Ned Kelly a True Story (1)
IT IS THE YEAR 1880.
In the prison in Melbourne, Australia, a young man has visitors - his mother, a brother, and two sisters. Nobody is saying very much. There is only one word to say, and the word is 'Goodbye'.
Because the young man is Ned Kelly, the most famous outlaw in all Australia. And tomorrow morning the prison officers are going to put a rope around his neck and hang him until he is dead.
This is Ned Kelly's story...
CHAPTER ONE
Ned's Young Days
JULY, 1865. The story begins in Avenel, a small town north of Melbourne. Ned Kelly lives here with his parents, John and Ellen Kelly. Ned is ten years old, the oldest boy of the seven Kelly children. He has two brothers, Jim and Dan, and four sisters - Anne, Maggie, Kate, and Grace.
*
'Where's your father, boy?' Ellen Kelly called out to her son one evening. 'Is he on the road? Can you see him?'
Ned Kelly looked out of the door. 'No, Ma,' he said. 'I can't see him.'
Ned's father came home late, and he came in quietly.
'Ellen,' he said, 'come with me. I need your help. There's a dead cow by the trees on the hill. We must cut it up and bring it home.'
'Oh, John, is it one of our cows?' his wife asked. 'How did it die?'
'It's one of Morgan's cows, and I killed it,' John said. 'So we must be quick, before he comes looking for it.'
'Oh, you fool!' said Ellen.
In the children's bed in the next room, Ned listened to this. It was a small house, with only two rooms, and you could hear everything. Ned was pleased about the dead cow. They didn't often have meat to eat, and the children were always hungry.
But dead cows bring trouble. Three days later there was a policeman at the door. 'John Kelly, you killed Morgan's cow, and I'm taking you to prison...'
That was the end of school for Ned Kelly. He was the man of the family now. He helped his mother, and he worked on the Kellys' farm. The farm was not very big, and life was not easy for the Kellys.
John Kelly and Ellen Quinn were from Ireland. They first met in Melbourne, and then came north, to find land for a farm. Many other Irish people did the same thing. Everybody wanted land, but some people had a lot more land than other people. It was a hard, wild life. There was a lot of drinking, a lot of fighting, a lot of stealing - horses, cows, dead or alive...
John Kelly was in prison for six months. Prison was not good for him, and when he came out, he began to drink. A year and a half later he was dead.
'What are we going to do now, Ma?' Ned asked.
Ellen thought about it. She was a tall, strong woman, and all her life she was a fighter. She had twelve children in the end and was ninety-three years old when she died.
'We must leave here,' she said. 'We must go to the northeast, and live near my family.'
*
The Kellys' new house was at Eleven Mile Creek, near Greta. They had some animals and a small garden, and Ned worked hard to get money for the family. He could do farming work, take care of horses and cows, cut down trees.
But trouble was never far away. The police did not like the wild Kelly boys, or their friends. In 1870, when Ned was fifteen, he hit a man very hard in a fight, and the police put him in prison for six months.
The next year something worse happened. Ned was in the town of Greta on a brown horse when Policeman Hall came up to him.
'Ned Kelly, you get down and come with me. You stole that horse and I'm taking you to prison.'
'That's not true,' said Ned, and then there was a terrible fight. Policeman Hall had a gun and Ned did not, but Ned was the better fighter. In the end Hall called for help and five men came to help him.
Next day they took Ned down to Wangaratta and he went in front of the judge.
'It's not my horse, it belongs to a man called Wild Wright,' Ned told the judge. 'Wright was at my mother's house, and his horse ran away. He needed a horse so I gave him one of my horses. And he said to me, "When you find the brown horse, you keep her for me." And so when I found the horse, I kept her.'
'Ned Kelly stole that horse!' Policeman Hall said. 'It belongs to a man in Mansfield, and someone stole it on the 6th of March.'
'Well,' Ned said, 'I was in Beechworth prison up to the 29th of March. How can I steal a horse when I'm in prison? And Wright told me it was his horse - I didn't know it was a stolen horse.'
But it is a crime to have a stolen horse. Wild Wright, of course, stole the horse, and he went to prison for eighteen months. But they put Ned Kelly in prison for three years. When he came back to Eleven Mile Creek in 1874, things were very different.
CHAPTER TWO
The Kelly Gang
MAY, 1874. Neds sister Annie is dead; his brother Jim is in prison (five years for stealing cows), and his brother Dan is often in trouble too. There are new faces at home - a new husband, and a new baby, for Neds mother.
*
'Ned? Is that you? Oh, Ned!' Ellen Kelly ran to the door. Ned, now nineteen years old, tall and strong, was home from prison. He put his arm round his mother.
'Hello, Ma,' he said.
'Oh, Ned, it's good to see you,' said Ellen.
'I heard about Jim,' Ned said. 'And little Annie.'
'Poor, poor Annie,' said his mother. 'She was so ill after she had the baby, and we couldn't do anything to help her. And poor Jim got five years!'
'Yes, that's hard,' said Ned. 'And what about you, Ma? I hear you've got a new husband.' He looked at the sleeping baby in his mother's arms.
'He's a good man, Ned. Little Ellen here - she's his daughter.'
Ned touched the baby's little hand.
'I'm happy for you, Ma. And I'm happy to be back.'
*
Ned soon found work. He moved from farm to farm, cutting down trees and helping with the horses and cows. He often came home to see his mother, and he and George King, Ellen's new husband, were soon friends. George was from California, and was only five years older than Ned.
On one visit home, Ned talked to George about the police. 'Why do they give me all this trouble?' he said.
'I don't know,' said George. 'They just don't like you.'
'It's true,' Ned said. 'When somebody loses a cow or a horse, the police always come to me with their questions. Then they go to my mother's house and ask her questions. And they always go late at night, when you're all in bed. It isn't right.'
'Well, come and work with me,' said George. 'Why not? You're good with horses, and I don't have any trouble with the police.'
'What work are you planning to do?' said Ned.
'Sell horses - lots of them.'
'And where are you going to get all these horses from, George?' asked Ned.
George smiled. And Ned laughed.
*
It was exciting work. 'We stole 280 horses,' Ned said later. 'Then we took them across the Murray River and sold them in New South Wales for a lot of money.'
The police got angrier and angrier. They couldn't stop the stealing, and they couldn't catch Ned Kelly or George King with the stolen horses.
In August 1877 a new policeman came to Benalla. Alex Fitzpatrick liked horses, girls, and drink, and for some weeks he and Ned were friends. Ned's sister Kate was a beautiful girl with long black hair. She liked Fitzpatrick too, at first. But soon there were angry words between him and Ned, and then a fight. A policeman could not be a friend of the Kellys for long.
April 1878 came. The police had questions about stolen horses for Dan, and for Ned's best friend, Joe Byrne. So Fitzpatrick rode out to the Kellys' house, to find Dan. Perhaps he wanted to see Kate too - but did Kate want to see him? On his way there he stopped and had two or three drinks. When he arrived at the house, he felt very strong and brave.
'Dan Kelly, you're coming with me to the police station,' he said.
'I'm having my dinner,' said Dan. 'You can wait.'
Fitzpatrick sat at the table, waiting for Dan, but his eyes were on Kate all the time - on her long black hair, on her beautiful body. The small room felt very hot.
Then Kate walked past the table, very near him, and he put his arm around her.
'You're a beautiful girl, Kate,' he said. 'Let's -'
'Take your hands off me!' said Kate.
Suddenly Ned was at the door, with a gun in his hand. He fired at Fitzpatrick and hit him in the wrist.
'Get out!' said Ned. 'Get away from my sister!'
Fitzpatrick ran out of the house and rode through the night back to Benalla.
The next morning there were ten policemen at the door. They found Ellen at home, but not Ned or Dan.
'Ellen Kelly,' they said. 'You and your sons tried to kill Policeman Fitzpatrick.'
'Nobody tried to kill Fitzpatrick!' said Ellen. 'You just want to make trouble for me and my family.' She had a new baby in her arms, her third child by George King. But George did not live with Ellen now.
'Mrs Kelly, where are your sons?' said a policeman.
Ellen looked into the policeman's eyes. 'I don't know,' she said. 'You want them, you go and find them.'
*
When Ned and Dan left their mother's house that night, they rode away into the Wombat Hills. At Bullock Creek, miles from anywhere, they built a small hut. They lived wild, and looked for gold in the river.
Joe Byrne, Ned's good friend, went with them, because he needed to hide from the police too. And in June, three months later, Steve Hart, another good friend, came out of prison. He, too, got on his horse and rode to Bullock Creek. So there were four of them.
Then, in October, Ellen's brother came to find them, with some terrible news.
'Your mother's going to prison, Ned. For three years. Because she and you and Dan tried to kill Fitzpatrick, the judge said. And the police are looking for you and Dan. Be careful, boys - stay in the hills!'
For a second Ned's eyes were red like fire. He spoke slowly and coldly.
'They can look,' he said, 'but they can't catch me out here.' He looked at his brother Dan and his friends Joe and Steve. 'These policemen, these judges - they're worse than dogs! They put my mother in prison, and what did she do? Nothing! From now on, we're the Kelly gang. We're free men - and we're staying that way. Are you with me, boys?'
And that was the beginning of the Kelly Gang.
CHAPTER THREE
Three Dead Men
OCTOBER, 1878. Four policemen ride north from the town of Mansfield, Kennedy, McIntyre, Lonigan, and Scanlon are on their way to Stringybark Creek in the Wombat Hills. They plan to camp there for a week, look for the Kelly Gang - and bring them back to Mansfield, dead or alive.
*
Very early one morning Ned and Dan left Bullock Creek. Joe and Steve waited at the hut.
'Walk quietly, Dan,' said Ned, 'and listen. I saw horses' tracks near here yesterday, and I think the police are after us.'
