To inquire into the action of the police authorities during the period when the Kelly gang was on the run. Generally to investigate and report on the current state and organization of the police force. Your commissioners therefore recommend that Superintendent Sadleir be placed at the bottom of the list of superintendents.
That the Commission approve of the conduct of Constable Bracken when he was attacked by the Kelly gang in Mrs. The homestead where the elder Quin was captured lay directly in the track - the only one that existed in the early days - between Mansfield and the Murray. The proximity of the police became intolerable to the criminals in the neighborhood, and extensive means were adopted without avail.
Those involved in traffic were associated with the families of the Quins, the Lloyds and the Kellys, forming a "ring".
THE SEBASTOPOL RAID
It must be said that the government has shown commendable zeal and speed in supporting the efforts of the police. Its provisions were directed not only against brigands, but also against all those who willfully harbored, aided, or otherwise sympathized with them; and doubtless the object aimed at would soon be attained if judiciously pursued.
INSPECTOR BROOK SMITH IN PURSUIT
439-14. returned to the premises without success and it appears that no reliable information as to the whereabouts of the gang has been .. possible to obtain. Q. 2926. came into the hands of the police at Benalla, and the next day Mr. Nicolson ... telegraphed to the Chief Commissioner suggesting that the police force at Seymour should be reinforced. It was evident that the forces under the command of the officers in charge of the district were inadequate to resist the threatened attack in every center of population in the district.
Then, at a very critical point, and in the teeth of the most emphatic warning, the two officers left the center. The journey there. it appears to have been the result of a hoax by gang sympathizers. P. 489. wit Mr. Wyatt had warned the engine driver and others on the train nearby.
At this period Aaron Sherritt, doubtless in the hope of securing the reward offered for the capture of the outlaws, attached himself to Mr. Hare and his party, and great confidence seems to have been placed in his fidelity. 34; . abnormal, and much of the difficulty and misunderstanding which subsequently arose might have been avoided if Mr O'Connor had been appointed an officer in the Victorian Police. For some months after the arrival of the Queensland trackers, there appears to have been a cordial relationship between Captain Standish and Inspector O'Connor.
Corporal Sambo, one of the contingent, died a few days later, Q'1073. . because he succumbed to the effects of .. congestion of the lungs. This appears to have been the last occasion when, while Captain Standish remained in charge of the district, Inspector O'Connor left to command the party. At no time did the Chief Commissioner refrain from expressing his disparaging estimate of the value of Q. 47•.
MR. NICOLSON RESUMES CHARGE OF THE PURSUIT
On the 16th of April following, Mr. O'Connor and his party again continued in pursuit, but on the fifth day out they were recalled by the Chief Commissioner for the purpose of placing the tracks at the disposal of Superintendent Hare, who was supposed to have obtained an important clue about the gang's whereabouts in the Warby Ranges. Tired of the delay in the implementation of the capture, and worried. Owing to the enormous expense of the pursuit, it appears that pressure was immediately laid upon Mr. The garrison artillery was gradually withdrawn, while the police force in the district was withdrawn. was also considerably reduced, as will be seen from the following returns.
The tactics adopted at this time seem strange and, perhaps, to some extent caused by the apparent insomnia of the police. They were actually anxious to get him to join them in an attempt to rob one of the banks in the district. The list shows- is reason to believe that, during the existence of the cave, outlaws often.
Nicolson at this point, by manipulating the reports sent in by several police officers. Nicolson believed that in a very short time he would bring the police to a place where we would have them, to use the language of Q. Graves, the member for the county, and by that gentleman, who was in the hands of the chief commissioner.
Nicolson stayed in the lead and worked up every nerve to make the most of the limited time available to him. In the course of the conversation Nicolson came to the last that had been heard of the outcasts. Hare's suspicion of incredulity on the part of the Assistant Commissioner • but judging from Q's explanations.
SUPERINTENDENT HARE SUPERSEDES MR. NICOLSON
Hare was the first to leave the room where the interview was taking place; that he called again at the office in the afternoon without asking for any further Q. Nicolson, as he had deliberately sought to compel the agents and hinder the efforts of the officer by whom he had been relieved. The conduct of these constables throughout the night was marked by shameful politronage, which in the army would have been punishable by summary dismissal from the service with every accompanying mark of contempt and degradation.
It was not until the afternoon of the following day that the authorities in Benalla and Melbourne became aware of the outrage. O'Connor, who had been withdrawn from the district, preparatory to returning to Brisbane, was recalled, and despatched the same night by special trains from Melbourne to Beechworth, for the purpose of using them to follow the tracks of the outlaws. Sherritt's cabin at Sebastopol to the mountains nearby where the killers were supposed to be hidden.
GLENROWAN
He did not know the exact directions of the place and assumed that Mr. Near the gate the ground is intersected by numerous streams of water, varying in depth from half a foot to seven feet. He then arranged to be sent to Benalla on one of the engines, and this was done.
His capture was effected without much difficulty or danger, as he was wounded in several parts of it. As the tall figure sees evidence, the outlaw, encased in iron, appeared in the indistinct light of dawn, the police to Deweett. They brought the news that Joe Byrne had been shot and killed early in the morning while toasting the gang's prosperity in the hotel bar.
The unfortunate man Cherry, one of the men saved by the outlaws, who was wounded early in the fight, was also taken out and died in a few minutes. He remained there for about seven months, but no reliable information was obtained as to the whereabouts of the outlaws. In April 1880 he was informed by Captain Standish that he must again resume charge of the north-eastern district.
After two or three days of looking around and interviewing the officers and police stationed in the district, he took steps to stop supplies from the outlaw's friends and relatives. He ordered the horses out of the train, and while this was being done, a light was seen at the station-master's house, where he proceeded; and from what he heard there he thought that the outlaws had gone to the Warby Ranges. When within sixteen yards of the building, they were fired upon by the outlaws; The shot was returned by the police and held by them until the gang retreated to the hotel.
J. DIXON
Before proceeding to review the allegations contained in the official report and reproduced in the remonstrance, we feel it incumbent upon us to refer to the conduct of Superintendent Hare in connection with the present demoralized condition of the colony's police force. Had Captain Standish acted properly upon one of those written in 1877, relating to the condition of the North-East District, the Kelly outbreak would probably have been prevented. Furthermore, which shows Senior Officer Hare's regard for the rules of the service and the respect due a superior officer, it can be added that when during the investigation Mr.
In the personal feuds and jealousies which have marked the relations of the police officers, Chief Inspector Hare appears to have deftly shielded himself behind the late Chief Commissioner. Moreover, it is notorious that many of the men have sided with the officers, and that a spirit of rivalry and discord exists in the country. Dixon, in paragraph 4, states—that during the seven months that Captain Standish and Superintendent Hare remained in charge of the pursuit, no reliable information was obtained as to the whereabouts of the outlaws.
Carrington's evidence shows that before the start of the train it was widely known, or at least currently reported in Benalla, that the rails had been taken up. Hare, as an officer, should not have tolerated the presence of ladies on the special train as he left Benalla, especially as he was aware of the report that the rails had been removed. He apparently knew little of the exact situation of Glenrowan, despite having been in command of the district for eight months.
The moment he was informed by Bracken of the presence of the outlaws in the hotel he ran away without waiting for some of his men to collect their weapons. It is, however, chiefly in connection with Superintendent Hare's official report of June 2nd, 1880, that we, the undersigned Commissioners, have been led to regard the conduct of this officer with suspicion. However, the evidence reveals that many of the allegations contained in the report were baseless, the insinuations unwarranted and the statements mere conjecture.
