Ned Kelly - Glenrowan Shootout

Glenrowan Shootout

According to Ned Kelly, after shooting Sherritt at Sebastopol, the gang rode openly through Beechworth to Glenrowan to wreck any special police train sent after them. They descended on Glenrowan about 8 AM Sunday 27 June 1880 and subdued the inhabitants. They compelled the line-repairers and others to damage the track. They selected the first turning after reaching Glenrowan, at a culvert and on an incline. One rail was raised on each side, and the sleepers were removed. At 3 o'clock on Monday morning, they gathered their captives (as many as 47) at the hotel. The police then arrived.

The gang members were equipped with armour that repelled bullets (but left the legs unprotected). The police knew about the armour, and that the gang had tested it with bullets at ten paces. (The armour had been made in the district by a man well known to the police, although the proof was insufficient for a conviction.) Each man's armour weighed about 44 kilograms (97 lb). All four had helmets. Byrne's was said to be the best, with the brow reaching down to the nose piece, almost forming two eye slits. All wore grey cotton coats reaching past the knees over the armour.

The Kelly gang's attempt to derail the police trains (there were two) failed because a released hostage, schoolmaster Thomas Curnow who had convinced Kelly to let him go, stood on the railway line waving a lantern wrapped in his red scarf. The police then stopped the train in time and laid siege to the inn at dawn.

According to on-scene reporters from The Argus, the police and the gang fired at each other for about a quarter of an hour. Then there was a lull, but nothing could be seen for a minute or two because of the smoke. Superintendent Hare returned to the railway-station with a shattered left wrist from one of the first shots fired. He bled profusely, but Mr. Carrington, artist of The Sketcher, stopped the hemorrhage with his handkerchief. Mr. Hare returned to the battle but he gradually lost so much blood that he had to be conveyed to Benalla by a special engine.

The police, black trackers and others watched the surrounded hotel throughout the night. At about 5 o'clock in the morning the landlady, Mrs. Jones, began loudly wailing over the fate of her son, who had been shot in the back. She came out from the hotel crying bitterly and wandered into the bush on several occasions. With the assistance of one of the prisoners she removed her son from the building, and sent him to Wangaratta for treatment. The firing continued intermittently. Bullets lodged in the station buildings and the train.

At daybreak police reinforcements arrived from Benalla, Beechworth, and Wangaratta. Superintendent John Sadleir came from Benalla with nine more men. Sergeant Steele, of Wangaratta, brought six, for a total of about 30 men. Before daylight Senior-constable Kelly found a revolving rifle and a cap lying in the bush, about 100 yards from the hotel. The rifle was covered with blood and a pool of blood lay near it. They believed it to belong to one of the bushrangers, hinting that they had escaped. They proved to be those of Ned Kelly himself. At daybreak the women and children among the hostages were allowed to depart. They were challenged as they approached the police line, to ensure that the outlaws were not attempting to escape in disguise.