In early 1878, Ned Kelly was alleged to have shot at Constable Fitzpatrick when the latter came to the Kelly house to arrest his brother Dan. The Kellys' mother and brother-in-law were jailed for their parts in the 'attempted murder' of Constable Fitzpatrick, and Ned and Dan went into hiding together in the Wombat Ranges near Mansfield, Victoria. A police party comprising Sergeant Kennedy and Constables Lonigan, Scanlon and McIntyre was dispatched to capture them. On 25 October the officers camped at Stringybark Creek, where Ned marked them. The next day, when Kennedy and Scanlon went out to search the surrounding bush, the 'Kelly gang' - Ned, Dan, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart - ambushed Lonigan and McIntyre. Ned shot Lonigan dead as the officer drew his revolver. McIntyre surrendered, and when Kennedy and Scanlon returned, Ned called on them to do likewise. They refused; Ned killed Scanlon and mortally wounded Kennedy, later shooting him in the heart as an 'act of mercy'. McIntrye escaped to Mansfield and related the story to his colleagues. Within weeks the Victorian government advertised huge rewards for the Kelly gang members, and these rewards increased in the ensuing months. The 'siege of Glenrowan' took place in June 1880; Dan Kelly, Byrne and Hart all died there. Kelly survived, and was executed in November that year.
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