Something Borrowed [Sharon Hollingsworth]

When Sgt. Kennedy and Constables Lonigan, Scanlon and McIntyre set out
on the hunt for the Kellys which turned in to what we know as the
Stringybark Creek incident they had many borrowed things with them.

They had borrowed a tent.

In a letter dated December 6, 1878 written to Sub-Inspector Pewtress,
Archibald McKenzie wrote:


To Mr. Pewtress, sub inspector police, Mansfield

Sir,

On the 24th September 1878 the late Sgt Kennedy borrowed a tent from
me which was destroyed by the Kelly gang. I therefore desire to be
paid the sum of three (3) pounds, three (3) shillings, the value of
the said tent or equivalent, a duck tent 8 ft x 10 ft..

Archibald McKenzie, Mansfield


They had borrowed horses.

 In the Royal Commission Sadleir said:

 "As I have already informed Sergeant Kennedy by telegraph, he will be
required here to consult with the other sub-officers engaged in this
matter; let him come by to-morrow’s coach, bringing a plain saddle
with him, as I wish him to take back a horse specially fitted for this
expedition. Constable Scanlon and Constable McIntyre will also form
two of the party from the Mansfield end.” ...That horse that Sergeant
Kennedy was to ride was a very remarkable white horse, and I did not
think he was suitable for work of this sort, and I gave him another
quiet handy horse - that was the horse that McIntyre afterwards
escaped on..."

Constable McIntyre stated that:

Kennedy was riding a young, flash mare changed for a steadier horse
P18, which Constable Scanlon led up from Benalla.


They had borrowed weapons.

 In the Royal Commission Constable John Kelly said:

In March 1877 I was transferred to Wood's Point to take charge of the
Wood's Point station, and on the 23rd October 1878 I left Wood's
Point, in charge of a gold escort, for Benalla. On the 24th I arrived
at Mansfield, and the late Sergeant Kennedy met me at the coach. He
told me in confidence he was going out after the Kellys. He asked me
if I would let him have a rifle that Constable Horwood was going to
take with him on the escort. I told him that as there was only the one
rifle between us, it would be a very dangerous thing, but, after
consideration, I said, “Get a second revolver and give it to Horwood,”
and I said, “You can have the rifle.”

This weapon was a .500 calibre seven-shot Spencer carbine.


Another weapon, a double-barrelled breach-loading shot gun, was
borrowed from the Rev. Mr. Samuel Sandiford, an Anglican clergyman of
Mansfield. This weapon was the one McIntyre used to shoot at parrots,
which alerted the Kellys to the police party's near-by presence. It
was taken by the Kellys after bailing up the camp and later used
during the Euroa holdup and even later Joe Byrne used it to
assassinate Aaron Sherritt. Ironically, according to Ian Jones, it
"was almost certainly the one which fired the fatal shot at Kennedy."

There is one other thing that Kennedy, Scanlon and Lonigan probably
wished they could have borrowed.....time...and a whole lot more of it.