In June 1880 Ned Kelly came up with a plan to get his mother released from prison. Dan Kelly and Joe Byrne went to Beechworth and killed their friend Aaron Sherritt who they thought was a police spy. They knew this would bring many police by train to Beechworth to capture them. In the meantime Hart and Ned Kelly had gone to Glenrowan and forced railway workers to pull up the train tracks. They hoped the police train would crash, and then wearing home made armour they would capture the surviving policemen. These would be held as hostages until Ellen Kelly was set free.