Outlaws

Charles »Pretty Boy« Floyd

Early Life: Charles Arthur Floyd, soon to be called » Chock« Floyd, was born on February 3, 1904 in Georgia, one of seven children, but moved to a small farming community in Oklahoma, which he was to call home. His parents had a small farm, they were dirt-poor. His father spent most of his time trying to stay one step ahead of foreclosure. Droughts, plagues and dust storms brought farm production down to a crawl. In an attempt to help keep themselves fed the family became involved in the bootlegging business.

In 1921 he married 16 year old Ruby Hargrove, they eventually had a son, Jack Dempsey Floyd. Money was scarce. Looking for a better life he left his home and travelled north looking for harvest work. Many nights were spent in hobo camps. Charles was ready to work but there just wasn't any available. Eventually he gave up looking and brought his first gun. It wasn't long after that, at the age of 18, he pulled his first crime. He held up a post office for $350 in pennies. This was »easy money«. He was arrested on suspicion of the crime but his father gave him an alibi.
He took the train to St. Louis where he robbed a Kroger store of approximately $16,000. The money kept them for a few weeks but after spending it on expensive clothes and big meals they were broke again. He was arrested because local police found it suspicious that he had new clothes and a new Ford. When they searched his house they found some of the money still in it's wrapper. He was sentenced to 5 years in the Jefferson City Penitentiary. During his incarceration his wife gave birth to their son, Jackie, and divorced him. He was released after 3 years and vowed never to be locked up again.

Later life and criminal history:On a visit to his parents farm he discovered that his father had been shot to death in a family feud with J. Mills. The accused was aquitted of the crime. Charles took his father's rifle went into the hills and J. Mills was never seen again.

In the mid 1920's Floyd lived and operated in the East Liverpool, Ohio area as a hired gun for the bootleggers and rum-runners along the Midland, PA and Steubenville, OH stretch of the Ohio River. He became most notorious after he left the East Liverpool area. He headed west and found refuge in »Tom's Town« (now Kansas City), a town run by Tom Pendegast. Hired guns, murderer's and successful gangsters hung out here. It was here that he learned to use a machine gun and aquires the nickname »Pretty Boy«. It was a name given him by a madam, Beulah Baird Ash, in a brothel and he hated it. However, it stuck and made him into a colorful criminal. Floyd is reputed to have maintained relationships with both Ruby and Beulah throughout the rest of his life even posing as their husbands under assumed names.

During the next 12 years he robbed as many as 30 banks, killing 10 men. During his crime sprees in Oklahoma the bank insurance rates doubled. He filed a notch in his pocket-watch for everyone he killed. His first bank robbery is reported to have been the Farmers and Merchants bank in Sylvania, Ohio. Floyd was arrested at his Akron, Ohio hideout for this crime. He was tried and convicted but escaped by jumping out of the train window near Kenton, Ohio while on his way to the Ohio Penitentiary.

The first person he killed was a police officer, Ralph Castner, who stopped him from robbing a Bowling Green, Ohio bank on April 16, 1931. At this time Floyd was accompanied by William (Willis) Miller, known as »Billy the Killer«, Beulah and her sister Rose. A clerk in a store recognized them when they were purchasing dresses for the women. The clerk alerted the police who arrived as the group were walking down the street. As they ordered the group to stop, Floyd and Miller opened fire. Castner was killed, Chief Carl Galliher dropped to the ground, killing Miller and injuring Beulah, 21. Rose Baird, 23 was captured but Floyd escaped in a car.

On June 17, 1933 Floyd and an associate, Adam Richetti were reported as the culprits behind the » Union Station Massacre « in Kansas City where 5 men including FBI agent, Raymond Caffrey were gunned down in an attempt to free Frank »Gentleman« Nash a notorious underworld figure. Floyd maintained to his death that he was never involved in this crime.

During the next 17 months Floyd and Richetti were hunted by every law enforcement officer in the country. After the capture and death of John Dillinger, Floyd was named as Public Enemy No.1 with a $23,000 dollar dead or alive reward on his head. Floyds reign of terror brought him back to the East Liverpool area.


Folk Stories and Quotes about his life: Jack Floyd, although he saw his father infrequently, said in an article for the San Fransisco Examiner June 20, 1982, »He was a fun guy to be around. He was like a regular father. He always had some puppies or other presents for me. What I knew about him didn't keep me from loving him.«

He was a folk hero to the people of Oklahoma who perceived him as a »Sagebrush Robin Hood«, stealing from the rich banks to help the poor eat by buying them groceries and tearing up their mortgages during the robberies. He has been written into legend through song, in Woody Guthrie's »Pretty Boy« Floyd.

He was never part of a gang. He worked with a few trusted accomplices. Boldly entering banks in broad daylight and never wearing a mask. He was a gentleman even in his crimes, always well groomed, immaculately dressed and courteous to his victims.

Final Days: On October 19, 1934 he was spotted after three men dressed as hunters and carrying shotguns robbed the Tiltonsville Peoples Bank. Both Adam Richetti and »Pretty Boy« Floyd were positively identified as two of the men involved. Police and FBI were put on alert throughout Ohio for the suspects. The following day a shootout between two criminals and the Wellsville, Ohio Police ended in the capture of Richetti. Floyd escaped, kidnapping a Wellsville florist and stealing his car.

On October 22, 1934 things would finally come to a fatal end for »Pretty Boy« Floyd. The local police were called out, including Chief McDermott and patrolman Chester Smith. Firearms were issued, but Smith refused a weapon, instead, he kept his 32-20 Winchester Rifle. He told everyone that if they found Floyd he would be running. They checked all the backroads in the area that Floyd had been reported. Finally they came to the Conkle farm on Sprucevale Rd.

Floyd had knocked on the Conkle farm door posing as a lost hunter and had asked for a ride to the bus line. Ellen Conkle took pity on him and welcomed him into her home, feeding him a meal for which he paid $1. After eating, Mrs. Conkle volunteered her brother, Stewart Dyke, to drive Floyd to the bus station. The Dyke's and Floyd were getting into the car when two police cars were spotted speeding along the narrow dirt road. Floyd jumped from the car to hide behind a corn crib. As the police approached the farm they spotted a man behind the corn crib. Chester Smith recognized the face. Floyd started to flee. After being told to halt and not doing so Smith fired a shot from his rifle hitting Floyd in the arm. Floyd dropped his gun, grabbed his right forearm where he had been hit, but still jumped up and continued to run, darting for cover in the wooded area nearby. After another call to halt which also went unheeded Floyd was shot again, in his back right shoulder. The federal agents and local police all started firing at this time. Floyd fell to the ground, his gun by his side. Smith checked the body, he was not yet dead, and noticed that Floyd had another weapon in his belt. He had two Colt .45 automatics but never fire a single shot.
Patrolmen Smith, Roth and Montgomery carried Floyd to the shade of an apple tree. »He was alive when we carried him to the apple tree. But he died then within minutes.« Smith said. A call was placed to J. Edgar Hoover. Smith recalls, »Floyd was dead before Purvis returned (about 4:25 p.m.). We put Floyd's body in the back seat of the local police car, propping him up between me and Curly. That's how we hauled him to East Liverpool and turned him over to the Sturgis Funeral Home.« Floyd had $120 in his pockets.
There is much speculation about the actual events of the fateful day. One report states that Agent Purvis of the FBI ordered Floyd shot whilst he was sitting under the apple tree because he refused to answer when asked if he was involved in the Kansas City Massacre.
Smith's daughter said that Smith took the days events in a matter-of-fact way, coming home late for supper and just stating that he didn't have time to eat because he had just shot »Pretty Boy« Floyd. He washed up, changed and went back to work.

At the Funeral Home: Although Floyd's mother did not want her son's body viewed by the public, by the time Chief McDermott had received her wire there were thousands of people wanting to view the notorious criminal. He would be later shipped back to Oklahoma but in the mean time over 10,000 people passed by the body from 8:30 p.m. and 11:15 p.m., about 50 per minute. The mob had stormed the Funeral home and in the space of three hours, the porch railing had been torn off, shrubbery trampled and the lawn completely ruined.

Final resting place: At 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday October 23, 1934 Charles Arthur » Pretty Boy « Floyd's body left East Liverpool in a baggage car. One year before at the Akins Cemetery in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, Floyd had told his mother,
»Right here is where you can put me. I expect to go down soon with lead in me. Maybe the sooner the better. Bury me deep. « 20,000 people attended his funeral. His head stone has been desecrated by souvenir hunters and was stolen in 1985. A new headstone now marks his grave.

Billy the Kid is one of the best known characters of the Old West. Unfortunately, parts of the his life have been built on legends.

Basically, Billy was born in the east and moved west with his mother to Silver City, NM. At a young age he was jailed for a minor offense and escaped. In Bonito, Az, he killed Frank Cahilll.

Billy arrived in Lincoln, NM during a time when the Murphy-Dolan Faction and John Tunstall were trying to secure beef contracts with the military in Fort Stanton. Tunstall had befriended Billy and a number of young drifters. The conflict between the Murphy-Dolan Faction and Tunstall turned ugly. John Tunstall was killed. Angered by the death of their friend, the drifters formed a group known as the 'Regulators'. As a self-impose police force, they tried to round up the people responsible for the death of Tunstall.. Many people died during this pursuit..

The plot becomes more complicated and Billy is a wanted man. Pat Garrett becomes sheriff of Lincoln county and begins his pursuit of Billy. The cat and mouse game between these two lasts about a year and a half. Billy is cornered, but escapes. Billy is caught and sentenced to die, but escapes. Finally, Pat Garrett waits for Billy in a room at Pete Maxwell's home in Fort Sumner, NM. Billy enters and Pat Garrett fires.

Billy the Kid is buried in the old Fort Sumner Post Cemetery near present day Fort Sumner, New Mexico. There are plenty of signs directing you to the grave.

Jesse James

Of all the worlds' legendary characters, few have attracted world-wide fascination like the outlaw, Jesse James. Some call him America's Robin Hood, while others see him as a cold-blooded killer. Perhaps he was all of these things.

Jesse Woodson James was born in Kearney, Missouri on September 5, 1847. His father, the Rev. Robert James, was a Baptist minister who helped found William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo. Some people say it was the cruel treatment from Union soldiers that turned Frank and Jesse to a life of crime during the Civil War. Certainly during the war years they learned to kill while riding with William Quantrill and Bloody Bill Anderson. After the war, Jesse was wounded while surrendering. Within a year, Frank and Jesse are believe to have pulled off the first daylight bankrobbery in peace time. They made off with $60,000 from the Liberty, Mo. bank not far from their home, and one man was killed.

For the next 15 years, the James boys roamed throughout the U.S. robbing trains and banks of their gold, building a legend that was to live more than a century after Jesse's death. Jesse married his own first cousin after a nine-year courtship. She was named for his own mother, Zerelda, and he called her Zee for short. They had two children, Jesse Edwards and Mary.

The Pinkerton Detective Agency was called in to help catch the famous desperadoes. Once during a nighttime raid on the family home outside Kearney, Mo., a firebomb was tossed into the log cabin. When it exploded, it tore off the hand of Jesse's mother, and led to the death of his half-brother Archie.

Jesse reached his Waterloo in September, 1876, when his gang, including the Younger brothers, took on the bank at Northfield, Minn. Within minutes the town people returned fire. All except Frank and Jesse were either killed or were wounded and captured.

Frank James also married, and their wives tried to get them to take on a more normal life. With a $10,000 reward on his head, Jesse moved to St. Joseph, Mo., with his family in the fall of 1881 to hide out. On Christmas Eve, Jesse and Zee moved their family into a small house atop a high hill overlooking St. Joseph. Living under the assumed name of Tom Howard, Jesse rented the house from a city councilman for $14 a month. He attended church, but did not work for a living.

During the winter of 1882, Jesse tried to buy a small farm in Nebraska. But in April, he was short of cash. All of his earlier gang members were either dead or in prison, but Jesse recruited Bob and Charlie Ford to help him rob the Platte City bank. The Ford brothers posed as cousins of Jesse James, but actually were not related to Jesse at all.

The $10,000 reward on Jesse proved too appealing. While Jesse stood on a chair in the family home at 1318 Lafayette Street in St. Joseph to dust and straighten a picture, Bob and Charlie Ford drew their guns. Bob Ford put and end to the James Legend with a single bullet to the back of the head on April 3, 1882.

The Ford brothers attempted to collect the reward. Instead, they were charged with murder. They were sentenced to hang, but were pardoned by Governor Tom Crittenden. Two years later Charles Ford committed suicide and Bob Ford, the »dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard, and laid poor Jesse in his grave,« was himself killed in a bar room brawl in Creede, Colorado, in 1892.

Jesse James was a moral paradox. He was a good father and family man, and was religious in his own way. Whether he stole from the rich and gave to the poor, or just kept it all, has never been decided.

Jesse James died in 1882, but the legend of Jesse James continues more than a century beyond his death. Today Jesse and Frank James are among the best-known Americans in the world.

ALPHONSE CAPONE, aka. AL, SCARFACE
CONTEMPT OF COURT


Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899, of an immigrant family,
Al Capone quit school after the sixth grade and associated
with a notorious street gang, becoming accepted as a
member. Johnny Torrio was the street gang leader and
among the other members was Lucky Luciano, who would
later attain his own notoriety.

About 1920, at Torrio's invitation, Capone joined Torrio in
Chicago where he had become an influential lieutenant in the
Colosimo mob. The rackets spawned by enactment of the
Prohibition Amendment, illegal brewing, distilling and
distribution of beer and liquor, were viewed as "growth
industries." Torrio, abetted by Al Capone, intended to take full advantage of
opportunities. The mobs also developed interests in legitimate businesses, in the
cleaning and dyeing field, and cultivated influence with receptive public officials, labor
unions and employees' associations.

Torrio soon succeeded to full leadership of the gang with the violent demise of Big
Jim Colosimo, and Capone gained experience and expertise as his strong right arm.

In 1925, Capone became boss when Torrio, seriously wounded in an assassination
attempt, surrendered control and retired to Brooklyn. Capone had built a fearsome
reputation in the ruthless gang rivalries of the period, struggling to acquire and retain
»racketeering rights« to several areas of Chicago. That reputation grew as rival gangs
were eliminated or nullified, and the suburb of Cicero became, in effect, a fiefdom of
the Capone mob.

Perhaps the St. Valentine's Day Massacre on February 14, 1929, might be regarded
as the culminating violence of the Chicago gang era, as seven members or
associates of the »Bugs« Moran mob were machine-gunned against a garage wall by
rivals posing as police. The massacre was generally ascribed to the Capone mob,
although Al himself was then in Florida.

The investigative jurisdiction of the Bureau of Investigation during the 1920s and early
1930s was more limited than it is now, and the gang warfare and depredations of the
period were not within the Bureau's investigative authority.

The Bureau's investigation of Al Capone arose from his reluctance to appear before a
Federal Grand Jury on March 12, 1929, in response to a subpoena. On March 11, his
lawyers formally filed for postponement of his appearance, submitting a physician's
affidavit dated March 5, which attested that Capone, in Miami, had been suffering
from bronchial pneumonia, had been confined to bed from January 13 to February 23,
and that it would be dangerous to Capone's health to travel to Chicago. His
appearance date before the grand jury was re-set for March 20.

On request of the U.S. Attorney's Office, Bureau of Investigation Agents obtained
statements to the effect that Capone had attended race tracks in the Miami area, that
he had made a plane trip to Bimini and a cruise to Nassau, and that he had been
interviewed at the office of the Dade County Solicitor, and that he had appeared in
good health on each of those occasions.

Capone appeared before the Federal Grand Jury at Chicago on March 20, 1929, and
completed his testimony on March 27. As he left the courtroom, he was arrested by
Agents for Contempt of Court, an offense for which the penalty could be one year and
a $1,000 fine. He posted $5,000 bond and was released.

On May 17, 1929, Al Capone and his bodyguard were arrested in Philadelphia for
carrying concealed deadly weapons. Within 16 hours they had been sentenced to
terms of one year each. Capone served his time and was released in nine months for
good behavior on March 17, 1930.

On February 28, 1936, Capone was found guilty in Federal Court on the Contempt of
Court charge and was sentenced to six months in Cook County Jail. His appeal on
that charge was subsequently dismissed.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department had been developing evidence on tax
evasion charges – in addition to Al Capone, his brother Ralph »Bottles« Capone, Jake
»Greasy Thumb« Guzik, Frank Nitti and other mobsters were subjects of tax evasion
charges.

On June 16, 1931, Al Capone pled guilty to tax evasion and prohibition charges. He
then boasted to the press that he had struck a deal for a two-and-one-half year
sentence, but the presiding judge informed him he, the judge, was not bound by any
deal. Capone then changed his plea to not guilty.

On October 18, 1931, Capone was convicted after trial, and on November 24, was
sentenced to eleven years in Federal prison, fined $50,000 and charged $7,692 for
court costs, in addition to $215,000 plus interest due on back taxes. The six-month
Contempt of Court sentence was to be served concurrently.

While awaiting the results of appeals, Capone was confined to the Cook County Jail.
Upon denial of appeals, he entered the U.S. Penitentiary at Atlanta, serving his
sentence there and at Alcatraz.

On November 16, 1939, Al Capone was released after having served seven years, six
months and fifteen days, and having paid all fines and back taxes.

Suffering from paresis derived from syphilis, he had deteriorated greatly during his
confinement. Immediately on release he entered a Baltimore hospital for brain
treatment, and then went on to his Florida home, an estate on Palm Island in Biscayne
Bay near Miami, which he had purchased in 1928.

Following his release, he never publicly returned to Chicago. He had become mentally
incapable of returning to gangland politics. In 1946, his physician and a Baltimore
psychiatrist, after examination, both concluded Al Capone then had the mentality of a
12-year-old child. Capone resided on Palm Island with his wife and immediate family,
in a secluded atmosphere, until his death due to a stroke and pneumonia on January
25, 1947.

BIBLIOGRAPHY REGARDING AL CAPONE

1. »Farewell, Mr. Gangster!« Herbert Corey, D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc., New
York, New York, 1936

2. »The FBI Story,« Don Whitehead, Random House, New York, New York, 1956

3. »Organized Crime In America,« Gus Tyler, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor,
Michigan, 1962

4. »The Dillinger Days,« John Toland, Random House, New York, New York, 1963

5. »The Devil's Emissaries,« Myron J. Quimby, A. S. Barnes and Company, New York,
New York, 1969

6. »Capone,« John Kobler, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, New York, 1971

7. »Mafia, USA,« Nicholas Gage, Dell Publishing Company, Inc., New York, New York,
1972

8. »The Mobs And The Mafia,« Hank Messick and Burt Goldblatt, Thomas Y. Crowell
Company, New York, New York, 1972

9. »Bloodletters and Badmen,« Jay Robert Nash, M. Evans and Company, Inc., New
York, New York, 1973

10. »G-Men: Hoover's FBI in American Popular Culture,« Richard Gid Powers,
Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, Illinois, 1983

Ned Kelly, part II

With his first shot Ned Kelly sent a rifle bullet through Hare’s wrist, but a bullet also struck Ned in the forearm. This was the most decisive shot in the whole battle, for
it prevented Ned from using his Spencer repeating rifle, which must be supported by the left arm. He was also struck in the upper part of the arm and also in the foot.
Most fatal of all, the heavy armour destroyed the outlaws freedom of movement.

Ned bleeding freely, hopped around to the north side of the hotel. The other three went through the front door into the hotel. It was not Ned’s idea that his gang should
take shelter behind the people imprisoned there. Then Ned decided on a bold stroke to draw the police away from the hotel. He staggered into the stockyard and tried
to mount a horse, but it was impossible in his armour, so he lurched away into the bush where his grey mare was tethered. There he sat down and tried to unfasten his
armour, but because of his injured hands he could not get the bolts undone. After much struggling, he eased the helmet off his head. Next he tried to load the rifle, but
could not do that, either. He decided to lie hidden in the bush for a while, so he untethered his mare and let her go. This was a bad decision, for Ned now had no way
of retreat.

Feeling very weak, he put on his helmet again. He lay, half fainting from loss of blood. Footsteps were coming towards him! Would he be found? But the policemen
were thinking of only surrounding the hotel, and did not look in the bushes where Ned lay hidden.

Kelly’s Courage

After lying encased in his armour on the frosty ground for three and a half hours, Ned came fully to his senses and decided to return to battle. Desperately wounded as
he was, weakened by loss of blood, his limbs frozen and encumbered by nearly a hundredweight of iron, he managed to stand up and walk – not away from the fight,
in the direction of safety for himself, but back to the hotel to rescue his mates.

It was at that moment and by that decision, that Ned Kelly’s name was fixed in Australia’s lore as a symbol of reckless courage.

As game as Ned Kelly…

This was the supreme moment of his life, and perhaps he knew it. It was one of the policemen who first noticed the seemingly gigantic figure lurching among the
saplings. In the mist and grey overcoat over the armour, and wearing the rounded helmet with a slit in it, appeared to be about nine feet tall. The police opened fire,
aiming at the head and chest. The bullets struck with a metallic clang. The tall figure staggered at each impact but continued to advance. A loud muffled voice came
from the slit in the helmet.

“Fire away, you can’t hurt me!”

The police closed in rapidly, firing at the outlaw’s legs and arms, and a charge of gunshot fired from Sergeant Steele finally brought him crashing to the ground. The
police seized his wrist and wrenched the revolver from him. Then they pulled off his helmet.

“Oh my God, it’s Ned!”

They were more than sixty yards from the hotel where Dan and Hart could have fired upon them with deadly effect if they had chosen. But those two dazed and
drink-stupefied youths did not take this opportunity of helping Ned. And so the outlaw was carried to the railway station and placed on a mattress in the station
master’s office. There the police tried to persuade Ned to make his mates surrender – but he knew they never would, and there was nothing he could do.

At about 10a.m. after the police had been firing at the hotel for about seven hours, the order was given to cease fire. A strange silence settled on the scene. No shots
came from the hotel. Then a loud voice called from the police positions : “we will give you ten minutes. All innocent person t come out.”

After about three minutes the people who had been kept prisoner at the hotel came out. Everyone was identified, searched and questioned, and the police learnt for the
first time that Joe Burne was dead. The other two, still wearing their armour, were apparently quiet and miserable and talking together in low tones. They knew that
Ned was captured and that their own position was hopeless

The police now decided to set fire to the hotel and smoke them out. Under a heavy burst of fire, a policeman ran forward with a bundle of straw and placed it against
the weatherboard wall. The rifle-fire ceased. As the flames licked at the wall, fanned by the southerly breeze, a hush of awe fell on the spectators. Now or never the
outlaws must emerge.

Dean Gibney, a Roman Catholic priest, who happened to be on the train, and who had already spoken with Ned, now showed great personal heroism. “May God
protect me,” he said “I’m going into that house, to give those men a chance to have a little time to prepare themselves before they die.”

And as the flames crackles and black smoke billowed, he walked forward alone to the burning building. “In the name of God,” he called out to the outlaws, “I am a
Catholic priest, do not shoot me.”

Inside he ran quickly from room to room. He saw the dead body of Joe Burne, and there in a little room at the back he saw two bodies lying side by side on the floor.
Their armour was off and laid beside them. They were Dan Kelly and Steve Hart. They had been dead for some time and it appeared that they had committed suicide.
The priest emerged and told the police what he had found. A few minutes later the hotel became a raging mass of flames.

So the Kelly Gang was ended in that strange battle which lasted for twelve and a half hours on Monday, 28th June 1880.

Ned’s Trail

Ned Kelly was taken by the police to the Melbourne Gaol hospital, and carefully nursed back to health. On 28th October 1880, he was put on trial. A jury was chosen,
evidence was heard, and the “twelve good men and true” gave their verdict – guilty.

The judge, Sir Redmond Barry, asked the formal question, “Prisoner at the bar, have you anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon you?”

Ned looked at the judge thoughtfully.

“Well,” he said, “it is rather too late for me to speak now. I wish I had insisted on examining the witnesses myself. I could have thrown a different light on the case –
but I thought if I did so it would look like bravado and flashiness.”

This interruption of the death sentence was something quite new. Ned continued to argue quietly and coolly with the judge. At last he said, “A day will come, at a
bigger Court than this, when we shall see which is right and which is wrong. No matter how long a man lives, he has to come to judgement somewhere. If I had
examined the witnesses, I would have stopped a lot of the reward, I assure you!”

After a few more exchanges, the judge decided the fantastic argument to a close. He looked at his notes, prepared in advance, and read in solemn tones a homily on
the miseries of an outlaw’s lot and on Ned’s misdeeds. He ended on pronouncing the sentence, “You will be taken from here to the place from whence you came, and
thence to a place of execution, and there you will be hanged by the neck until you be dead, and may the Lord have mercy on your soul!”

Ned looked fixedly at the ageing judge. “ I will add something to that,” he said, as the court listened in awe-struck silence. “ I will see you where I am going!”

Many people remembered these words when Sir Redmond Barry was suddenly taken ill two days after Ned was hanged, and died soon afterwards.

The date fixed on Ned’s execution was 11 November 1880. On the day before his brother and sisters were allowed to visit him, and after this, his mother. Her last
words to him were: “Mind you die like a Kelly, Ned!”.

The morning of Thursday, 11th November, dawned fine and clear. Ned was taken to the gallows. As the hangman adjusted the noose Ned looked round him
resignedly and said, “Ah well, I suppose it had to come to this!”.

A white cap was put over his head and face. As it was pulled down over his eyes Ned spoke three words, with a sigh:

“Such is Life”