Paper no.9, [1878]

TEXT: Police Department / Superintendent’s Office, / / On the 30th Novr 1878 I informed Sergt Purcell[?] at Seymour that the Kellys contemplated sticking up one of the Seymour banks & that 3 men would be sent up there, their duty to be kept quiet & the Banks to be informed – On the 2nd Decr three Constables arrived at Seymour – / / They would then have 5 men at Seymour on the 4 Decr 1878 I sent a Memo to Avenel to the following effect. “A foot constable armed with a revolver would be sent to Avenel, the Constable shd be placed on duty in plain clothes & shd never looses sight of the Bank during office hours.” The following day Const B[?] arrived at Avenel for duty. / / This made three men at Avenel / / On the 7th Decr 1878 I sent the following telegram to Sergt Purcell. Send one of your plain clothes men to Nagambie for same duty there and send Const Byrne copy of instructions you got from me. Same day Sergt Purcell sent Const Barton[?] to Nagambie with a copy of my memo dated 30/11/1878. / / This made 3 men at Nagambie /

OTHER TEXT: Copy of instructions / I sent to Seymour / Avenel & Nagambie / about banks about to / be stuck up /

This is part of the digitized version of the Francis Hare Correspondence held in the University of Melbourne Archives. It consists of 54 letters and documents, of which this is one, from 1859-87 and received by or relating to Superintendent Francis Hare, one of the members of the Victoria police force involved in the pursuit and capture of the Kelly Gang. The collection complements Hare’s published memoir, The Last of the Bushrangers (London, 1892) and includes letters by some of the key figures of the Kelly story including the Police Commissioner Frederick Standish, Superintendents Charles Hope Nicolson and John Sadleir, Detective M Ward and John Sherritt, as well as items by Hare himself.