living, the accountant of the bank, told how the "Stickling up" was effected. The gang had taken possession of the Royal Mail Hotel (then kept by Mr Charles Cox), which, was In the same block of premises as the bank, and backed on to it, and made use of it to enter the bank from the rear. Mr Living turned round on his stool at the sound of footsteps in the passage, and found himself looking into the barrel of a revolver. "I'm Ned Kelly'", was the brief explanatory exclamation, "keep quiet if you value your life." As a matter of fact the intruder was Byrne, but the effect was the same. Under the bushranger's order, Mr Living yielded up what arms there were in the room, and then, with young James T Mackie, his assistant, was escorted into the adjoining hotel, where Ned Kelly himself was guarding some six or eight other prisoners. As each customer of the hotel entered he was "shouted for" by Constable Richards, who introduced Ned Kelly by name to the astonished individuals, and each was compelled to remain in the big waiting room. The landlord, following instructions, continued serving at the bar, so that no one coming in should suspect that anything was wrong.
Ned Kelly now demanded Mr John W Tarleton, the bank manager, and the accountant was escorted away by Byrne to find him. The manager was located in the hotel bath (enjoying a shower after an early morning gallop), and was so incredulous at the announcement made by his accountant:- "Ned Kelly and his gang have stuck up the bank, and went you to come out with your keys," that he scolded Mr Living for his impertinence in attempting to play such a practical joke on his manager. "But it's anything but a joke," explained the accountant, "it's all too true." And a couple of minutes later the manager realised that it was no hoax. Ned Kelly had hitherto been walking round ns a sort of director-general of the proceedings, giving orders. He now entered the hotel waiting-room, where the bewildered prisoners were, and ordered drinks to be served all round. Next he made a speech, in which he blamed Constable Fitzpatrick for all that had occurred. "I wasn't within a hundred miles of Greta when he was shot," he said, "and up till then I had never killed a man in my life." He took out a revolver, and exclaimed: "This was Lonergan's; I took it from him at Stringy Bark Creek. The gun I shot him with was a crooked, worn-out thing, not worth picking up. I shot him because he threatened my mother and my sister if they refused to tell where I was."
After this display Ned Kelly proceeded to get to business. From the bank safe and drawers were taken about £2150, the gold being thrown into a bag, which the local schoolmaster (Mr Edwards) was made to hold open. The schoolmaster then wrote out a notice at Ned Kelly's direction giving the school-children a whole holiday in honour of the gang's visit to the town. In the some braggadocio spirit, the outlaws, after quitting the bank, the books and papers of which they piled into a bag, held open by Byrne, and did not burn (as has been so frequently printed), swaggered around the town, compelling several business people to cut the telegraph wires in the main street. Byrne had previously damaged and effectively thrown out of gear the telegraph connections at the post-office, and made prisoners of the postmaster (Mr H B Jefferson) and his only assistant (Rankin) in the hotel. It was during their swagger round the town that Steve Hart robbed the local Anglican clergy -man of his watch. The clergyman reported the theft to Ned Kelly, who made Hart return the watch.
As the telegraph wires had been cut, there was no means of communication with Conargo or Narrandera, the nearest townships. For, the time, therefore, Jerilderie was completely isolated. It remained thus at the mercy of the gang until the afternoon of the same day as that on which they robbed the bank, the third day from their arrival. Then, with their booty packed on a police horse, the bushrangers rode off into the hills, leaving the township in pairs, each one taking a different route to render pursuit more difficult.
En route out of the district they stuck up Mr Mackie's station at Wunnamurra, after which they made all haste across the Murray, and got back into the security of their Beechworth (Victoria) district retreat, wherein Sherritt, the traitor to their ranks, was shot by the gang.
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This document gives you the text of the report about the KellyGang for this day. The text has been retyped from a microfiche copy of the original. We have taken care to reproduce this document but areas of the original text may been damaged. We also apologise for any typographical errors.