| OCR Text |
Show Brother's Death Recalls Old Feats Of 'Robin Hood' Last Member cf Notorious Kelly Bandit Gang Dies Peacefully in Sleep. GLENROWAN, AUSTRALIA. Feats of banditry by Australia's Robin Hood which stirred the country coun-try about 70 years ago are recalled by the death of Jim Kelly, brother of armor-clad Ned Kelly, who was hanged in Melbourne after his gang .had run wild in country areas in Victoria and New South Wales for two years. Last member of the "bushrang-Ing" "bushrang-Ing" family, Jim Kelly, who was 90, died in his sleep near this little Victorian Vic-torian town where the Kelly gang was finally cornered in June, 1880, and made its last stand against 50 police constables. During the siege of the town's hotel in which Ned, his brother Dan, and two companions, Joe Hart and Steve Byrne, stood off police for several hours, Ned's three mates died. The 26-year-old leader was captured after he had shot his way out of the burning building wearing his 100-pound suit of armor made from plow steel, and bucketlike bucket-like steel helmet Jim, in jail at the time, did not figure in the escapades. esca-pades. Blamed the Police. Ned, Dan and Jim Kelly were sons of an Irishman who had served a penal term In Tasmania and settled set-tled on a farm near Melbourne. They were in trouble with the police from childhood. Ned became a fugitive fugi-tive shortly after he had been fined in the town of Benella for riding his horse across a sidewalk. A scuffle with police accompanied his arrest, and when he was charged with horse-stealing soon after, he wounded wound-ed a constable and escaped. His mother was jailed for complicity in the alleged theft. Joined by Dan Kelly, Hart and Byrne, Ned hid out on an old gold digging. There was a battle with trailing police and three constables were killed. Although a reward of 8,000 pounds was offered for their capture, the four mounted bushrangers bush-rangers carried out a series of holdups hold-ups in which they took over entire towns. When the Kelly gang captured a town, they rounded up all inhabitants, inhabit-ants, locked them up and then robbed the bank at their ease. Ned Kelly always explained how he had Leen driven to crime by the police and sometimes the townfolk joined the gang at cards, dancing and sing-songs. Kind to Poor. They acquired many sumpathiz-ers, sumpathiz-ers, and rewarded faithful friends with the proceeds of holdups. Ned Kelly built up a reputation for cour-1 cour-1 tfisy to women and kindness to the i The gang operated in Victoria until un-til New South Wales police expressed ex-pressed amusement over the failure ! of Victoria to catch them. Then they crossed the border into Jer-i Jer-i llderie, N. S. W., where their first i call was at the police station. In the I uniforms of imprisoned policemen ! and posing as new recruits, they called a meeting of Jerilderie citi-, citi-, zens, locked them up and took 2,000 , pounds from the bank. I News that the gang had been cap-, cap-, tured at Glenrowan after a seven-! seven-! hour battle was flashed around Aus-! Aus-! tralia and in Melbourne business , stopped while people filled the , streets to read newspaper bulletins. I Only member of the gang to live . through the siege, Ned Kelly was ( tried in Melbourne. Before he was hanged he said: "Such is life." His mother, who was 91 and a ! respected citizen when she died 25 1 years ago, said she had always felt Ned would have been a great mili-1 mili-1 tary man had circumstances been different. |
