Months prior to arriving in Jerilderie, Kelly composed a lengthy letter with the aim of tracing his path to outlawry, justifying his actions, and outlining the alleged injustices he and his family suffered at the hands of the police. He also decries the treatment of poor selector families by Victoria's Squattocracy, and, in "an escalating promise of revenge and retribution", invokes "a mythical tradition of Irish rebellion" against what he calls "the tyrannism of the English yoke". Dictated to Byrne, it is known as the Jerilderie Letter, and is a handwritten document of 56 pages and 7,391 words. While holding up Jerilderie, Kelly gave the letter, which he called "a bit of my life", to Edwin Living, a local bank accountant, and demanded that he deliver it to the editor of the "Jerilderie and Urana Gazette" for publication. Due to political suppression, only excerpts were published in the press, based on a copy transcribed by John Hanlon, owner of the Eight Mile Hotel in Deniliquin. The entire letter was rediscovered and published in 1930.