SEP 23

THE KELLY GANG FROM WITHIN

SURVIVORS OF THE TRAGEDY INTERVIEWED.

GLENROWAN AND ITS PEOPLE AS THEY ARE TO-DAY.

(Specially Written for "The Sun" by B.W. Cookson).
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Saturday, September 23, 1911

THE GENESIS OF THE TROUBLE

EX-CONSTABLE FITZPATRICK'S VERSION.

DENIES INTERFERING WITH KATE KELLY.
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Tall, stalwart, with thick brown hair and moustache, ex-Constable
Fitzpatrick, as he appears to-day, would, with a police uniform on, look
a smart, capable officer. Time seems to have passed him over. It his
hard to realise that this young-looking man over 30 years ago was, for
some time, the most-talked-of individual in the Victorian police force
in connection with the greatest of Australian bush romances.
He lives to-day at Hawthorn, in Victoria, with his wife and other
relatives, and follows a business which takes him, from time to time,
over various inland districts of the State. Ex-Constable Fitzpatrick is
handed down in history as the central police figure in an incident which
sent the Kelly gang on their wild, reckless, lawless career. It was
interesting to hear the story from his own lips, as he sat in his cosy
front room, pipe in hand. It was with great reluctance that he allowed
himself to speak of those days when the exploits of the Kellys stirred
Australia to its very core.
"I do not like bringing it up again at all," he said. "I have been
grossly misrepresented, though I am the the only living man to-day who
can tell the story just as it happened. I can say with truth, however,
that I did my duty." "At that time I was a young fellow, 19 years of
age," he resumed. "I could ride like a centaur, and when I joined the
force I was sent to the Richmond police depot as a mounted man. After my
training the drill instructor, Sergeant Fagan, recommended that I should
be sent to the Benalla district. It was like the hand of fate. At that
time horse-stealing was rampant. Whitty's station lost 500 pounds worth
of horseflesh in a single year. I had been at Benalla for about 12
months, and one day I received instructions to take temporary charge of
the Greta police station. Senior-constable Strachan, the regular
officer-in-charge, had obtained some information concerning Ned Kelly's
whereabouts. He was wanted on a charge of horse-stealing. It was
believed that he was at a shearing shed in New South Wales, and Strachan
had been accorded permission to go there and effect his arrest. I
noticed, in the 'Police Gazette,' that a warrant was out for Dan Kelly
on a similar charge. Two days before this I had attended, on duty, a
race meeting in the locality, and, while returning, I met Dan. He was on
his way home with a young fellow named Lloyd. I mentioned the matter to
Sergeant Whelan, who was in charge at Benalla.
"If I see Dan at the Eleven-mile Creek, on my way to Greta, I'll arrest
him, and take him along with me,' I remarked to the sergeant, and he
said, 'Be careful, how you go about it. They are a bad crowd.' I then
rode off the the Eleven-mile Creek, where Mrs. Kelly's little homestead
was situated. This was on April 15, 1878. I found Mrs. Kelly and the
young members of the family about the house. Kate Kelly, a girl about 16
years of age, was among them. I asked where Dan was, and Mrs. Kelly
said, 'He hasn't come home yet.' I got off my horse, and stood talking
to Mr. Kelly, Kate Kelly, and Mrs. Skillion, the last-mentioned being
still another of the Kelly family. Suddenly I noticed Dan Kelly riding
in. Skillion, Williams, and one of the Lloyds rode with him. They were a
good distance off, and I set out to meet them, but they took a a cut to
an old hut, which Dan entered. I had to go round a paddock to reach
them, and while I was doing this Dan went on to the house When I got to
the door I called out, 'Is Dan in?' Dan came out with a knife and fork
in his hands. 'I've got a warrant for your arrest, Dan,' I told him, and
he replied, 'Let's get something to eat. I've been riding all day. I'll
go with you then.' I had got off my horse, and stepped inside the house.
"I had not been inside more than 10 minutes before Mrs. Kelly went up to
the girls and whispered something to them. They ran out to the back hut.
I know now that the old lady had given them a message to carry to Ned
Kelly who was in the hut.
"Mrs. Kelly turned suddenly to me and excitedly shouted, 'You'll never
take him out of this place alive.' "I replied, 'If I don't, Mrs. Kelly,
somebody else will. I don't know whether there is sufficient evidence to
convict him.. All I've got to do is to arrest him.' "There's no saying
what the police will do,' retorted the old lady, who showed a good deal
of temper.
"Just at this moment Ned Kelly rushed in, revolver in hand, "Out of
this, you -----,' he exclaimed, and he fired a shot at me. The
bullet went through the left sleeve of my jumper, and as I backed and
tried to draw my revolver Dan, who was still sitting at the table,
jumped up and prevented me. Two more shots were fired at me. One of
Ned's bullets struck me on the left wrist, and the bullet entered just
on the edge of the knuckle-bone, where the mark still shows, as you can
see. Almost at the same moment Mrs. Kelly hit me on the head with a
shovel, and went down unconscious.
"I owe my life to a lucky circumstance. Some time previously I had
arrested Ned Kelly for drunkenness, and I looked after him at the
lock-up, and treated him kindly. When I regained my senses he told me
that if he had known who I was he would not have fired at me. They let
me get my horse and ride away. I at once reported the shooting to the
sergeant at Benalla, and warrants were issued charging the principals
with attempted murder. They took to the bush to avoid arrest, and that
is how they became outlaws and set Australia ringing with their deeds."
Fitzpatrick then referred to the allegations that were made against him.
It was stated that he had precipitated the shooting by making offensive
advances to Kate Kelly.
"The stories that were circulated about me," he said, "were of a
ridiculous description. They are entirely false, but were believed by
people who at that time were ready to believe anything against the
police. The Kellys had a tremendous number of sympathisers, and a good
many people, who did not come out into the open, ran with the hare and
hunted with the hounds. This made matters worse for me. It was entirely
to the interests of the Kellys that I should be misrepresented. But, in
the name of common-sense, was it likely, when I told them that I had
come to arrest Dan Kelly, that they would permit me to be even friendly
towards Kate Kelly! They all showed me bitter dislike from the time hat
I rode up. Their whole attitude to the police force was one of intense
hostility. It was only natural that they should try and blame me for
causing the trouble that led to the gang defying the law.
"One of the proofs that I acted the straight part came from Ned Kelly
himself. When he stuck up the bank at Jerilderie the question was put to
him while he was talking with some of the townspeople, 'What about
Fitzpatrick?' Ned answered, 'If he had done what they say he did the
country would not have been big enough to hold him.' Ned Kelly clearly
meant that if I had molested his sister Kate he would have shot me, no
matter where he found me. But I was made a marked man. Even when I was
out of the force, some two years afterwards, the trumped-up story
followed me. A man was arrested for drunkenness or some other minor
offense at Korong Vale, in the Bendigo district, and he said that he was
ex-Constable Fitzpatrick. A Bendigo newspaper printed a paragraph,
reflecting on my character, and I issued a writ for 1000 pounds damages.
My legal advisors, however, said that I would have to show that I had
suffered some loss in consequence, such as then position that I then
occupied, before I could succeed, and reluctantly, I had to abandon the
action. Every now and again, for years afterwards, I had to stand up and
defend myself against unjust accusations. Even in the theatrical
productions I have been libelled. The first story of the Kelly gang,
produced in Melbourne, I think, on the night that Ned Kelly was hanged,
depicted me as making insolent advances to Kate Kelly at the Eleven-mile
Hut. I attended on purpose to watch it, and promptly took steps to have
that particular scene modified. You can understand that these things
affected me very deeply. The startling and dramatic nature of the events
that followed upon the incident that I was connected with focussed
attention upon me. The easily gullible public, as curious as children,
and ever hungry for palatable gossip, listened greedily to any tale at
that time, and my position was most unenviable. But I can always say
this: I did my duty, fairly and squarely, though I was then little more
than a lad.
"Ned Kelly," said Fitzpatrick in conclusion, "rises before me as I
speak. Considering his environment, he was a superior man. He possessed
great natural ability, and under favourable circumstances would probably
have become a leader of men in good society, instead of the head of a
gang of outlaws."