Читать книгу The Kelly Gang - George Wilson Hall - Страница 8

“I strike quickly, being moved”.

– Romeo and Juliet

The majority of the many convictions recorded against the Kellys, as well as their blood-relations, the Quins, appear to have been of the “assault and battery” description, and form a long and varied list, which may not appear extraordinary to those who know them and are acquainted with the highly excitable and ungovernable temperament which seems to be one of the chief characteristics of the family.

Naturally impatient of restraint, and of uncontrollable passions when aroused, they have, in many cases, given way to acts to lawless violence under circumstances of aggravation – and, in some instances, exceptional provocation – which to persons of more lymphatic constitutions might seem unpardonable, and for which the law admits of no excuse, and rarely palliation.

The list of their proven offences is not, however, limited to such misdemeanours, which seem to have been distributed pretty freely and impartially among the Quins and the Kellys, and are of such a number and similarity as would render a recapitulation of them tedious, monotonous and uninteresting.

It will be sufficient to relate that one of the cases of violent assault happened in this wise. A brother seeing another brother set upon by a number of assailants, seized upon a bullock-yoke to do battle in his defence. With this simple but impressive weapon he emulated the performance of Samson when operating on the Philistines with the jaw-bone of an ass; and he succeeded, not only in rescuing his brother, but also in gaining a three months’ retirement amid the peaceful shades of Beechworth jail, by the end of which visit he might be expected to have recovered the energy which he had lavishly expended in his brother’s defence. A stirrup-iron, on another occasion, proved as effective and trustworthy weapon in the face of odds.

These instances refer more particularly to the Quin branch, and are therefore only incidentally introduced in a narrative which ought to be confined to the Kellys proper, who, in truth, used to indulge in the excitement of a free fight or a select punching match as often as might be expected from their fiery dispositions.

But it was not until 1871 that the police succeeded in establishing “a case” against Edward Kelly, when he received a sentence of three years’ imprisonment in Beechworth assizes, for receiving, with a guilty knowledge, a horse stolen from the postmaster at Mansfield. James Kelly, another brother is, at the date of writing, undergoing his maiden sentence for horse-stealing, while Daniel has never yet been what is technically called “lagged”, although he has undergone his fair share of punishment for minor offences. A warrant which was issued for his apprehension in April last, on a charge of horse-stealing, has formed a starting point, from which it would appear other circumstances have led up to the frightful massacre of police at the Wombat, with the daring and unscrupulous, though bloodless robberies, which have followed that deplorable event.