The Quotable James Ryan: Part 2, 13 August 1933. [Brian Stevenson]

Here are some more quotes by the spurious Dan Kelly, James Ryan, as reported in the Brisbane newspaper Truth on 13 August 1933. James hardly seems to have been Truthful James, to say the least.

'The family was then made up, besides the old man and the old lady, of Nora, the oldest, brother Jim, Ned, myself and Kate.'

None of Dan Kelly's full sisters was named Nora. James Ryan does not mention Annie, Maggie, Grace or Mary, who died as a child.

'Nora and Jim were quiet. They wouldn't have truck with us at all.'

See above for the reasons Nora was so quiet! As for Jim Kelly, he had a police record and was gaoled several times.

'At the time the trouble started [April 1878] she [Kate Kelly] was 20.'

In April 1878 Kate Kelly was about 15.

'[In 1874] we decided to leave home and live in the bush, the four of us. [Ned and Dan Kelly, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne.]

In 1874 Dan was only thirteen. The four who constituted the Kelly Gang only became that way by chance, because they happened to be at hand when there was a confrontation with the police at Stringybark Creek on 26 October 1878.

'[Noonan, the big horse breeder who lived outside Wangaratta] saw Ned in Benalla riding a brown colt that he recognised as belonging to one of his friends. He sent word to this man, wo put the police on the track. Ned was tried at Benalla, and sentenced to three years in Berrima Gaol.'

Ned was seen in Greta in 1871 riding a horse that Constable Hall knew to be stolen. Hall arrested him. Ned was sentenced to three years in Beechworth Gaol, not Berrima Gaol, which was in another colony, New South Wales.

'Mother and the old fellow were very upset about what had happened to Ned [ie, his being sentenced to three years gaol.]

The 'old fellow' had died in 1866.

'In 1877, Ned came home from Berrima, the worst gaol in the colonies.'

See above.

'At that time, the beginning of 1878, Ned was a fine-looking man. He stood about six feet and had started to grow a big, black beard. I was 24 and he was two years older.'

Ned is believed not to have every fully shaved again after his release from prison in 1874. At the beginning of 1878, Ned was 22 or 23. Dan Kelly, whose birth is documented as 1 June 1861, was definitely 16.

Ned told his plans [regarding armour] to a blacksmith in the town named Jack Quin. There were a lot of Quins in Benalla, all more or less related, but this one was Ned's particular pal. His name has never been mentioned in my hearing in connection with the Kelly gang, nor has it ever been written down in any of the books that have been read to me.'

None of the blacksmiths claimed to have had a hadn in the manufacture of the Kelly armour was named Quin. The Quin name, if not the spelling, was frequently mentioned in connection with the Kellys, as Quinn was their mother's former name, and she was one of an extensive family, many of whom had criminal records.

[Quin] made several suits, one each for Ned, Byrne and Hart. I refused to have one, because they were too clumsy.'

All four suits of armour still exist. Dan Kelly's is in the Victorian Police Museum.

'Although he [Constable Fitzpatrick] was armed, he made no move for his gun. I warned him, and then I shot him ... I shot him dead. I was too good a shot to make any mistake about that. I shot him through the heart.'

Former Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick died of natural causes in Melbourne in 1924. He was interviewed by journalist B W Cookson for the Sydney Sun newspaper in 1911.