Ned Kelly's Mattress [Sharon Hollingsworth]

Recently I did a blog post about the Eldorado Museum that currently has Ellen Kelly's chair on display.
That got me to thinking about an amusing bit in the Ovens & Murray Advertiser I read a few years back about the "respectable looking woman" coming all the way from Melbourne just to sit on the same sofa that Ned Kelly sat on while he was visiting with Glenrowan Postmaster Hillmorton Reynolds. Imagine that!

So, let's see, as far as home furnishings are concerned, we have a chair, we have a sofa, and now we have a mattress associated with the Kellys.

Ned, who was injured during the siege, was afterwards transported by train to Benalla (where he spent the night in lockup) and then was taken on  to Melbourne. One of the newspapers of the day had an engraving on him being carried on a mattress from the train at the Melbourne station.

At the PROV I ran across a report from Constable Cornelius Ryan concerning a "Mattress for E. Kelly, Murderer" dated July 16, 1880. The report said it was "relative to Mrs. Powell's mattress."

It read:

"I respectfully report for the information of the Officer in Charge that on the night of 28th June I was instructed by Sgt Whelan to go and borrow a mattress to carry Ned Kelly down on."

Beneath his report there was this bit from Sr. Constable John Kelly:

"The mattress referred to was forwarded with the offender Kelly to Melbourne and has been returned here full of blood and dirt. Mrs. Powell charges 10/ for the mattress."

There were other scribbled in bits saying "Can a similar one be obtained for less money?" to which it was responded "No, a similar mattress could not be obtained for 10/ in Benalla." Finally there was a bit saying "I consider the charge reasonable."

Good to see that Mrs. Powell got proper reimbursement!

We can only hope that they burned the mattress when all was said and done!

Otherwise, ladies, respectable or not, might have traveled great distances to attempt to lay on it!

Note: Mr. & Mrs. George Powell ran Benalla's Victoria Hotel at the time of the Kellys. In 1914 Mrs. Powell, while living in Perth, reminisced about the old days of the Kelly Gang and how her husband went down to Glenrowan (as they lived 12 miles away) at the start of the siege after being awakened and alerted by others around 3 AM. Mr. Powell helped out when the doctors were tending to Ned's wounds and Dr. Hutchinson asked Ned "do you know who this is, Ned?" He said "yes, that's George Powell.." She also recalled about how Constable Scanlon (whom she described as being a fine looking fellow and jolly) was in the bar one day and she had a chat with him and then 3 days later she heard of his death at Stringybark Creek. She also mentions lending the mattress for Ned.

Also I read elsewhere where the magesterial enquiry into Martin Cherry's death was held at Powell's Victoria Hotel, too.

They seemed to be positioned to be in the thick of the action!