Ned Kelly Last updated 5 days ago

Killings at Stringybark Creek

Monument erected in Mansfield, Victoria in honour of the three policemen murdered by Kelly's gang, Lonigan, Scanlon and Kennedy

Dan and Ned Kelly doubted they could convince the police of their story. Instead they went into hiding, where they were later joined by friends Joe Byrne and Steve Hart.

The police heard privately that the Kellys were in the Wombat Ranges at the head of the King River. On Friday 25 October 1878, two parties of police were secretly despatched, one from Greta, consisting of five men, with Sergeant Steele in command, and one of four from Mansfield, with the intention of executing a pincer movement.

Sergeant Kennedy from the Mansfield party, in civilian dress, set off to search for the Kellys, accompanied by Constables McIntyre, Lonigan, and Scanlon. The police set up a camp on an disused diggings near two miners huts at Stringybark Creek in a heavily timbered area.

About six a.m. on Saturday, Kennedy and Scanlan went down the creek to explore, and they stayed away nearly all day. It was McIntyre's duty to cook, and he attended closely to camp duty. During the morning a noise was heard, and McIntyre went out to have a look, but found nothing. He fired two shots out of his gun at a pair of parrots. This gunshot, he subsequently learned, was heard by Kelly, who must have been on the lookout for the police. At about 5 p.m., McIntyre was at the fire making tea, with Lonigan by him, when they were suddenly surprised with the cry, "Bail up; throw up your arms."

They looked up, and saw four armed men on foot. Three carried guns, and Ned Kelly two rifles. Two of the men they did not know, but the fourth was the younger Kelly. They had approached up the rises and long grass or rushes had provided them with excellent cover until they got close. McIntyre had left his revolver at the tent door, and was unarmed. He therefore held up his hands as directed, and faced them. Lonigan started for shelter behind a tree, and at the same time put his hand upon his revolver. Before he had moved two paces, Edward Kelly shot him in the temple. He fell at once, and as he laid on the ground said, "Oh Christ, I am shot." He died in a few seconds. Kelly had McIntyre searched, and when they found he was unarmed, they let him drop his hands. They got possession of Lonigan and McIntyre's revolvers. Kelly remarked, "What a pity; what made the fool run?" The men helped themselves to articles from the tent. Kelly talked to McIntyre, and expressed his wonder that the police should have been so foolhardy as to look for him in the ranges. He made inquiries about four men, and said he would roast each of them alive if he caught them. Steele and Flood were two of the four. He asked McIntyre what he fired at and said they must have been fools not to suppose he was ready for them. It was evident that he knew the exact state of the camp, the number of men, and the description of the horses. He asked where the other two were, and said he would put a hole through McIntyre if he told a lie. McIntyre told him and hoped they would not be shot in cold blood. Kelly replied "No, I am not a coward. I'll shoot no man if he holds up his hands."

One of the gang told McIntyre to take some tea and asked for tobacco. He gave them tobacco and had a smoke himself. Dan Kelly suggested that he should be handcuffed, but Ned pointed to his rifle and said, "I have got something better here. Don't you attempt to go; if you do I'll track you to Mansfield and shoot you at the police station." McIntyre asked whether he was to be shot. Kelly replied, "No, why should I want to shoot you? Could I not have done it half an hour ago if I had wanted?" He added, "At first I thought you were Constable Flood. If you had been, I would have roasted you in the fire." Kelly asked for news of the Sydney man, the murderer of Sergeant Wallings. McIntyre said the police had shot him. "I suppose you came out to shoot me?" "No," replied McIntyre, "we came to apprehend you." "What," asked Kelly, " brings you out here at all? It is a shame to see fine big strapping fellows like you in a lazy loafing billet like policemen." He told McIntyre if he was let go he must leave the police, and McIntyre said he would. The best thing McIntyre could do was to get his comrades to surrender, for if they escaped he would be shot. "If you attempt to let them know we are here, you will be shot at once.

McIntyre asked what they would do if he induced his comrades to surrender. Kelly said he would detain them all night, as he wanted a sleep, and let them go next morning without their arms or horses. McIntyre told Kelly that he would induce his comrades to surrender if he would keep his word, but he would rather be shot a thousand times than sell them. He added that one of the two was father of a large family. Kelly said, "You can depend on us." Kelly stated that Fitzpatrick, the man who tried to arrest his brother in April, was the cause of all this; that his (Kelly's) mother and the rest had been unjustly "lagged" at Beechworth. Kelly then caught sound of the approach of Kennedy and Scanlan, and the four men concealed themselves, some behind logs, and one in the tent. They made McIntyre sit on a log, and Kelly said, "Mind, I have a rifle for you if you give any alarm." Kennedy and Scanlan rode into the camp. McIntyre went forward, and said, "Sergeant, I think you had better dismount and surrender, as you are surrounded. Kelly at the same time called out, "Put up your hands." Kennedy appeared to think it was Lonigan who called out, and that a jest was intended, for he smiled and put his hand on his revolver case. He was instantly fired at, but not hit; and Kennedy then realised the hopelessness of his position, jumped off his horse, and said, "It's all right, stop it, stop it." Scanlan, who carried the Spencer rifle, jumped down and tried to make for a tree, but before he could unsling his rifle, he was shot down. A number of shots were fired.

McIntyre found that the men intended to shoot the whole of the party, so he jumped on Kennedy's horse, and dashed down the creek. As he rode off he heard Daniel Kelly call out, "Shoot that ******". Several shots were fired but none reached him. Apparently the rifles were empty and only the revolvers available, or he would have been hit. He galloped through the scrub for two miles, and then his horse became exhausted. It had evidently been wounded. He took off the saddle and bridle, and wounded from a severe fall during his escape and with his clothes in tatters, he concealed himself in a wombat hole until dark. At dark, he started on foot, and walked for an hour with his boots off to make no noise before collapsing from exhaustion at Bridge's Creek, After a rest, and using a bright star, and a small compass, he took a westerly course to strike the Benalla and Mansfield telegraph line and on Sunday afternoon at about 3pm after a journey of about 20 miles, he reached John McColl's place, about a mile from Mansfield. A neighbouring farmer's buggy took him to the police camp at the township, where be reported all he knew to Sub-Inspecter Pewtress.^[27]

Two hours or so after McIntyre reported the murder of the troopers, Sub-Inspector Pewtress set out for the camp, accompanied by McIntyre and seven or eight townspeople. They had only one revolver and one gun. They reached the camp with the assistance of a guide, at half-past 2 in the morning. There they found the bodies of Scanlan and Lonigan. They searched at daylight for the sergeant, but found no trace of him. The tent had been burnt and everything taken away or destroyed. The post-mortem, by Dr. Reynolds, showed that Lonigan had received seven wounds, one through the eyeball. Scanlan's body had four shot-marks with the fatal wound was caused by a rifle ball which went clean through the lungs. Scanlan was 33, Lonigan 37 years of age. Three additional shots had been fired into Lonigan's dead body before the men left the camp. The extra shots were fired so that all of the gang might be equally implicated.^[28]

During the search for Kennedy, on 29 October, two relatives of the Kellys known as "Dummy Wright" and "Wild Wright" were arrested in Mansfield. Wild Wright had to be threatened with a revolver before he consented to handcuffs. The two Wrights were brought to the police court and charged with using threatening language towards members of the search party. The older brother, Wild Wright, was remanded for seven days and the other released.^[29]

No trace had yet been discovered of Kennedy, and the same day as Scanlan and Lonigan's funeral, another search party was started, which also failed. At four o'clock on the following Wednesday another party started, headed by James Tomkins, president of the Mansfield shire, and Sub-Inspector Pewtress, accompanied by several residents, and on the following morning the body of the unfortunate sergeant was found by H. G. Sparrow.^[30]

The exact place at Germans Creek where this occurred was identified in 2006.^[31] On leaving the scene Ned stole Sergeant Kennedy's handwritten note for his wife and his gold fob watch. Asked later why he stole the watch, Ned replied, "What's the use of a watch to a dead man?" Kennedy's watch was returned to his kin many years later.

In response to these killings, the reward was raised to £500 and the Victorian parliament passed the Felons' Apprehension Act which outlawed the gang and made it possible for anyone to shoot them. There was no need for the outlaws to be arrested or for there to be a trial upon apprehension. The Act was based on the 1865 Act passed in New South Wales which declared Ben Hall and his gang outlaws.^[32][33]