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the scene, but the outlaws made no sign of surrender.
After one o'clock they ceased to return the fire of the police, but still kept
sullenly at bay. It was presumed that they were waiting for nightfall to make a
desperate attempt to force their way out. Their besiegers grew anxious and impatient. The difficulty with which Ned had been forced to succumb to enormous odds gave good grounds for fear. Various rather queer suggestions were made. A telegram was sent to Melbourne asking for a field-gun. "We must get gun before night or rush the place." An ingenious Queensland official, with reminiscences perhaps of the Roman " tortoise," telegraphed a suggestion that a dray should be furnished with a large wooden bullet-proof shield, behind which a body of men might reach the hotel walls in safety. Another ingenious person advised the adoption of the electric light. Finally it was settled that, when evening came, bonfires should be lighted all round the hotel. This plan, however was abandoned before the afternoon closed. The field-gun did not arrive, and the police decided to fire the hotel. One objection to this plan was the fact that there was still in the hotel an unfortunate old man, who had been wounded during the firing and had been unable to escape with the rest of the outlaws' prisoners. The plan was persisted in, nevertheless.
While the preparations went forward Bridget Skillian (sic) rode up smartly attired.
She was appealed to to enter the hotel and beg the two remaining outlaws to
surrender. She replied that she would rather see them burned. The firing of the
hotel was accomplished without any resistance being met with, and the outlaws
did not come forth. Father Gibney, a priest, and some of the police rushed into
'the rapidly burning house and succeeded in rescuing the unlucky old man still
within, who, however, died of his wounds afterwards. It is uncertain whether he
had been shot by the police or by Dan Kelly. A glimpse was caught of Dan |
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