SUICIDE FOLLOWS GHASTLY DEED ADELAIDE

SUICIDE FOLLOWS GHASTLY DEED ADELAIDE

In 1931, Ivan White awoke to the horrifying sounds of screams from his neighbour's house on Brighton Road, Helmsdale. He jumped out of bed and ran across to the bungalow. Looking through the window, to his horror, he saw his neighbour, Stanley Jones, bashing his wife in the head with a hammer...


Stanley Jones was married to Gertrude, and together they lived with their 18-year-old daughter Marjorie and a 35-year-old female border by the name of Ms Sullivan.
Stanley owned a Billiard Saloon Hall in Glenelg that had always been reasonably rewarding financially, but in recent times had become somewhat of a strain on his hip pocket.


On the night in question, Mr Jones came home from work and sat down to dinner with his wife, daughter and border. The foursome ate, and afterwards, Ms Sullivan and Marjorie excused themselves and returned to their rooms.
Ms Sullivan, later in her police statement, said after she had left the dining room, and returned to her room, Mr and Mrs Jones had sat at the table engrossed in amicable conversation.
At some point the same evening, after saying goodnight to his wife, Stanley began to write a note explaining that he was sorry for all the trouble he had caused and that the “The Billiard Saloon was the cause of it all”.
 At about 2:45am, Stanley went into his daughter Marjorie's room and slit her throat with a razor. Marjorie couldn’t scream, but she managed to get up and make her way to her mother's room.
 As she entered her mother's room, Stanley, her father, struck Majorie in the back of the head with a hammer.
Marjorie fell to the floor at the foot of her mother's bed.

Gertrude began to scream, and as she did, Stanley came at her with the hammer, swinging wildly At the same time he also slashed at her with a cut-throat razor.
In another part of the house, Ms Sullivan had been awoken by the screams. Realising something terrible was happening in the house, she jumped out through a window to escape and ran into neighbour Ivan White as he crossed the street to see what was going on.
Looking through the window at the horrors before him, Ivan tapped on the window. Stanley turned and looked him in the eye, with a savage expression on his face, and turned back to beating his wife around the head with the hammer.
Mr White rushed down the street to the nearest telephone box and called the police, who arrived within in five minutes.

The police entered the house to find Marjorie was still alive, but in a very bad way, they followed a trail of blood through to the rear of the house and into the backyard where they found Stanley, who had taken the razor to himself and slit his throat from ear to ear. He was still alive.


In the brief amount of time it took for medical help to arrive, both Majorie and Stanley died from their wounds...

Merry Christmas 2014

This week we are posting some old photos of Christmas in South Australia 

All photos are courtesy of The South Australian State Library

A 'Y' class steam train, decorated for Christmas, pictured with its crew and other men at Gladstone. A raised water tank behind the train is advertising 'Burford's - circa 1900

The photos below feature Adelaide Christmas Pageant floats featuring Father Christmas, Noah's Ark and Nimble on Grenfell Street outside the Rigby newsagent and Cole's Book Arcade

Father Michael Ryan

Father Michael Ryan:

Father Ryan first arrived in South Australia with Bishop Murphy in the year 1841, and was the first Roman Catholic priest On South Australian soil; he held the high ecclesiastical positions of Vicar-General and Apostolic Administrator in his time.
He was the first Catholic priest to say Mass in Kapunda in 1845
Father Ryan was appointed with the task of building a church in Kapunda.
Father Ryan found a suitable place to hold mass for those who couldn’t get to the St Johns church; the area is now where Kapunda Institute stands. Eventually, he chose the site for St Rose of Lima church to be built. The original church has since been destroyed and a new one built in its place.
On the 3rd of April 1864, Father Ryan performed a wedding ceremony for Horace McKinley and Martha Craig.


On 15 August 1864 Father Michael Ryan laid the foundation stone for the Sevenhills church at Sevenhill.
Father Ryan died of apoplexy on 24th August 1865 (Historically the word "apoplexy" was also used to describe any sudden death that began with a sudden loss of consciousness, especially one in which the victim died within a matter of seconds after losing consciousness.)

At his funeral, it was stated
“Father Ryan was a pious and zealous member of the Catholic Church— a man of modest and unassuming manners. In him, the members of his Church have lost a truly benevolent pastor, the poor a ready counsellor, and the needy a friend.”

James Yates

James Yates

In 1850, Adelaide was a small colony with very little to do once work had finished for the day. Gaol Executions, although distressing and grotesque, attracted large crowds of onlookers.
The execution day of James Yates was no different. On that day, the crowd grew to six hundred strong, despite the inclement weather.

Yates had been found guilty of murdering a Shepard at Skillagogee Creek. A fellow workman known locally as “The Sergeant” because of his past military service.

 Yates was found guilty of a brutal murder by way of repeated blows to the head.
He denied any wrongdoings in court, claiming loudly that he was innocent, and later that it was self-defence as the old Sergeant had been quite drunk and came at him first.

Yates hanging was a horrible one, with the knot of the noose getting caught behind his neck, and his constant struggling witnessed by the large crowd. He was eventually let down, and his body evaluated before being buried inside the stone walls of The Adelaide Gaol.



The following poem was written by condemned man, James Yates, this poetry, although badly written, was heartfelt and in appreciation of his lawyer, Mr G.M. Stephen, for his tireless, although unsuccessful, efforts to save him from the gallows.

If I had always refrained from drink 

and paid attenshion to the word of God 

I never would have had to have rued the day 

Or on the wretched scaffold to have trod

Since i have now come to this untimely end 

And in this world i found one onely friend 

Who tried his utmost for me to defend 

I hope God will reward him in the end

His honner the guge to me he has proved kind 

Nearley three weeks he has gave me to make up my mind 

For this wicked world to leave behind 

And in the next i hope soon my God to find

I was brought up by my tender parents 

Who always was to me so kind and free 

But little did they ever think 

That I should di on the gallows tree

James Yates

Eerie Experiences

Eerie Experiences

This week, two South Australian stories of "Eerie Experiences" submitted to "The Australian Woman's Weekly" in September 1964


First Published in “The Australian Women's Weekly: Wednesday 16 September 1964”

During the war, I was a member of the A.W.A.S. stationed in a country town. One day I was involved in an accident, and during the time it took for me to be extricated from the wreckage; I yelled over and over, "Mum! Mum!"
On recovering consciousness in the hospital, I was handed a telegram from my mother 600 miles away. It read, "What has happened? Are you all right? Love, Mum."
I discovered that at the moment of the accident she heard me as if I were in the next room screaming for her. She sent the telegram and was in a state herself until she heard from me.
MRS. J. COLLINS, Woodville, S.A.

First Published in “The Australian Women's Weekly: Wednesday 16 September 1964”

"SHORT-LEGGED GHOST," North Adelaide.

My home is old and rather large. All the main rooms open into a long passage. For several years I often had the feeling, as I walked down this passage, that I was being followed.
If I turned I would see, out of the corner of my eye, a sudden movement as though something about two and a half feet high had just raced out of sight.
This experience was never frightening. It was rather like having a very inquisitive pet that was also very timid.
I came to think of this movement as "he."
One day while I was in the sitting-room he must have become especially curious, for when I pulled the door open to go out, there he was in the doorway.
In the second before he moved I saw that he was very short and thick-set, his head was unusually large and oddly flattened on top, and his face was waxen in texture, although I saw no features. As he scuttled off I saw that he had very short legs.
The poor little thing must have been badly frightened, for I have not seen him since. Still, it's not every day one frightens a short-legged ghost.

Cemetery Superstitions

Cemetery Superstitions

Something a little different to the normal "History, Mystery and Paranormal" here on The Haunts of Adelaide;  Superstitions, particularly Cemetery Superstitions.

These superstitions come from across the world and some are somewhat grotesque to our modern sensibilities, but no doubt were essential ways of thinking regarding dealing with death at the time.

 Witches: 
An old superstition for people accused of being witches was to bury the alleged witch face down in the coffin.  It was believed that this would stop the witch breaking free and digging her way out to cause trouble again.
  Strangely this custom was also adopted for any families whose firstborn infant that passed away. It was also customary for the married couple to never have any more children as a curse would fall upon those children’s heads.

Men Only: 
  In one part of Northern Ireland, there is a cemetery where only Men are buried, and only Men can visit. It is said if women dare to step foot in the graveyard, the spirits will rise and eject her from their burial grounds.

Saints:
  In France, there is a cemetery where there are over 7000 Saints buried in a predominately Catholic religious area. Visitors must remove their shoes, as a sign of respect when entering this “Holy Place”, and those who don’t, often befall bizarre accidents within the grounds, and sometimes on their way home.

Pipes & Tobacco: 
  Another old custom is to leave a pipe and tobacco for the last person buried in the cemetery to have some comfort and something to do. It was often thought the last person buried had the duty of protecting the cemetery until the next person was buried (In some cases, that person could be a guard for eternity).

Harbinger of Death:
  Another strange belief in some areas is that the last person buried in a cemetery in a year would be the harbinger of death for the following year, going about the local village collecting the souls of the newly dead!

Dead Wells: 
  Have you ever wondered why some ancient cemeteries have wells located in them? Most people wouldn't drink from that well as they would believe the bodies buried so close would taint the water, but in actual fact, the well was put there for the dead to drink from!
  It was an ancient held belief that the dead were an extremely thirsty bunch. So cemeteries started installing wells and leaving wooden bowls for the dead to take water back to purgatory, so everyone could satisfy their first in the afterlife!

Cemetery Dirt: 
  The Irish started the custom of placing cemetery dirt upon the body of the dead before it was lowered into the cemetery grounds. It is seen as a blessing to the already buried souls in the cemetery and thought to settle them from causing problems, not only for the newly interred but also for the local townsfolk. This custom was never undertaken for those who committed suicide.

  Cemetery soils are blessed by Priests, usually, the whole cemetery will be sanctified, although this may not be the case with current modern multi-religious cemeteries, which may choose to only bless the very area where someone is buried.
The ground is thought to contain special powers because of the blessings, and for this reason, cemetery dirt is often used in witchcraft practices and Voodoo magic.

Westward: 
  Another old religious custom is to bury the dead with their heads pointing west. You may have noticed some older cemeteries, the heads of the dead all point west and their feet east, this was because it has long been written that The Last Judgement will come from the East – so the dead should be facing Jesus when he arrives.

©2014 - Allen Tiller

The Elliston Massacre

The Elliston Massacre

  The coastal township of Elliston, located some 650 kms from Adelaide, on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula, is a small beach-front town known for whale, sea lion and dolphin spotting on the tranquil waters of Waterloo Bay.
  Elliston also featured one of the largest murals in the southern hemisphere, covering 500 square meters. The mural was painted by local artists and community members.

  The area was first described by Matthew Flinders in his ship log in 1802. The area was further explored in 1840 by Edward Eyre on a journey to Western Australia. The township didn't acquire its name until 1878 when Governor Jervois noted it on a regional map.

  Many Aboriginal mobs called this area home and camped on the outskirts of the small town as they moved between ancient tribal sites. Little did they know they would play such a large part in this communities dark disturbing future... 

  In 1836, colonial settlers made their way onto the Eyre Peninsula to farm the vast fertile plains. Some of the European settlers decided the land in the area we now call Elliston was sufficient for settlement, farming and fishing. So they made plans to start their small community.

  A mob of about two hundred Aboriginal people lived on the outskirts of Elliston. Two young Aboriginal hunters went about the business of bringing food back to the tribe. On their journey, they came across a farm where sheep were being kept. The farmer who owned the property arrived home and took note of the two Aboriginal hunters. The next day, after the usual counting of heads of sheep, the farmer noted four sheep had gone missing. He linked the missing sheep to the two Aboriginal hunters he had seen the day before and reported the missing sheep and the two hunters to the local police.

  Local police troopers descended upon the camp of the closest Aboriginal mob and began asking who stole the sheep from the farmer the day before. The Elders replied that no one had taken any sheep. The policeman was suspicious and asked; “Who went out hunting yesterday?”
  The mob named the two men, knowing they had done no wrong, and told the police trooper they came back with a wombat and a kangaroo. The officer suspected the Aboriginal elders were protecting their hunters by lying about the sheep. He arrested the two hunters, who spoke no English and locked them in the gaol.

  Weeks later a judge was sent from Adelaide for the trial of the two hunters, which was held in a large barn in Elliston. The Aboriginal hunter's mob stood outside in the dark, watching through holes in the walls and through tiny windows, listening as their hunters were accused.
  The hunters, who spoke no English, professed their innocence in their native tongue. The hunters told the judge they hunted wombat and kangaroo, but the judge couldn’t understand them and said, “Hang them! Give them an example. Show them what will happen if they steal again!”

  The townsfolk took the two Aboriginal hunters and hung them that night in the centre of town. The two bodies were left swaying all the next day as a warning to the Aboriginal people. The Mob wept and mourned their lost family members and the next night cut them down and took them away to bury them in their own custom. While some of the tribe cut the young men down, others sneaked through the town to the building where the Judge was sleeping, they coaxed him from his slumber with a "whoobu-whoobie" ( An Aboriginal device that can sound like a horse neighing, or a dog growling) and knocked him unconscious.
They then hung the white judge from the very spot he had hung the Aboriginal hunters.

   The next morning, when the townsfolk found the judge hanging, they banded together and formed a posse. The local police trooper rounded up horsemen from farms and told the local farmers of the Judge's murder.
   The posse rode to the Aboriginal camp and herded the tribe, men, women, and children, together, any that tried to escape were shot, whipped or beaten with sticks. The posse herded the tribe to the local cliffs and forced them off the side to their deaths.

   Only four Aboriginals from the tribe survived the brutal justice of the townsfolk. Three teenagers, one girl, two boys and a baby. The baby survived by its mother taking the full impact of the fall. The teenagers that survived lay quiet and still, waiting for some time as the white men at the top of the cliff looked for survivors to kill. Eventually, the posse moved on and the children made their escape down the beach towards Streaky Bay.

  The news of the massacre spread swiftly among the Indigenous mobs and they began to flee the area towards Talewan, and the Gawler Ranges, not wanting to suffer a similar fate at the hands of the merciless white folk of Elliston.

   History repeats, and within ten years, the townsfolk of Elliston, repeated their horrible massacre of more local Aboriginal tribes near the local "sweep holes", for very similar reasons to the first massacre. After the second massacre, it is believed that no Aboriginal people have ever lived in Elliston.

It was well documented that when a farmer killed his sheep in the town, the Aboriginal mobs would collect the guts and whatever was left and use it for their own purposes if there was no food from their own local resources.
The only evidence the Police had against the two hunters were tracks in the scrub.
It wasn't until many years later that the Aboriginal men were proven to be innocent, two white men admitted to stealing the sheep to start their own farm in a nearby town. The two Aboriginal men were hung for no reason, and a whole innocent tribe was killed for the death of one man, who had not given a fair trial to a fellow human being.

Local legends persist, and amongst Mobs in the area, the place is considered cursed. It is said that amongst the cliffs where the Aboriginal Mob fell to their deaths, at times, their voices, screams and cries can be heard. Reports of phantoms have also been made near the cliffs and near the sweep holes.

References:

Iris Burgoyne: The Mirning - We are the whales - published by Magabala books 

Black armband Blogspot 

Wikipedia 

Elliston Community Website 

Across the bar to Waterloo bay: Elliston 1878 - 1978. - Compiled by the Elliston book committee 

A special Thank you to Andrew Brown who reminded me of this story!

Original story was written Dec 6. 2011

Edited 31/1/2012: © 2013 -Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

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War Tunnels

War Tunnels

A brand new train and train-line, with a newly completed viaduct and brand new tunnels in Belair in the newly founded colony of South Australia was quite the achievement. Although, the colony did not expect to see men standing around in the fields near Blackwood, wondering why their new shiny train could not make it up the steep incline, and so it was in 1883 when 200 of Adelaide's most proper gentleman were invited on the first trip of Adelaide’s new train line into the Adelaide Hills (As reported in the Observer March 17^th 1883)



World War One broke out and the old “Sleeps Hill” line became a very important part of our War Communications and transport between States. Armed military guards were posted at either end of the tunnels to stop any espionage attempts.
When the war ended in 1919, a new line was installed, and the railway lines were removed from the old tunnels (the last train ran through there on august 11^th 1919). Instead, the tunnels now served as a picnic and exploration area to many local people.


In 1932, an enterprising young man came up with the idea of using the tunnels to grow mushrooms. He removed the gravel floor and brought in tons of fresh dirt, and planted his first crop, looking to a bright future of all year round fresh mushrooms for South Australia.
However, it wasn’t to be, as unforeseen causes saw his business take many blows. Firstly, an endless supply of unwanted brown snakes found their way into the warm dank tunnels. Then mould and fungus disease obliterated his crop...and to top it all off vandals broke in a destroyed what little he had left.
His mushroom dream finally ended after an outbreak of the fungus “Chatomium” spread through his crop, a disease brought to South Australia from infected mushrooms from Herefordshire, England.
In 1938 – the old tunnels now stood empty once again.
In 1942, the Japanese bombed Darwin, and an outbreak of paranoid hysteria captured the South Australian governments minds. They decided the old Sleeps hills tunnels would be the perfect place to hide the States treasures and important documents.
Plans were made, and the shorter of the two tunnels was soon overhauled with ventilation shafts, electric lighting, and thick brick walls at either end with heavy iron doors.
A Jarrah platform running 700ft and 18 inches high was installed running the full length of the tunnel. Next, the tunnel was divided in half down its width and dived into sections. A small hand cart was then used to place the States Treasures into their new homes.
Armed troops stood guard as endless trucks of treasures arrived to be unloaded and hidden from the Japanese Threat. War records on microfilm, Government X-rays, taxation documents and other Government papers were stored inside the tunnels alongside some of our most valuable art collections.
The Government spent a lot of money on this new storage facility, that housed not only our state treasure and documents but also a Travelling painting of King George the VI, which happened to be in Australia at the time. Elaborate fire safeguards were installed and the facility was constantly monitored by the military for dampness, mould and pests.
The other tunnel played a lesser role and became storage for an arsenal of weapons and ammunition, it too was heavily guarded by our military.
The war ended, but this did not stop the military from using the 1^st tunnel for the following few years.

There has long been rumour and innuendo that some of our treasures never made it back out of tunnel 1, but I am assured by a source I spoke to recently that everything was accounted for and returned to its proper place after the threat of war diminished.


Bibliography: 

1883 'OPENING OF THE LINE.', The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 - 1889), 17 March, p. 2.  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33758328

Gawler -“Flying Saucer”

Gawler -“Flying Saucer”

In 1954 the town of Gawler, South Australia reported its first publicly witnessed 'Flying Saucer'. 

On Wednesday the 20^th of January 1954, Mrs J Tait was at her home south of the Gawler Racecourse. At about 11:20am she witnessed an Unidentified Flying Object flying at incredible height and speed over the foothills to the South East.

Mrs Tait was not alone, her daughter, Rotha and Rotha's school friend, Shirley Struck were also present and witnessed the same unidentified object. The object made an incredible sound, which triggered the curiosity of the witnesses, so they headed outside the home to see what the noise could be coming from.

The object, which at first resembled a feather, soon took on the shape of a saucer. It sped through the air at “great height and speed” and was “pure white”. It remained in the air for a very brief amount of time before it shot off at incredible speed in a southwesterly direction.

15 minutes later a jet plane flew across the sky heading in the same direction as the UFO.

The RAAF was contacted by a local UFO investigator to confirm witness accounts. The RAAF stated they had indeed sent a jet aircraft off at the time stated. The jet was doing around 600MPH at 10, 000 feet.

Another witness, Mrs W.C. Harrington of Gawler South also the flying object from a different viewpoint. Her report was consistent with other witness reports.

When presented with the RAAF's opinion of it being simply a jet, Mrs Tait stated that she is perfectly sure that the first object did not resemble an aircraft in the slightest. The first object was round and the second object was easily identifiable as a jet aeroplane!

Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2014

Grisly Gawler - Part IV - Circus Strikers brawl

Grisly Gawler - Part IV

Circus Strikers Brawl

  In 1931 after a successful string of shows in Angaston, Wirths Circus was on its way to Gawler via train to set up the Circus at the Gawler Racecourse. Following close behind in a rented truck from Tanunda were a group of men who had gone on strike during the Angaston leg of shows, wanting more money and better conditions.

  The Tanunda Police had phoned ahead and warned the Gawler Police of the approaching truck and the state of anger and excitement of the men on board.

The truck rolled into Gawler and the men drove up and down the main street calling out obscenities about the circus and its owners. Constable Philips of the Gawler Police intercepted the truck at Tramways bridge (Mill Bridge) and ordered the men out.

 The men verbally abused the officer as they unloaded.

  Police Sergeant Hansberry and Mounted Constable Hodgson were called to assist. Violence soon broke out with some of the angry men striking at the Police Officers. The men did not account for the officers being more than willing reciprocate, striking back with their batons, knocking at least four men to the ground unconscious and causing extensive injuries with their batons. Blood was spilled and bones were cracking under the extreme willingness of the police officers to end the violence these men had started.

 The Police eventually rounded up four of the most violent and abusive men and took them to the local station to charge them with Drunkenness, Indecent Language and Resisting Arrest. 

  Later in the day, several of the striking men from Angaston, turned up to the new Circus site at Gawler Racecourse, ready to cause a ruckus. They meant to protest and expose the circus owners with why their strike conditions were not being met. Mrs Wirth refused to discuss the terms with the men and told them to leave the site.

Police continued patrols well into the night to stop any further trouble.

 Unemployed men from Adelaide, who were on the Government listings, were brought down to fill the void the strikers had left and to work for the Circus. 

The men arrested were found guilty and duly fined. The other men did not return to cause any more problems that evening, due to the sudden rise in police visibility...

Perhaps a riot was stopped short on that particular occasion!

Happy 2nd Birthday The Haunts of Adelaide

Happy 2nd Birthday

The Haunts of Adelaide

Tomorrow The Haunts of Adelaide turns 2!

 Many thanks to all our readers that have found us and stayed with us over those two years, as we have delved into some of South Australia's, Ghosts, Crimes and Eccentricities...

We appreciate your support and encouragement.

We would also like to thank

The National Library of Australia

The Library of South Australia

TROVE

The PANDORA Archives

The Bunyip

The Kapunda Herald

The Advertiser

and all the Historians and Genealogists who have helped along the way

Below is some of our artwork from the past 2 years

Grisly Gawler - Part III - Death in Custody

Grisly Gawler - Part III: Death in Custody

Life was hard in the late 1800s, and criminals were justly dealt with. Standards were a lot different from what we are used to today with many police station being stone buildings with harsh conditions.

In Gawler, if arrested, you would visit the police cells on Cowan Street. In its day, long before the modern Police Station, we see now, there stood a stone building ( as shown in photos below) which had very simple, and cold stone cells.

Much like now, back in the day there were rules and regulations Police had to follow whilst they had prisoners in custody. Those rules and regulations didn’t take in to account the human factor. If someone really wants something bad enough, they will find a way to do it, and with that, there were quite a few deaths in custody in the Gawler Police station in the late 1800s.

I am going to touch on one briefly in this article.

In 1872, a man by the surname Docherty had been arrested in front of his own home for suspicion of stealing a horse saddle three months earlier. The arrest was made by Sergeant Woodcock at 5am on the 16^th of October 1872.
  The sergeant took the defendant back to the Gawler Police station on Cowan Street and placed him in the cells.

Precautions were taken to make sure the prisoner had no weapons upon his body and he was left alone in the cells, checked upon on a regular basis by the station officers, as was customary.

 Docherty was last seen alive at 9pm Saturday night when his dinner was brought to him by Constable Farrell.

Docherty had been totally sober and of no nuisance to the Police officers, not complaining about his situation nor offering any objection to his treatment.

He was found hanging from his belt the following morning by constable Farrell, who called on Sergeant Woodcock to come and assist in cutting down the man.

  Docherty had climbed up on his night bucket, and slipped his belt loop through the top rails above the doorway, then fastened the belt. He then made a makeshift noose and hung himself.

  Due to the extreme summer heat at the time, it was decided to make an inquest into Docherty's death that same day. His friends and wife were called to the courthouse to offer witness statements as to the mental condition of the man.
  His wife told officers as of late, her husband, who was usually a quiet man who took no alcohol, had become much keen to drink and was often out drinking and doing things in the scrub, but she was not aware of what, as he did not say.

The Police made a report that Mr Docherty's suicide was: 'The deceased, being of weak intellect, committed suicide in a fit of temporary insanity”!

There were many more reported suicides and attempted suicides in the Gawler Police Station, as well as many other police stations around Australia. In the era, for most people, being arrested was a much more serious thing than it is now. People liked to keep good reputations intact, and being arrested, or worse, gaoled, was the kind of thing that could cost not only livelihoods but also social status and Church Status in serious jeopardy. 
Often people once released would move on to new areas to try and wash those old stains from their past.

The link below shows statistics for deaths in custody across Australia in the last few years: http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/mr/1-20/20/08_prison.html

The following link shows statistics for crimes over various decades.

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4524A092E30E4486CA2569DE00256331

Grisly Gawler - Part II - Fatal Tiger Attack

Grisly Gawler – Part II

FATAL TIGER ATTACK

On the 17th of June 1898, the Bunyip Newspaper in Gawler, South Australia reported a “sensational incident” that occurred at a circus event held in Gawler South, by travelling Circus “Harmston”.

The newspaper reported that on Saturday the 11th of June, the Harmston Circus had put on a great show, but at its closing act “Gomez” ( John Issac) the Tiger trainer, entered the tiger cage to put the Tigers through the finale escapades of the Circus event.

As Gomez finished the act and turned his back on the tiger to leave, it pounced on the South African trainer, and sunk its teeth into his neck just under the back of his head.
 The tiger carried Gomez over the division of the gate, possibly with the intention of pulling its prey to pieces and feasting on his meat.
The crowd, not knowing if this was part of the act or not, reacted slowly to the Tigers mauling, but soon blood was spotted by the crowd, they realised this was not part of the act.
Fear and confusion reigned, and the crows ran for the exits, some jumping over the wall surrounding the seating to make a hastier escape. Whilst this was happening, a group of circus attendants began to beat the tiger with sticks to try and free Gomez, who was still caught within the animal's jaws.

The attendants beat the tiger relentlessly to distract it to drop Gomez. The tiger gave in, dropping its prey on the ground and retreating from its attackers. Gomez, bleeding profusely, stood and walked out the door, but was soon overcome by his extensive injuries, and collapsed. He was immediately taken to Dr Dawes surgery where the good Doctor did all he could to stop the bleeding and ease the man's pain.
On Monday. Gomez had recovered enough to be taken to the Adelaide Hospital, but by Tuesday his condition worsened, and at 5pm on Tuesday the 14th of June 1898 he passed away.



Mr Love, the sole lessee of the show, offered his condolences for Gomez and talked of him being a man of excellent character and kindness.
However, when questioned upon the safety aspect of how the tiger act was run, he lay much of the blame on the head of the young, now dead, tiger trainer.
He stated that Gomez had not taken the necessary precautions which had been put in place by the circus, and had gone into the cage with only a small whip, which only antagonised the tiger. Staff outside had metal forks and a pistol if anything bad occurred, and they had seen to the tiger being beaten away from the trainer.

 Mr Love pointed out one thing, that above all other things took the blame away from himself and the Circus, Gomez had not lit the fire which sat above the gate – in his words “an unprecedented act”. He stated “ the animal was cunning enough to see that it had the advantage. The brute was well used to Isaac's attention, for he had been its regular warder for the past twenty months, and had performed with it as many as nine times a week”



An inquest was opened into the death of John “Gomez” Issacs, and it was noted by Dr Morris of Adelaide Hospital, that he entered the hospital on the Monday in a very fearful state, and also in a severe state of shock.
 His injuries included a two-inch puncture wound on the left side of his neck, with two smaller punctures also on that side. He also had two puncture wounds on the right side of his neck. He had lost all movement in his left arm. The wounds had already become inflamed, which the Doctor stated, was akin to being poisoned and his breathing was considerably affected by the strain.
A post-mortem examination was concluded. It found one of the wounds had penetrated his spine, breaking the vertebrates, and the base of his spine was inflamed as well as the membranes of his spinal cord.

The Tiger:

“Duke” was the tiger's name, an 8-year-old native of Japan, who was sired by “Bromo” and “Kitty”, two tigers that had found a home with the Mikado.
Duke was a twin, his brother remained with the Mikado in Japan and became an attraction at the Royal Gardens at Uno Park Tokyo.
Duke was five years old when he was trained to appear in public, and in his three years as a circus Tiger, he had had five trainers. His first a Mexican, second a Chinaman and his third an Australia. The second and third men were both mauled by two jungle tigers, and were subsequently replaced.
The fourth trainer, a Singapore native, was recently training Duke, when the Tiger attacked and broke his jaw, through a “sever crushing”. Gomez, the fifth trainer, had only just stepped into the job, and believe it or not, the previous trainer from Singapore, was one of the first to rush into the cage to try and save Gomez from Duke!


Duke was not euthanised, he continued on with the Circus...and another trainer...


Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2014

Grisly Gawler - Part I - Felo-de-se

Grisly Gawler - Part I

Felo-de-se

In 1879, Gawler was dealt a double blow when two very well known gentlemen, Ernest Neville and John Adamson, decided to end their lives in their home on the banks of the North Para River.
Ernest Neville was a well-educated man, he could speak French fluently and was also a very well studied Botanist. His friend, John Adamson was also very well educated and was a very talented musician.

 Before coming to Gawler, the two men had worked at Anlaby Homestead near Kapunda as gardeners. Prior to that, they had lived together in Victoria. 

Neville took a job with the Town of Gawler Corporation. He was later fired for 'incompetence' and was accused of embezzling funds from the Town of Gawler. 


 Neville didn’t take the accusations well and blamed the local Methodist community, who he believed had a particular aversion to him and his friend John. With both men unemployed, their mortgage went unpaid, and a Bailiff was appointed to collect their property.
  From that time forward, it seemed as though the two men had already decided that suicide was their only option, and in studying how to end their lives painlessly, they undertook research in a business-like manner.

Firstly they got hold of a bottle of chloroform, under the pretence of suffering from Neuralgia ( A painful nerve injury). They tested the drug on their much believed Bull-Terrier “Mammy”, who the two men referred to as the third part of their “trinity”; the three of them being inseparable. Mammy passed away from a drug overdose.
John, the next day, took Mammy's puppies into town and distributed them amongst their friends.
The following day, Sunday, Ernest did not appear for breakfast. Usually, they ate breakfast with other gentlemen on Sunday mornings. John accounted for Ernest's absence by telling those present, that Ernest had been up all night and was very tired, and had decided to sleep for most of the morning.

Ernest had, however, been running more experiments, and described some of what he had been up to in a letter to the local medical authority, Doctor Popham, which came to light after their deaths.
In that letter Ernest described taking large amounts of “Laudanum” (also known as Tincture of Opium - it is an alcoholic herbal preparation containing approximately 10% powdered opium), up to an ounce in one sitting – its effects were not very dramatic on him, sending him off to sleep for about an hour.

When Ernest awoke, he opened up a wound in his arm and drew three pints of blood (3.5 pints of blood loss can cause organ failure). Ernest passed out, and when he awoke he removed another pint of blood. That did not conclude his experiments, and he expressed to John that he regretted not owning a pistol.

Ernest nursed himself through to Tuesday night. The two men decided to proceed to the wine cellar below the house. There, they suspended two ropes from the ceiling: “The ropes which the men used were suspended from the ceiling, and were originally used as ring trapezes. They cut off the rings, tied loop-knots, soaped the ropes, then got on a case together and jumped off it, leaving their bodies about eighteen inches apart.”

The Bailiff, who was residing in the house with the men until the monies were paid, heard a dog whimpering at about 3 am, and went outside to see what the noise was about, but could not see anyone. He found the two men the next morning after they didn’t come down for breakfast, and he began to search for them.

Doctor Popham brought forward the letter that had been addressed to him at the Inquiry into the two deaths and stated, that he could not find a reasonable explanation for why John Adamson would kill himself as well as Ernest Neville, other than the extreme regard he felt for his companion, spoken about in his letter.
The suicide was one of passion, two men who loved each other so much, that they could not live a day without each other's company.

As stated at the inquest: “The affair is altogether most mysterious, and one of the most remarkable occurrences that has ever happened in the colony. At an inquest, on Wednesday the Jury returned a verdict of felo-de-se.”

1879 'THE GAWLER TRAGEDY.', Port Adelaide News (SA : 1878 - 1883), 13 September, p. 4., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article195863028

1879 'No title', The Illustrated Adelaide News (SA : 1875 - 1880), 1 November, p. 12., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224815005

1879 'THE TRAGEDY AT GAWLER.', South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), 4 September, p. 5., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43098356

George Massey Allen

George Massey Allen

George Massey Allen was one of the most controversial newspaper editors South Australia has ever had.

In 1860, Allen worked for The Advertiser but decided he wanted more and left to form the first English language newspaper in the Mid-north, The Northern Star at Kapunda. (The only previous newspapers in the Barossa Valley and Mid North had been German-language newspapers).

Allen was a man of principle, but also very outspoken, which often got him in serious trouble with the law.

His newspapers were often very controversial as he preferred to voice his own opinion, without considering the consequences of his actions.
 This eventually led Allen into a liable case in Kapunda, in which he was declared guilty of liable and slander. His newspaper was cancelled after his conviction, which came with a 6-month gaol sentence.

 After serving his gaol sentence, Allen returned to Kapunda to find that his newspaper The Northern Star had been replaced in his absence with The Kapunda Herald. The new newspaper was incredibly popular and far outsold his former local paper.

Instead of going back into the newspaper business, where his opinions would most likely see him Gaoled again, he instead went into the Hotel business, buying a local Kapunda pub, in which he could voice his opinions all he wanted.

Pub life wasn’t what Allen desired though, and eventually, he moved back to Adelaide in 1867 and founded a new newspaper called The Satirist.

The Satirist was in direct competition with another newspaper The Register, and Allen's former employer, The Advertiser.
 The competition did not phase Allen though, and on at least one occasion, his newspaper outsold both his bigger rivals.

Allen had trouble keeping his opinions to himself. His newspaper lampooned local politicians, events and his rival newspapers and because of Allen's unwillingness to reel in his satiric tongue,  he eventually found himself in court again charged with liable. Not having the finances to keep hiring lawyers, and prosecuted again, with a gaol sentence, he eventually had to shut his newspaper down.

The prospectus of the South Australian satirist read:
“The lamentably abject condition of the daily Press of South Australia, its want of political principle, its hypocritical fear and timorousness, has forced upon the proprietors of the Satirist the palpable necessity of launching forth upon the unimpassioned waters of honesty, truth, and fearless independence, a journal whose aim shall be to guide, not truckle to, the public opinion of this colony. ... What, then, is the demand of the hour? To find and to sustain a fearless advocate of the people's rights and requirements, one who will dare to speak and teach the truth ...” (27 July 1867, p. 2)

 Allen was incarcerated for six months by Judge Wearing, his wife and six children, who needed his income to survive, became destitute and relied on the kindness of others.
A parliamentary enquiry ensued, and eventually, a Parliamentary Intervention happened, releasing Allen from Prison.
  Judge Wearing declared he had probably misinterpreted the law somewhat harshly but stated: "the great social advantage which has, I believe, resulted to the public by the cessation of so infamous a print as the Satirist." (South Australian Parliamentary Paper no. 145, 1868/69)

Allen and his wife didn't enter into the media again, instead, they took up another Hotel, The Alexandra Hotel in Rundle Street and lived out the rest of their lives as publicans.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2014