A WIDOW’S SON Songtext
von Clowns
A WIDOW’S SON Songtext
Senior Constable George Devine had been sleeping soundly
When he was suddenly woken by the sound
Of a galloping horse
It was Saturday, February 8 1879, and the
Constable lived with his family at the police barracks
In the small New South Wales town
Of Jerilderie
The horse′s hooves came to a stop
Outside Constable Devine's front door
And he heard his name being called
The constable donned his uniform and stepped outside
He was soon joined by a colleague, Trooper Richards
Together they stood on the verandah, looking at
The stranger on horseback before them
The rider reached into his
Jacket and withdrew a revolver
"Throw up your hands," he said
"I′m Ned Kelly."
The infamous bushranger was accompanied by the rest of the Kelly gang
His brother Dan Kelly, and friends
Joe Byrne and Steve Hart
Ned kelly and Joe Byrne took
The two policemen to the station's lock up
And threw them in a cell
The next morning, the gang dressed in the officers' uniforms
Then paraded around the barracks
Townsfolk who glimpsed at Ned and his men
Assumed they were troops passing through towards the Victorian border
In search of the Kelly gang
The following day, Ned Kelly and Joe Byrne walked into town
Dressed in their police uniforms with Trooper Richards between them
Behind them were Dan Kelly and Steve Byrne
Both on horseback
The gang entered the Royal Mail Hotel
And promptly took the publican hostage
Dan Kelly rounded up the hotel′s remaining employees
And stood guard over them alongside Steve Hart
Ned Kelly and Joe Byrne headed towards the bank
Next door
The bank′s accountant was sitting
In the banking chamber when he heard a noise
He looked up to see a drunk bushman stagger into
The room via the building's rear entrance
Unfortunately, this was not a rare occurrence
Annoyed, the accountant began to tell the
Man to "clear out", but the bushman – who was really Joe Byrne –
Suddenly straightened up
And pulled out a revolver
"I am a Kelly," he said
At the front of the bank
Ned Kelly bailed up a junior clerk
He emptied the teller′s safe of
Its contents, then he turned his
Attention to the bank's inner safe
Two keys were needed
To open it. The accountant had one
The bank′s manager, Mr Tarleton, had the other
He'd been away on business and
Was expected back that morning
Mr Tarleton was soon found
In the bank′s residential quarters
Enjoying a long soak in a
Tub after riding back to Jerilderie
At first he refused to help as
He wanted to finish his bath
But eventually he accompanied
Ned Kelly to the safe
Joe Byrne held a sugar sack open
As Mr Tarleton reluctantly dropped all of the safe's
Coins and banknotes inside
In all, the Kelly gang were making off
With more than 2,100 pounds
Ned Kelly then grabbed
Some jewellery from the safe
Along with the townspeople's bills
Mortgages and deeds
He destroyed most of the papers
Declaring that all financial institutions were
"Slavers" and "poor-man crushers"
Meanwhile, Jerilderie′s newspaper editor
– A man named Mr Gill –
Was chasing up a story
He′d heard about four new policemen in town
And wanted to write a story about them
As he arrived at the police station looking
For Constable Devine
He was met instead by his wife
"Run, for your life is in danger!" She cried
Mr Gill fled into town
Telling two storekeepers
About the warning along the way
The three decided they should
Warn the bank manager as well
They entered the bank, but
Found it completely empty
One of them knocked on the counter
A voice called from the
Bank's residence: "Just a minute!"
Suddenly realising they had likely
Stumbled right into a hold up
The three men bolted for the door
Mr Gill managed to escape
As Ned Kelly, Joe Byrne and their prisoners
Headed back through the bank′s residence
Towards the hotel, Ned asked Mr Tarleton
To fetch him the bank's revolver
Ned let the manager walk ahead of him
Towards his bedroom where
The gun was kept, until he
Suddenly realised his mistake
Mr Tarleton reached his bedroom and
Grabbed the revolver from his dressing table
Just as Ned leapt through the doorway
He went to hit the manager in the head
As Mr Tarleton handed him the gun and calmly said
"It isn′t loaded."
With that, Ned Kelly escorted his hostages
Into the hotel's bar and tossed
A two-shilling coin onto the counter
Buying each a drink
With their sack full of money
Joe Byrne and Dan Kelly went back
To the police station and barracks
Ned Kelly and Steve Hart bid farewell to the hostages
In the hotel telling them they "could go where they liked."
Then Ned escorted Trooper Richards back to the
Barracks, throwing him back in the lock up
With Constable Devine
He handed the cell′s key to Mary Devine
And told her not to unlock it until 7.30pm
Or he would burn her house Down
Ned headed to the Albion Hotel
Where curious locals cheered upon seeing him
After one final drink, Ned was joined by
The rest of the Kelly gang, all on horseback
With a tip of his hat, Ned and his gang galloped away
In the direction of the Murray River
Overhead, rolling thunder and storm clouds
Signalled their departure from Jerilderie
It would be another seventeen months
Before the Kelly Gang was seen again
Ned had one certain regret from his time in Jerilderie
After escaping the bank, the town's
Newspaper editor, Mr Gill had fled town
When Ned learnt of this
A wave of anger washed over him
There was something he particularly
Wanted done in Jerilderie, and Mr Gill was
The very man whose assistance he'd needed
Ned had dictated an 8,000-word letter
That he wanted published
In the Jerilderie paper
In it, he justified his crimes
Detailed police corruption
And demanded justice for impoverished families
Because Mr Gill had left
The manifesto was never published
But like Ned Kelly and his gang
Whose legends live on immortalised
In the Australian imagination
The letter was passed along and survived
Its final line reads
′I am a Widow′s Son
Outlawed
And my orders must be obeyed.'
When he was suddenly woken by the sound
Of a galloping horse
It was Saturday, February 8 1879, and the
Constable lived with his family at the police barracks
In the small New South Wales town
Of Jerilderie
The horse′s hooves came to a stop
Outside Constable Devine's front door
And he heard his name being called
The constable donned his uniform and stepped outside
He was soon joined by a colleague, Trooper Richards
Together they stood on the verandah, looking at
The stranger on horseback before them
The rider reached into his
Jacket and withdrew a revolver
"Throw up your hands," he said
"I′m Ned Kelly."
The infamous bushranger was accompanied by the rest of the Kelly gang
His brother Dan Kelly, and friends
Joe Byrne and Steve Hart
Ned kelly and Joe Byrne took
The two policemen to the station's lock up
And threw them in a cell
The next morning, the gang dressed in the officers' uniforms
Then paraded around the barracks
Townsfolk who glimpsed at Ned and his men
Assumed they were troops passing through towards the Victorian border
In search of the Kelly gang
The following day, Ned Kelly and Joe Byrne walked into town
Dressed in their police uniforms with Trooper Richards between them
Behind them were Dan Kelly and Steve Byrne
Both on horseback
The gang entered the Royal Mail Hotel
And promptly took the publican hostage
Dan Kelly rounded up the hotel′s remaining employees
And stood guard over them alongside Steve Hart
Ned Kelly and Joe Byrne headed towards the bank
Next door
The bank′s accountant was sitting
In the banking chamber when he heard a noise
He looked up to see a drunk bushman stagger into
The room via the building's rear entrance
Unfortunately, this was not a rare occurrence
Annoyed, the accountant began to tell the
Man to "clear out", but the bushman – who was really Joe Byrne –
Suddenly straightened up
And pulled out a revolver
"I am a Kelly," he said
At the front of the bank
Ned Kelly bailed up a junior clerk
He emptied the teller′s safe of
Its contents, then he turned his
Attention to the bank's inner safe
Two keys were needed
To open it. The accountant had one
The bank′s manager, Mr Tarleton, had the other
He'd been away on business and
Was expected back that morning
Mr Tarleton was soon found
In the bank′s residential quarters
Enjoying a long soak in a
Tub after riding back to Jerilderie
At first he refused to help as
He wanted to finish his bath
But eventually he accompanied
Ned Kelly to the safe
Joe Byrne held a sugar sack open
As Mr Tarleton reluctantly dropped all of the safe's
Coins and banknotes inside
In all, the Kelly gang were making off
With more than 2,100 pounds
Ned Kelly then grabbed
Some jewellery from the safe
Along with the townspeople's bills
Mortgages and deeds
He destroyed most of the papers
Declaring that all financial institutions were
"Slavers" and "poor-man crushers"
Meanwhile, Jerilderie′s newspaper editor
– A man named Mr Gill –
Was chasing up a story
He′d heard about four new policemen in town
And wanted to write a story about them
As he arrived at the police station looking
For Constable Devine
He was met instead by his wife
"Run, for your life is in danger!" She cried
Mr Gill fled into town
Telling two storekeepers
About the warning along the way
The three decided they should
Warn the bank manager as well
They entered the bank, but
Found it completely empty
One of them knocked on the counter
A voice called from the
Bank's residence: "Just a minute!"
Suddenly realising they had likely
Stumbled right into a hold up
The three men bolted for the door
Mr Gill managed to escape
As Ned Kelly, Joe Byrne and their prisoners
Headed back through the bank′s residence
Towards the hotel, Ned asked Mr Tarleton
To fetch him the bank's revolver
Ned let the manager walk ahead of him
Towards his bedroom where
The gun was kept, until he
Suddenly realised his mistake
Mr Tarleton reached his bedroom and
Grabbed the revolver from his dressing table
Just as Ned leapt through the doorway
He went to hit the manager in the head
As Mr Tarleton handed him the gun and calmly said
"It isn′t loaded."
With that, Ned Kelly escorted his hostages
Into the hotel's bar and tossed
A two-shilling coin onto the counter
Buying each a drink
With their sack full of money
Joe Byrne and Dan Kelly went back
To the police station and barracks
Ned Kelly and Steve Hart bid farewell to the hostages
In the hotel telling them they "could go where they liked."
Then Ned escorted Trooper Richards back to the
Barracks, throwing him back in the lock up
With Constable Devine
He handed the cell′s key to Mary Devine
And told her not to unlock it until 7.30pm
Or he would burn her house Down
Ned headed to the Albion Hotel
Where curious locals cheered upon seeing him
After one final drink, Ned was joined by
The rest of the Kelly gang, all on horseback
With a tip of his hat, Ned and his gang galloped away
In the direction of the Murray River
Overhead, rolling thunder and storm clouds
Signalled their departure from Jerilderie
It would be another seventeen months
Before the Kelly Gang was seen again
Ned had one certain regret from his time in Jerilderie
After escaping the bank, the town's
Newspaper editor, Mr Gill had fled town
When Ned learnt of this
A wave of anger washed over him
There was something he particularly
Wanted done in Jerilderie, and Mr Gill was
The very man whose assistance he'd needed
Ned had dictated an 8,000-word letter
That he wanted published
In the Jerilderie paper
In it, he justified his crimes
Detailed police corruption
And demanded justice for impoverished families
Because Mr Gill had left
The manifesto was never published
But like Ned Kelly and his gang
Whose legends live on immortalised
In the Australian imagination
The letter was passed along and survived
Its final line reads
′I am a Widow′s Son
Outlawed
And my orders must be obeyed.'
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