Editing Ned Kelly (section)

===Bushranging with Harry Power===
{{Blockquote|text=I'm a bushranger.
|source=The earliest known words attributed to Kelly in public record, as reported by Chinese hawker Ah Fook, 1869.{{Sfn|Molony|2001|p=37}}
}}
[[File:Bushranger Harry Power.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Harry Power]] has been described as Kelly's bushranging "mentor".]]
In 1869, 14-year-old Kelly met Irish-born [[Harry Power]] (alias of Henry Johnson), a transported convict who turned to bushranging in north-eastern Victoria after escaping Melbourne's [[HM Prison Pentridge|Pentridge Prison]]. The Kellys were Power sympathisers, and by May 1869 Ned had become his bushranging protégé. That month, they attempted to steal horses from the [[Mansfield, Victoria|Mansfield]] property of [[Squatting (Australian history)|squatter]] John Rowe as part of a plan to rob the [[Woods Point, Victoria|Woods Point]]–Mansfield gold escort. They abandoned the idea after Rowe shot at them, and Kelly temporarily broke off his association with Power.{{sfn|Kieza|2017|pp=85–86}}

Kelly's first brush with the law occurred in October 1869. A Chinese hawker named Ah Fook said that as he passed the Kelly family home, Ned brandished a long stick, declared himself a bushranger and robbed him of 10 shillings. Kelly, arrested and charged with [[highway robbery]], claimed in court that Fook had abused him and his sister Annie in a dispute over the hawker's request for a drink of water. Family witnesses backed Ned and the charge was dismissed.{{sfn|Jones|1995|pp=37-39}}

Kelly and Power reconciled in March 1870 and, over the next month, committed a series of armed robberies. By the end of April, the press had named Kelly as Power's young accomplice, and a few days later he was captured by police and confined to [[HM Prison Beechworth|Beechworth Gaol]]. Kelly fronted court on three robbery charges, with the victims in each case failing to identify him. On the third charge, Superintendents Nicolas and [[Francis Augustus Hare|Hare]] insisted Kelly be tried, citing his resemblance to the suspect. After a month in custody, Kelly was released due to insufficient evidence. The Kellys allegedly intimidated witnesses into withholding testimony. Another factor in the lack of identification may have been that Power's accomplice was described as a "[[Half-caste#Australia|half-caste]]", but the police believed this to be the result of Kelly going unwashed.{{sfn|Jones|1995|pp=41-52}}

[[File:Harry Power capture.jpg|thumb|upright|Power's capture. Kelly was accused of informing on the bushranger.]]
Power often camped at Glenmore Station on the [[King River (Victoria)|King River]], owned by Kelly's maternal grandfather, James Quinn. In June 1870, while resting in a mountainside [[humpy|gunyah]] (bark shelter) that overlooked the property, Power was captured and arrested by police. Word soon spread that Kelly had informed on him. Kelly denied the rumour, and in the only surviving [[s:Ned Kelly Letter to Sgt. James Babington|letter]] known to bear his handwriting, he pleads with Sergeant James Babington of [[Kyneton, Victoria|Kyneton]] for help, saying that "everyone looks on me like a black snake". The informant turned out to be Kelly's uncle, Jack Lloyd, who received £500 for his assistance.{{sfn|Jones|1995|pp=51–56}} However, Kelly had also given information which led to Power's capture, possibly in exchange for having the charges against him dropped. Power always maintained that Kelly betrayed him.{{Sfn|Macfarlane|2012|pp=35–37}}

Reporting on Power's criminal career, the ''[[Benalla Ensign]]'' wrote:

{{blockquote|The effect of his example has already been to draw one young fellow into the open vortex of crime, and unless his career is speedily cut short, young Kelly will blossom into a declared enemy of society.{{sfn|Jones|1995|p=46}}}}