Editing Ned Kelly (section)

===Horse theft, assault and imprisonment===
[[File:Ned Kelly mugshot.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Mugshot of Kelly, aged 15]]
In October 1870, a hawker, Jeremiah McCormack, accused a friend of the Kellys, Ben Gould, of stealing his horse. In response, Gould sent an indecent note and a parcel of calves' testicles to McCormack's wife, which Kelly helped deliver. When McCormack later confronted Kelly over his role, Kelly punched him and was arrested for both the note and the assault, receiving three months’ hard labor for each charge.{{Sfn|Corfield|2003|p=265}}

Kelly was released from Beechworth Gaol on 27 March 1871, five weeks early, and returned to Greta. Shortly after, horse-breaker Isaiah "Wild" Wright rode into town on a horse he supposedly borrowed. Later that night, the horse went missing. While Wright was away in search of the horse, Kelly found it and took it to [[Wangaratta]], where he stayed for four days. On 20 April, while Kelly was riding back into Greta, Constable Edward Hall tried to arrest him on the suspicion that the horse was stolen. Kelly resisted and overpowered Hall, despite the constable's attempts to shoot him. Kelly was eventually subdued with the help of bystanders, and Hall [[Pistol-whipping|pistol-whipped]] him until his head became "a mass of raw and bleeding flesh".{{sfn|FitzSimons|2013|pp=81–82}} Initially charged with horse stealing, the charge was downgraded to "feloniously receiving a horse", resulting in a three-year sentence. Wright received eighteen months for his part.{{Sfn|Corfield|2003|p=507}}

[[File:Ned Kelly boxing.jpg|thumb|upright|Kelly in boxing attire, 1874]]
Kelly served his sentence at Beechworth Gaol and Pentridge Prison, then aboard the prison hulk ''Sacramento'', off [[Williamstown, Victoria|Williamstown]]. He was freed on 2 February 1874, six months early for good behaviour, and returned to Greta. According to one possibly apocryphal story, Kelly, to settle the score with Wright over the horse, fought and beat him in a [[bare-knuckle boxing]] match.{{sfn|Jones|2010|p=}} A photograph of Kelly in a boxing pose is commonly linked to the match. Regardless of the story's veracity, Wright became a known Kelly sympathiser.{{sfn|Kieza|2017|p=105}}

Over the next few years, Kelly worked at sawmills and spent periods in [[New South Wales]], leading what he called the life of a "rambling gambler".{{Sfn|Jones|2010|p=507}} During this time, his mother married an American, George King.{{Sfn|Corfield|2003|pp=265–66}} In early 1877, Ned joined King in an organised horse theft operation. Ned later claimed that the group stole 280 horses.{{Sfn|Corfield|2003|p=266}} Its membership overlapped with that of the Greta Mob, a bush [[larrikin]] gang known for their distinctive "flash" attire. Apart from Ned, the gang included his brother [[Dan Kelly (bushranger)|Dan]], cousins Jack and [[Tom Lloyd (bushranger)|Tom Lloyd]], and [[Joe Byrne]], [[Steve Hart]] and [[Aaron Sherritt]].{{Sfn|Corfield|2003|p=204}}

On 18 September 1877, Kelly was arrested in [[Benalla]] for riding over a footpath while drunk. The following day he brawled with four policemen who were escorting him to court, including a friend of the Kellys, Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick. Another constable involved, Thomas Lonigan, supposedly grabbed Kelly's testicles during the fraccas; legend has it that Kelly vowed, "Well Lonigan, I never shot a man yet; but if I ever do...you will be the first!" Kelly was fined and released.{{Sfn|Jones|1995|pp=98–100}}

In August 1877, Kelly and King sold six horses they had stolen from pastoralist James Whitty to William Baumgarten, a horse dealer in [[Barnawartha]]. On 10 November, Baumgarten was arrested for selling the horses. Warrants for Ned and Dan's arrest for the theft were sworn in March and April 1878. King disappeared around this time.{{Sfn|Jones|2010|pp=94–106|ps=. [1995 edition]}}