Bridgewater Beauty Killing Pt 3: 
Through the Eyes of a Murderer

On November 18th the hearing of William Haines proceeded with the following statement from Haines:

From The Advertiser Saturday 19th November 1927 - http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/41352657

"I knew Nellie for about 12 months prior to October 12, 1927.  I used to call her Vi.  She and I were sweethearts.  I loved her dearly, and she loved me. However, our love was not allowed to run smoothly. Her mother was against me going with her right from the start.  She used to take every opportunity of belittling me in the eyes of her daughter.  On one occasion Mrs. Schmidt asked me home to tea, and later picked me to pieces to Vi.  I had two fingers off my left hand.  This was caused by an accident. Vi's mother used to delight in harping on this deformity of mine.  At first her parents did not actually forbid us going out together, and used to let us do so, but all the time Vi's mother made things very hard for us.  She said I was not good enough for Vi and that I was too old.  But Vi loved me and I loved her, and put up with all these things so long as we could go out together.  Vi told me that her parents were making her life a hell on earth.  She burst into tears and asked me, 'Why can't they let us alone and be happy like other sweethearts are.'  Vi swore that she loved me and would not give me up.”

"About the end of August last," continued the accused, "her parents told her that she must give me up, and forbade her to meet me or to go out with me.  Poor little girl.  She told me this news, and, crying bitterly, said, 'Bill, I will have to give in to Mother and Dad.  I do not know a moment's happiness in the house, and I am broken in health and spirit.  I feel I cannot fight any longer.'  About this time, one Sunday afternoon, I spoke to Vi's father.  He told me that I was never to see Vi again, and that if he ever saw me with her again he would break my neck.  He also said he did not care if heart and mind were broken as well.  Vi told me that her parents could never make her forget me.  After this her parents would not let her go out to dances, and she was often met after work, so that I could not see her.  Nevertheless, I used to meet her secretly during working hours.  Poor girl; she was broken-hearted, and I knew that she loved me, and the whole thing was killing her.

"On Sunday, September 11, Vi went to Victor Harbour, for a holiday.  While she was away her parents could not resist the temptation to further taunt me.  They sent back all the presents I had given Vi, but I would not take them.  Their action in sending them back hurt me very much."

"During the whole time Vi was away," proceeded Haines, "I was heartbroken. The strain was too terrible, and I made up my mind to end it all by taking my own life. I wrote to Vi at Victor Harbour, and told her that nothing mattered to me now.  I had made up my mind that life without her was useless, and that I intended to shoot myself and finish it all.  In this letter I said, 'God knows I love you, and want you.  Darling Vi, they cannot say I never loved you and made you happy when you used to come to me crying, because your mother made you unhappy.  I know I am mad, and just about done in, but if you love me just think of me always.'  Vi begged me not to be foolish, and do anything terrible to myself.  She wrote, 'I love mother and dad better than anything in the world and after them I love you, Bill.  But Bill, it is no good going on fighting any longer. Dear, you will have to just know me, that is all.  I know I am hard to say this, Bill, but you don't know how I feel.  I told you I am trying to do what you said to me.  Go away, and forget that I ever existed.'  She told me in this letter that she would see me at the Osborne dance hall on September 26. After I got home I began to buck up a little, and thought that perhaps things might be different with her parents when she came back.  But when she came back things were no better, but got worse.  Her parents would not let her go to the dance on September 26.  She was still seeing me while at her work.  On October 3, I waited for her to come out from the Executor trustee building, in Grenfell street, where she was working.  Clarke was waiting there for her, and she met him.  I followed them and caught them up in James place.  I asked Vi to come down to North terrace with me, as I wanted to speak to her.  She would not go with me.  I believe this was because she was with Clarke.  She told me on several occasions that she was not fond of Clarke, and that her people had forced her on to him.  I said to Vi, 'Will you come down to North terrace with me?'  She replied, 'No, Bill. I can't.'

"I then left her," continued Haines.  "I emphatically deny that I threatened to shoot Vi as Clarke said.  I was too fond of her to do her any harm.  When Vi refused to come with me on October 3 it was too much for me.  I was in the depths of despair, and went away for three days. I just wandered round, broken in spirit and mind. On the Wednesday night I slept in the parklands.  I do not know why I did, as I could have gone home.  My mind just seemed to go, and nothing mattered.  On the following Friday, October 7, I saw Vi at work on two occasions.  On Monday, October 10, I again saw Vi at work, and asked her how she was.  She said, 'Bill, I am sick of it all, and feel like taking poison.'  I asked her what she was doing on the holiday, and she said that she was going to Bridgewater for a picnic. She said she was going with Clarke.  She did not want to go with him, but her parents made her go.  I asked her not to go, but she said that it was no good, her parents insisted on it.  I saw her on the Tuesday, and asked her if she was still going to the picnic.  She said that she was, and told me of the arrangements she had made.

"I told her that I could not bear this any longer, as it was driving me mad. I said, 'If you are going to Bridgewater, Vi, I am going, too.  I will shoot myself and end it all.' The affair was playing on my mind. Such was the state of my mind that I decided to end my life.  I decided to go to the picnic at Bridgewater the next day and there see Vi. I decided to shoot myself in her presence and die in her arms and once and for all end this terrible feeling of depression that was slowly killing me. On Wednesday, October12, I went to the Adelaide railway Station at about 9 a.m. I saw Vi there with Clarke. I purchased a ticket to Bridgewater, and I saw Vi and Clarke and the others in the party get on the Bridgewater Train.  I got on, too. When I got to Bridgewater I followed the party and saw where they went. They started on a paper chase, and I waited until they came back. I saw Vi and Clarke coming back and I walked over to speak to Vi. When I spoke to her I was about a yard away, facing her. Clarke was about two yards away. When I spoke to Vi, I was leaning against a tree with my right shoulder. I said to Vi, 'Will you come down here with me for a while? I want to speak to you.' She replied, 'No, Bill.' I asked her again, and then turned to Clarke and said, 'Will you come down here while I speak to her?' He replied, 'No.' I then said, 'Well, Vi, you know what I'm going to do. I am going to finish myself now.'

"My mind was then made up. The time had come for me to end it all. I would shoot myself and die in Vi's arms. I did not want any one else about. I then pulled out the revolver I had brought with me and swung it round and called out to the others present, 'Hands up all of you and get out of it quickly.' All present got for their lives immediately I spoke. Vi moved away a couple of yards and I swung the gun up to my own head. She saw me, took hold of my left hand, and said, 'Bill, don't be mad.' With the gun pointing at my own head I pulled the trigger. I felt a stinging sensation in my head and a ringing noise, and my mind seemed to snap. After that everything seemed to go blank and I can remember no more until I was kneeling down beside Vi, asking her to live. I was horrified when I realized what I had done. My darling Vi was dead.

"I took out my handkerchief and tied it around her head and tried to stop the bleeding. I tried to lift her up, but I was too weak. I called out to some of the others to come over and help me. They did not come at first but I called out, 'Hurry up and help me get her to a doctor. She might still live.' Powell and Rickard came over to me and I handed the revolver to Powell and said to them, 'Get hold of her. Get her to a motor car and take her to a doctor.' We then picked Vi up and carried her down to the gully to the recreation ground. We carried her to a motor car. I took my overcoat off and placed it around Vi and got into the car and held her. Powell got in the front seat and we drove towards the Stirling Hospital. On the way to the hospital Constable Gumley spoke to me. He said, 'Did you shoot this young woman.' I said, 'Yes, I went mad. I meant to end myself but this is what I have done. Her people drove me to it.' I did not say to the constable that I was jealous of Vi.

While driving to Stirling I looked at Vi and asked her to forgive me, but I saw that she was dead. My heart was sick. I then fully realized what had happened. I had killed the girl I loved - the girl, the hair of whose head I would not have dreamed of touching a few minutes previously, yet in a frenzy of madness, caused by the injury to my own head, I must have turned the gun on her and, without the slightest knowledge of what was happening, killed her in my madness. Even then I could not realize that Vi was dead and I could not bring myself to believe that I had killed her. When I got to the hospital I spoke to Powell and said, 'You and your cobbers are cowards running away like you did. Why didn't you stop me instead of leaving her when I put up the gun?' He said, 'Yes, I know I was a coward, but I was afraid as soon as I saw you pull the gun.'

"After we left the hospital we drove to the Stirling West Police Station and put Vi in a cell. I was then locked up, and later an ambulance came. I asked Constable Gumley to allow me to see Vi before they took her away. He said I could. I went into the cell, and stooped down and kissed Vina goodbye. I said to her -'Vi darling, forgive me. You know I didn't mean to do it. But you are happy now, and with some one who will give you peace and happiness instead of misery, like your parents did. Goodbye, darling and may God make you happy and forgive me for what I have done. I know that you loved me, Vi, and I didn't mean to harm you.' I was then taken to Adelaide Hospital.

Gentlemen, as God is my Judge, I had no intention of shooting my darling Vi. I meant to end myself and not to harm her as I loved her too much. After the bullet had entered my head my reason went. My mind seemed to snap, and I cannot account for anything that happened after that until I found myself kneeling at her side asking her, begging her, to live.

Gentlemen, I was mad, and not responsible for my action. I am innocent of this charge of murder."

After Mr Haines lengthy recount of his horrible crime, previous witnesses were recalled to stand to again make statements that would go against Mr Haines. Both witnesses denied Mr Haines claims that he had put the gun to his own head saying he was going to kill himself before shooting Miss Schmidt.

 It was brought before the court that Mr Haines may have been suffering some sought of temporary insanity. Dr M.H. Downey, Superintendent of the Mental Infirmary at Parkside examined the accused, and his wounds.
 He summarised that the wound would not inflict any kind of temporary insanity on the wounded man, nor would he be coherent enough to have the conversations with the witnesses or police officer if he was insane, or unaware of what had happened, as Mr Haines had claimed.
He had examined his mental state and found no indications of insanity.

The Jury retired at 5pm and took only 20 minutes to come to the conclusion that Mr Haines was not mentally deranged, and therefore guilty of the murder of Miss Schmidt.

Haines sat quietly in the dock as his sentences of death by hanging were read aloud.

Next week on the Haunts of Adelaide: Bridgewater Beauty Killing Pt 4: A Smoking Death

Other References

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/90086923

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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