Ned Kelly: A Short Life, by Ian Jones (large TPB, 2003, $4)
Who was Ned Kelly? He was born in Australia. In 1880 at the age of 26 he was hung for the murder of three policemen. He was also a bank robber, and a horse thief. British landowners hated him. The Irish poor and Aborigines loved him. It was a battle of the wealthy, and their police enforcers, versus the poor who wanted to own their own land. Political radicals wanted to form a republic. Most people just wanted relief from hunger and unemployment, and for the British to go home.
After the hanging, civil war was expected but never came. His community watched in horror, and fascination, as people fought over what was in today's dollars a 2 million dollar reward. Public investigations showed Kelly had murdered three men, but also that corrupt police had over zealously pursued him.
After the hanging, most people saw Kelly as an outlaw. Then books came out portraying him as a modern day Robin Hood. Later, people would occasionally suggest he was not really a hero, but mostly his myth just grew. He and his life are now a hot commodity to exploit. Towns fight over who has more real artifacts from his life. (More Kelly artifacts mean more tourist dollars. After all, who would want to go home from Australia without a mug adorned with a picture of Ned Kelly!
His grave was discovered in 2011. As was expected the body was not intact. His brain had been removed for scientists to study. The skull had vanished, probably taken home by someone as a memento. Other body parts had gone home with other people. I am left to wonder just how much of his body was left to bury? Enough, it seems, to do DNA testing and prove the body really was Kelly.
Now if we could find those other missing body parts...
Look for this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 5/27. (L-bio)
