Ned Kelly shootout excavation

Archaeologists believe they have found more evidence of the 1880 gun battle between Ned Kelly's gang and police at Glenrowan, in central Victoria.

Bullet fragments were uncovered during excavations at the former Anne Jones Inn site earlier this month.

Now archaeologists have revealed that two bullet cartridges from a Martini-Henry rifle were discovered in the northern section of the site on Friday afternoon.

Article here.

The Martini-Henry mention started me looking at online references to this old British breechloader. Prices have certainly gone up since my friends were collecting them back in the early '80s -- though not nearly so much as gas, real estate, and much else. There is one Martini I owned back then that I do rather regret selling: a Providence-made Peabody-Martini originally sold to the Ottoman Empire, and bearing marks indicating later Japanese military ownership. There's a well-researched article on this model and the history behind it available online here; I read it when it was first published in 1979, but it means much more since I've moved to Providence. Here's an example of some local color:

After traveling to and from Providence Tool as a group on a trolley car, the Turkish inspectors would gather in the bar of a Providence hotel for drinking, gaming, arguing, and, not infrequently, brawling. (One inspector had even shot a woman in a Providence boarding house!) Their antics provided a continual source of embarrassment for the tool company and harrassment for the Providence Police Department. Were it not for Anthony's influence and the importance of the Turkish arms contract to Providence Tool and thereby to the economy of the city (the company was now the largest employer in Providence), many of the inspectors would probably have spent a number of sojourns in the city's lockup. The Porte, however, was not as understanding. One inspector was recalled to Turkey for some infraction and went before a firing squad armed with rifles he had probably inspected. When another inspector received a summons to return, he chose to commit suicide by leaping from the Crawford Street bridge. A third inspector refused to return home and married the daughter of a Providence innkeeper. As the years passed, his bizarre appearance and demeanor became a conspicuous element of the checquered Providence landscape.

More on the present status of the old RI Tool building off River (the armory on Wickenden is long, long, gone) at Artinruins.

Posted by David on May 15, 2008 12:46 PM