A Disinterred Child
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Port Pirie Cemetery - photo Allen Tiller © 2019
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Isaac Grey and
William Wilson was charged in the Port Pirie courts by John Martin, for unlawfully
exhuming the dead body of a child. On 30 November 1893, the two were summoned
to court to hear their fate.[1]
It was charged that Mr
Wilson, the acting curator of the cemetery and the town clerk, instructed the
cemetery sexton, Isaac Grey, to exhume the child’s body, which had been buried
by mistake in a leased ground.
1-year-old Esther Violet Eva Martin had died on 3 November
1893 and buried the next day.[2] Her mother and
father, John and Sarah Martin, and another relative George Heaver were all in
attendance at the funeral. They placed wreaths on the child’s grave.
On November 19, John and Sarah returned
to the cemetery to visit his child’s grave, only to find all the wreaths
removed. The Martin’s immediately went to the sexton’s office to find out what
had happened.
Martin asked Grey if his child had been
moved, which Grey replied, “yes she had.”
He asked who had approved the moving
of the body, and Grey told him that Mr Wilson had done so and that Wilson had
said not to make a fuss over it, unless, by chance, he met them in the
cemetery.
The Martin’s visited
the Mayor, Mr Geddes, and expressed their distaste at the goings-on at the
cemetery. The Mayor was outraged and went with Mr Martin to Wilson’s office to
make enquiries. They asked Wilson if it was true that the child had been
moved. Wilson replied indignantly, “yes, what about it?”
Wilson asked Martin, “Have you come to
make a fuss or row about it?”
Martin asked, “Can I have the grave
opened again to satisfy myself that my child is buried there?”
Wilson replied, “Most certainly not!”
Martin asked for proof his child was
buried where Wilson said she was, to which Wilson replied, “you’ve got to take
my word for it.”
Martin asked Wilson if it was not his duty
to first ask the Mayor before moving a body, to which Wilson replied, “I will
please myself.” Wilson then pulled out a map of the cemetery and explained to
Mr Martin and Mayor Geddes how the mistake was made.
Mayor Geddes was put on the stand during the trial. He
confirmed Martin’s report of what happened in Wilson’s office but also stated
he gave no authority to Wilson to exhume the child’s body.
Wilson was called to give evidence. He stated it was his job
to enter cemetery details into the register. He had discovered that Martin’s
child had been buried in a plot already leased to Mr Davis. He discovered the
error two days after the burial, so he asked Mr Grey to move the child to the
nearest vacant site. Wilson blamed the error on Grey, who had not checked with
him where to bury the child.
The presiding judge
ruled that the usual 10 pound fine for the crime was reduced to 1 pound and
costs.
Mr William Wilson would go on to be Port Pirie Town Clerk
for 31 Years (without a break, nor a holiday!). Wilson was originally from
Dungannon, Ireland, arriving in Australia onboard Carisbrook Castle in 1875. He
was 67 in the year of his retirement. Wilson died 25 Nov 1918 at Prospect,
South Australia.
Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©
2020
[1] 'DISINTERRING A CHILD.', South Australian Chronicle, (2 December 1893), p. 21., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92801792.
[2] Ancestry.com. Australia, Death Index, 1787-1985 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
