Etched in Memories But Not Carved in Stone [Sharon Hollingsworth]

It seems that the Kelly Gang really did light up a few lives.

It is interesting to read some of the obituaries and death notices from some of the old newspapers at the Trove website (formerly the National Library of Australia's historical papers site). Back in the old days there was a great deal of name-dropping going on where the deceased were tied in with people of note and some of those had the most tenuous of connections at times. The Kelly gang seemed to be popular figures to reference. Understandably, those in the police force or others who had prominent roles in the Kelly saga had mentions of Ned Kelly or the Kelly gang in their death write ups, but what really surprised me were the number of just average folks whose write ups contained references to their run ins and associations with the gang! 

Let's take a look at few, starting with the police.

Of course, the earliest police deaths that would mention the Kelly gang would have been those of Michael Kennedy, Michael Scanlon and Thomas Lonigan. Oddly, years later when certain members of their families passed away the gang got a mention. When Mrs. Lonigan died the gang was referenced as well as when a daughter of Michael Kennedy's died in 1953.


There was this somewhat incongruous/misleading newspaper headline from 1924 for Alexander Fitzpatrick:


SHOT BY NED KELLY. TROOPER FITZPATRICK DEAD.


In June of 1899 there was this sensational headline for Ernest Flood:

DEATH OF SUB-INSPECTOR FLOOD. ONE OF NED KELLY'S "MARKED MEN."

The one for Sgt. Steele in 1914 read:

SGT. STEELE "NED KELLY'S CAPTOR"

Then, oddly, there was this one in 1938 for Mrs. Steele and a son, who each died within a short while of each other:

CAPTURER OF NED KELLY WIDOW AND SON DEAD WANGARATTA


Charles Nicolson had the coolest headline of the police:

DEATH OF C.H. NICOLSON, A NOTED BUSHRANGER-HUNTER.

That makes him sound like an international man of action! You will recall he was in on the capture of Harry Power as well as being in charge of the Kelly hunt for a time.

I guess if you can't have your own glory you can bask (albeit posthumously) in the reflected glory of others..Michael Lawler died in 1895 and his obit had this version of six degrees of separation:

"Five years of active life were spent in Victoria, and he was associated in the Force with Messrs. Nicolson, Hare, and A. Grubb...the two former having subsequently taken part in the capture of the famous Kelly gang."

Then we have John Henry Stow, who was police sergeant at Violet Town during the hunt for the Kelly gang. "Mr. Stow was the officer who brought Ned Kelly to Melbourne after his arrest at Glenrowan."

Yeah, him and quite a few others!!!


James O'Meagher died in 1933, he was "a member of the Victorian police force...his lively and intimate reminiscences of the Kelly gang were always entertaining."

J.M. Hewitt was said to have been "the last survivor of the police present at the capture of the Kelly gang." While William Canny was said to have been "the last survivor of a band of six mounted police which was among the force that went to Glenrowan to capture the Kelly gang."


Not to be outdone by the Victorian police, Mr. William John Anderson died in October of 1934 and his claim to fame was that he "was one of the last survivors of the NSW police force who took part in the pursuit of the Kelly gang."



Other policemen with mention in their obits of the Kellys and their part in the pursuit are as follows with the most prominent being: John Sadleir, Francis Hare, Brook Smith, Frederick Standish, Sgt. Devine, James Dwyer, Henry Pewtress, James Whelan, Hugh Bracken (a very special case as he committed suicide),Tom King, and the two black trackers Hero and Jack Noble.

Other lesser known policemen whose obits have mention of the Kellys include: Oscar E. Hedberg, Sr. Constable Boulton, Patrick O'Loughlin, Robert Henry, William Whitaker, William John Anderson, Constable Healy, Michael Hanlon, Samuel Mooney, and James Allwood.

There was another lesser known policeman with an unusual headline:

FATAL MISTAKE

MAN DRINKS IODINE

Seems that in 1932, Frederick Manning, who had been a police trooper and who had claimed to be in on the capture of Ned Kelly, had mistaken a bottle of iodine for medicine with tragic results.

But not as tragic as the terrible irony of

 KELLY GANG RECALLED. EX-POLICE OFFICER BURNT TO DEATH.

This was in 1929 and was for Constable Robert McHugh (which the article mistakenly refers to as Thomas McHugh) who was at Glenrowan for the siege.

Let's look at some of the other non-police folks whose obits and death write ups reference the Kelly gang.

There are those whom I know to have been prominent in the saga such as Judge Redmond Barry, Robert Ramsay, Jesse Dowsett, Anton Wicks, Bishop Matthew Gibney, and William Elliott.

Others who had been at Glenrowan (besides Gibney) were prisoners Michael Reardon and John Charles Lowe (the article said he was "believed to be the last survivor of the people imprisoned in the Glenrowan Hotel by the Kelly gang." He died in 1950. I suppose that the babe in arms, Bridget Reardon who died many years later did not come into account as she was not aware like the others were?).

Thomas Curnow's obit mentioned the gang, as well as the one for his sister, the one who had been wearing the red llama scarf/shawl that Curnow used as a warning signal to help stop the train.
In all the books she is listed as Catherine Curnow, but in a news article detailing her death she was listed as Kathleen Trudgian (as she had married John Trudgian in 1882 according to an online record). Surely "Kathleen" is a typo as the same online record had her as Catherine. Anyway, it said that "Mrs. Trudgian often spoke of the courtesy extended by Ned Kelly when she and her brother were held prisoner, and said it seemed inconceivable that he was such a notorious outlaw."

The Jones children, Johnny and Jane also had the gang mentioned in connection with their deaths, as did their mother, Ann Jones who died in 1910. In one article she was listed as "Mary Ann Smith." We know she married Henry Smith after the death of her husband Owen Jones, but I have never seen her first name as Mary before. Maybe another newspaper mistake? Has anyone seen her death certificate? Or am I just talking to myself as usual?

Of course, the death of Kelly family members made mention of Ned Kelly and the Kelly gang.

Kelly author J.J. Kenneally also had mention of them in his write up, as did reporter Joe Melvin who travelled in the special train to Glenrowan with the police.

Oddly, there is someone I have never heard of named Thomas Power who is billed as a sports writer who was said to have been the first newspaper representative to reach Glenrowan. Perhaps that meant other than the pressmen who got there with the police?


There were a few folks who had been in the banks when the Kellys raided whose write ups told of the fact and there was one who had in his obit that he was a bank manager at Benalla at the time of the outbreak (lucky for him the gang never robbed one there!). Another bank manager had been issued a gun to use if the Kelly gang tried to rob his bank, instead he accidentally shot himself with it and he developed tetanus and died! Folks who were bailed up at Jerilderie or who had helped run the telegraph service there had the Kellys mentioned in their write ups.


Ok, now the fun begins, we get to those with really tenuous ties...

There was one fellow whose obit simply stated "He had met Ned Kelly." There was one who was said to have been "nursed through an illness by Mrs. Kelly" and there was one who ran a butter company who bought milk and cream from the Kellys. A few even had in their obits that they had been schoolmates with either Kate Kelly or Steve Hart and one old fellow's write up said that he had played cards with Ned Kelly. Another old timer, not yet dead at the time, had claimed that Ned Kelly taught him how to smoke. Another fellow's obit claims he rode with the Kellys and some others had met them when the gang members worked for their families in their pre-outlaw days.

One old dear, who was the late wife of a policeman had a write up that claims "she arrived in the Riverina 54 years ago, travelling in one of the first trains to pass through Glenrowan after the capture of the Kelly gang"! Talk about tenuous! That is downright gossamer!

This has to be another of my favourite headlines (from 1945):

NED KELLY'S DANCE PARTNER DIES AT 92

She was one of many if all the oral histories are true!

There was one for a lady who had drank tea with Ned (ditto the above statement) and one who recalled seeing Kate Kelly ride a horse with the shoes on backwards to throw the police off the trail.

Here is another dubious headline:

NED KELLY'S ARMOR

DEATH OF ITS MAKER

It details about Joseph Grigg who was an unwilling participant in the making!

We have several folks whose obits say they came from Kelly country, and there was one who was a head porter at Wangaratta "at the time the Kelly gang was active." Another fellow who died in 1933 had a mention about the time "he was accosted late one night by Steve Hart, a member of the Kelly gang, who made no attempt to molest him when he explained that he was a stranger in the district." (Hmm...since when did that ever stop Steve, who seemed to have really poor impulse control, from taking what he wanted?)

There was another guy who claimed that he fought Ned for 13 rounds and lost, but then challenged Ned to a wrestling match and won and he also saw the last stand of the gang at Glenrowan.

There were at least a couple dozen more obits that I had read which referenced the Kellys and I am sure there were more that I did not find. And what might be in papers not archived at Trove?

And I almost forgot...there were at least two wedding anniversary articles that mentioned ties with the Kellys!


Close brushes with the Kellys during life were etched in many memories even if they were not carved in stone upon death. As far as I know I don't think that anyone's (original) tombstone actually remarked on their link with the Kellys, the one exception being the grave markers for Kennedy, Lonigan and Scanlon. Neither Ned Kelly nor the Kelly Gang are mentioned by name, but reference is made to the three policemen being "murdered by armed criminals in the Wombat Ranges near Mansfield" on the stones. There are a few in modern times, however, that have had markers put up by historical societies on previously unmarked graves, stating that they died at the Siege of Glenrowan (Johnny Jones and Martin Cherry) or that he (Red Kelly) was the father of Ned and Dan.

Michael Ball told me about a memorial plaque put up by the grandchildren of Thomas McIntyre on his grave in Ballarat Cemetery in 1988 (McIntyre died in 1918). It states that McIntyre was
 
SOLE SURVIVOR OF STRINGY BARK CREEK MASSACRE.

photos courtesy of Michael Ball

Also it looks as if someone later might have attached a very small name plate at the bottom of the memorial tribute. The name plate merely says NED KELLY. It does not look like part of the original design (though I could be wrong, and if so, I hope someone will gently correct me.). It is quite a mystery. A friend of mine said that it seems that Ned is haunting Mac in death as he did in life!