The Execution of Joseph Stagg

 

Joseph Stagg was executed at the Old Adelaide Gaol on 19 November 1840. Portable gallows were erected at the front gates of the gaol, and at 8 am, Stagg was hung in front of 700 spectators. Stagg was found guilty of murdering John Gafton at what is now Port Gawler.


Mrs Robertson, a resident near the Gawler River was approached by a man asking for a loaf of bread. He and his friends had not eaten for three days, and they were hoping for some charity. He offered her half a sovereign for the loaf. Robertson grew suspicious of Gafton and his cohorts, and at her first available opportunity, reported him and his friends to the local police constable.
Mounted police were sent to the area. They had been searching for three wanted cattle rustlers; Gafton, Fenton and Best. 
Aboriginal trackers were employed who were able to track down the men’s campsite.
The trackers had led police to a small, recently constructed hut. Inside lay the lifeless body of John Gafton. Well known to police, Gafton had recently escaped gaol. He was found to have a gunshot wound behind one of his ears. In his pocket were 11 sovereigns, but no pistol could be found in the hut.

The Coroner and two jurymen were called to the murder site to collect the body and gather evidence. A known accomplice of Gafton, Joseph Stagg was accused of the crime and a warrant for his arrest was issued.
Stagg was apprehended by Constable Lomas and taken to the local police station where he was searched. In his possession were 16 pounds, several percussion caps, and paperwork that related to transactions between Stagg and Gafton regarding their recent cattle rustling.
Also in Stagg’s possession was a pistol, which was identified by Mrs Robertson as the one being in the possession of Gafton, the young man who had first begged her for the loaf of bread.

Stagg declared his innocence. All the evidence was circumstantial, but still, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to execution.
His final days were taken up with him reading the bible.
The night before his execution, he was taken to the Police Horse Barracks, to be separated from the general population, and returned the morning of his execution.

He flatly refused to confess to the crime.

The Sundown Murders: Part II: Execution or Exoneration?

 The Sundown Murders: Part II:

 Execution or Exoneration?

In December 1957, the bodies of Thyra Bowman, her daughter Wendy, and family friend, Thomas Whelan were found at the Sundown Station in South Australia’s outback.

Raymond Bailey had been arrested and charged for the murders, claiming he, “had gone mad”.

The case against Bailey was overseen by Justice Reed. It took a jury 96 minutes to decide that Bailey was guilty. Evidence was not overwhelming against Bailey, but a statement he alleged to have given to police was enough to convict.[1] Police also found gunshot casings at the murder site that matched casings found in Bailey’s car.
Bailey was found guilty and sentenced to hang.

  It was announced in newspapers that Raymond John Bailey would be hanged at the Adelaide Gaol on 17 June 1958.[2] He received a reprieve from hanging for one week after claiming there was a fourth body, he had buried. Bailey claimed he had witnessed a man burying the body of Mrs Bowman, and that he killed the man in self-defence. He also claimed to have buried the knife near where Mrs Bowman's car was found. Police took Bailey back to the Station, but he could not produce evidence of the buried body.

Bailey was hanged at 8am, Tuesday, June 24, 1958, in Her Majesty’s Adelaide Gaol.[3]

 

As an interesting footnote to this case.  Stephen Bishop, an investigative journalist has pushed for an exoneration for Bailey. Bishop believes his confession was coerced under duress, and that Detective Glen Hallahan forced Bailey’s confession. Bishop also claims that evidence was overlooked, or ignored, such as footprints that were too large to be Bailey’s, being found at the murder location.

© 2022 Allen Tiller

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[1] 'Bailey Found Guilty Of Sundown Murder', The Canberra Times, (21 May 1958), p. 8., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91250953.
[2] 'Bailey to Hang on Tuesday', The Canberra Times, (21 June 1958), p. 3., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136300645.
[3] 'Bailey Hanged For Murder Of Mrs. Bowman', The Canberra Times, (25 June 1958), p. 12., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136301002.

Sunshine Café Murders

Sunshine Café Murders

139 Gouger Street

  In 1944, at the age of 20, John Balaban was sitting in his bedroom in Romania. He had just finished reading another of many philosophical books, a hobby he took up after his abusive and habitually drunk father had suicided by hanging himself.

 On this morning, John concluded, after all that he had read and been through, that there was no God. At that very point, Johns bedroom ceiling opened as if lifted from above, and a bright cloudy light lit the room.
  God, in the image of a man with long white hair and a grey beard smiled down on John and said unto him;
“John, it is alright if you don’t believe in me anymore. You do anything your conscience dictates and you will be happy.”

   After Gods visit, which Balaban stated ‘was not a dream’, Balaban thought he could do anything, as he was no longer afraid of the law.

John Balaban:
Source: 'BALABAN TO HANG', The News, (29 July 1953)

In 1946, only two years later, Balaban who was prone to violent rages, was admitted to a mental health facility in Romania. 

 In 1947 Balaban committed murder in Paris when he strangled to death Hungarian national, Reva Kwas.

Balaban moved to Australia in 1951. 

In 1952, he killed prostitute Zora Dusic in her Torrensville shack by first strangling her, then cutting her throat with a knife he found on the dressing table.

 In 1952, Balaban married Thelma Cadd, and went to live with her, Thelma’s young son, Philip from a previous relationship and Thelma’s mother, Mrs Ackland, at the family business, The Sunshine Café on the corner of Gouger and Morphett Streets in Adelaide.

 John and Thelma got along for a while, but the relationship soon became unstable, and John claimed he was tired of Thelma’s constant complaints, about, in his words “everything!”

 On that fateful day, April 11th, Balaban began drinking and found himself near the River Torrens parklands. At some point, he had a fight with a woman in the female toilets of the parklands, and when stumbling around outside, found a large iron bar. He made his way along the Torrens and sat down with a man and woman and had a few drinks with them, before assaulting them both with the iron bar, and walking away.

  Later, he was chased near the Torrens Tennis Courts by an unknown man, then turned upon his assailant with the iron bar, and beat him senseless.

  After his rampage, Balaban returned to the Sunshine Café. He believed everyone was against him and decided he would kill his wife as she, in his mind, was the reason he had become angry and gone out fighting and assaulting people.

  Balaban began his murderous spree by hitting his wife on the head with a claw hammer, beating her to death. He then thought he might kill Mrs Ackland in the same manner, and afterwards Phillip. In his deposition to the courts he stated; "Phillip sat up and cried, and I hit him, I thought it better that he dies too than live under a shadow.”

 In his cold-blooded killing spree, Balaban then went out to the sleepout where Verna Manie (a café employee) slept and tried to kill her too. Manie escaped but suffered horrific injuries that resulted in her being hospitalised.

In a chilling statement, Balaban, during his court trial, went on to say; "I only killed those at the Sunshine Cafe because they deserved to be killed."

John Balaban was hung in the Old Adelaide Gaol on the 26th of August 1953.

  The ghost of the notorious homicidal maniac, John Balaban, is alleged to have been seen in the old Adelaide Gaols “Hanging Tower’, and was identified by a witness after seeing a photo of Balaban in the front foyer, and identifying the man she had seen sitting on a bench inside the tower.

The Point Pass Pillager - The Adventures of a Boy Bushranger

The Point Pass Pillager - The Adventures of a Boy Bushranger

Eudunda, 1884, Matthias Weis, an almost 11-year-old boy, who had been adopted from the Adelaide boys reformatory school by Mr and Mrs Madel of Point Pass, became renown in the Eudunda region of South Australia as possibly the youngest bushranger in South Australia’s history!

 Weis had not been a good boy before being adopted by the Madel family. He had spent many of his formative years in the reformatory for petty crimes, thievery and for threatening to kill his mother with a knife. Weis was well known to police and the local courts for his long list of crimes.
 Before his notorious crime rampage, it was thought that one day, if he didn’t change his ways, he would wind up inside the Adelaide Gaol, or even hang from its gallows, such was his reputation!

In late July 1884, Weis had become bored with the home life of the Madel's and decided he needed some adventure in his life. He made his way to Point Pass, and once there stole one of Mr Woite’s best horses, saddled and bridled it, and then made off with the horse and a sheepdog.

Weis' crime had been seen, and the local police were called. Constable Muegge and several townsfolk set out on horses to try and chase the pre-teen down in the bush.
Weis soon realised he was being chased and rode the horse as hard as he could. He passed through the towns of Bundey and Scholmburg, only to be chased down by a local who had sensed something was wrong, but Weis had chosen an excellent horse, and soon outran his pursuer.
That night, with no food or water, Weis set a small campfire and slept under the stars.

 The next morning, he awoke and started heading towards Bower, but Mr Woite, having heard Weis was in the area, had set chase, getting within two hundred yards of Weis. Wies’ horse was beginning to tire after being ridden so hard for two days, so to escape, Weis jumped off the horse suddenly and fled into the bush.
 Woite tried to track him down, but the boy was too fast and soon lost his pursuer. Woite took his horse back to Point Pass and reported the incident to the local police. The horse that Weis had stolen was not in good condition, having been ridden flat out for two days, and with no food and water, the animal could barely walk back to its home.

Now on the run for a full two days and with no horse, Weis was forced to walk, something he hadn’t planned on, as he had no boots to cover his feet. He found his way to Robertstown, breaking into any houses he came across on the way and relieving them of food and water.

 In Robertstown, Weis, in broad daylight, walked up to the local hotel and stole Mr Gosden’s horse and cart which was stationed outside. As he sped out of town, he threw the contents of the cart, mainly groceries into the street.

Weis rode the horse and cart hard and fast into the bush but became unstuck when he crashed into a log, upending the cart, and smashing his head on the ground. He eventually got up and freed the horse from the remains of the smashed cart.
Weis then rode the horse bareback, but at some point, and for reasons unknown, left the horse to wander the bush, where it was eventually found by a small posse of locals that had formed to hunt down the boy bushranger.

By this time, now a full four days into his crime spree, the weather had become miserably cold, and Weis was dressed without shoes or boots, and in a very thin shirt, so the cold must’ve been playing a part in dampening his dreams of becoming a notorious bushranger.
 Hunger and thirst were also starting to play their role. Weis had stolen food from a few homes, but it wasn’t enough. He started making his way towards Robertstown again, where he broke into a house and stole all the food he could carry.

By the end of his first week of being a bushranger, Weis had become notorious in the area, and knowing that locals were on the lookout for him, he found it very hard to find food to steal, so he made his way back towards Point Pass.
 There he snuck into the home of the Mabel’s, the family that had adopted him. He snuck into the kitchen and helped himself to some food, only to be caught by Mrs Mabel, who swiftly overpowered the boy and tied him in ropes – something none of the good town’s men of Point Pass or Robertstown had been able to achieve!

Matthias Weis, the almost 11-year-old bushranger, faced court in Eudunda in front of Judges Roberts and Applet. He was sentenced to 14 days gaol and then sent to the reformatory, where he was to stay until he was 16.

..and thus ended the criminal career of possibly South Australia’s youngest bushranger... or did it?

The South Australian Police Gazette of January 18th, 1888 reports the following:

From H.M.C.S. “Protector” at Glenelg, January 2nd, 1888, Mathew Weis, age 14, 4ft 10inches, fair complexion, light brown hair, hazel eyes, a scar from a burn on the leg (C.109)

Could “Matthew Weis” and Matthias Weis be one and the same?

Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2018

1884 'THE ADVENTURES OF A BOY BUSHRANGER.', Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951), 8 August, p. 3. , viewed 28 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106578975

South Australia Police Gazette Indexes, 1862-1947. Ridgehaven, South Australia: Gould Genealogy and History, 2009.

The Curse of the Crown and Anchor Hotel

The Curse of the Crown and Anchor Hotel

Never before had there been a hotel in the South Australian colony so well known as a place of sin and debauchery as the Crown and Anchor Hotel in Adelaide’s east end.

Right from its humble beginnings in 1853, through to its present incarnation, it has attracted Adelaide’s downtrodden, the unusual and the misfits, but most would not have it any other way!

 The hotel has always been a popular venue but has had a tumultuous past, with the majority of its publicans between 1853 and 1953 being charged by police for illegal after-hours sales of alcohol, or illegal gambling.

The hotel also has a long history of death, with many fatal accidents happening in the street outside the hotel, or to its residents, as they were out visiting other locations in Adelaide. This earned the hotel a reputation for being cursed during the 1890s.

The Crown and Anchor was built in 1853 and later rebuilt in 1880. The hotel has a long and sordid history of being an illegal gambling den, but in recent times it is best known as a live music venue, with the colloquial moniker “The Cranka”.

The following are just a few of the notable crimes and deaths associated with the hotel;

 In 1871, the hotel's landlady was arrested for stealing another woman’s silk dress!
   In 1887, an inquest was heard inside the hotel concerning the death of James Dooley, who had been run over by a horse cart on the street outside. Dooley suffered a broken leg, broken hip, smashed jaw and smashed skull, it was assumed the cart, laden with 4 tons of wood rolled over his body and crushed him. There was an indication Dooley may have been murdered, but without sufficient evidence, his death was declared an accident.

Mr McLaren died in the hotel on the 4th of October 1885 after a long illness.

In 1894, Barney Miller, a Victorian staying in Adelaide for two months, drank himself to death in the Crown and Anchor. He was found dead in his bed, and later a Doctor declared he had died from heart failure from excessive drinking!

Death visited the hotel again in 1900 when Charles Siggers passed away in a private hospital nearby, and his wake was held at the hotel, with his funeral cortege leaving the pub for West Terrace Cemetery on the 8th of October 1900.

 In 1903, a resident at the Hotel, Marion Mackay was struck by a fire truck on King William Street, dying the next day from her extensive injuries.

In 1908, a painter named Robert Peters was found dead in a shed on the premises by owner Mrs Calnan. Later that same year, Mrs Calnan’s husband, John, passed away upstairs in the hotel at the age of 38, they had only been married for two years.

In 1927, another publican passed away in the hotel. George Owens died at the age of 53 from a heart attack, leaving behind his wife and three children to run the business.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller.

© 2018 Allen Tiller

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheHauntsOfAdelaide/

www.allentiller.com.au

Selected Bibliography:

1894 'SUDDEN DEATH IN AN HOTEL.', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), 10 July, p. 7. , viewed 02 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article25730227

1934 'TOOK BARREL FROM HOTEL YARD', News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), 17 October, p. 3. , viewed 02 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128411035

1941 'FINES IMPOSED ON EIGHT MEN', News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), 21 April, p. 3. , viewed 02 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131965630

1946 'FINES FOR HOTEL OFFENCES', News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), 1 July, p. 3. , viewed 02 Jan 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130850532

Bridgewater Beauty Killing Pt 4:
 A Smoking Death

Justice Angus Parson sentenced William Ephraim Peter Haines to be hanged at the Adelaide Gaol. The 55^th execution was to be held within the walls of the building, at 8am on December 16^th 1927 for the willful murder of Miss Devina Nellie Schmidt.
 The conviction was recorded on November 18^th 1927, for the murder, which took place on October 12^th 1917, at Bridgewater in the Adelaide Hills.

Haines was attended by the Gaol Chaplains Reverend R. M Fulford and Reverend J.P.H. Tilbrook.
 On Thursday before his sentence was to be carried out, Haines was visited by his family. Later that day the Rev Fulford called upon him to pray for his soul.
 

Haines sat in the condemned man’s cell overnight, with a warder on “death watch”, who sat staring at him all night to make sure he didn’t try and commit suicide before justice could be served.
 Friday morning, Reverend Fulford again visited Haines, this time praying with him before the Sheriff, Mr Otto Schomburgk called upon him to deliver his punishment.

Haines lit a cigarette and asked to see the world one last time. He was taken to one of the nearby upstairs windows (New Building, Adelaide Gaol). He attempted to look upon the world, but could not see anything, due to the large gaol walls.
 He walked on to the “drop” still puffing his cigarette. The hangman pulled a black mask over his head, then the noose…and whilst he puffed out his last ever breath of cigarette smoke, there was a “click” and the floor fell from under him.
 William Haines was dead in less than 10 minutes.

As was procedure, his body was left to hang for some time, before the Coroner, Mr Matthews examined the body and decreed the death was due to strangling by hanging, in accordance with the court sentence.

So ended the life of William Haines, either a jilted boyfriend who murdered his lover, or a demented obsessed man who murdered an innocent girl – either way, he paid for the murder with his own life.

References

The Advertiser: Saturday 17^th December 1927: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47440488

Observer: Saturday December 3^rd: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title823

    

Bridgewater Beauty Killing Pt 2: 
The Trial of William Ephraim Peter Haines

William Ephraim Peter Haines, a 25-year-old labourer, followed his beloved Devina Schmidt to a Bridgewater park, in the Adelaide Hills. Here, he murdered her in cold blood. He then shot himself in the head, before trying to save the life of his now, almost dead victim.

 Haines was brought before the South Australian justice system, where he pleaded not guilty to the murder of the popular 18-year-old Devina Nellie Schmidt

Court proceedings began with Mr R. R. Chamberlain appearing for the Crown and Mr. L. M. S. Hogan for the accused.

The first incident to be brought before the court was an encounter between Mr Haines and Miss Schmidt at James Place, Adelaide on October 3^rd. Miss Schmidt was with Mr Clark when Mr Haines approached them. Haines asked Miss Schmidt to accompany him, but she refused. Mr Haines then put his hand in his pocket, and remarked “Well, I will shoot, you know”.
 In the second incident, also on the 3^rd, Mr Haines stopped Miss Schmidt and Mr Clark and said, “I will get you, you #$@#, I will come up for you this afternoon!”

Mr Clark was then questioned by Mr Hogan about his relationship with Miss Schmidt.

Mr. Hogan:  “As far as you were concerned, she was your girlfriend? “

Clark: “Yes. I have known Miss Schmidt for about three years”

Haines had visited Adelaide in April 1927, and on occasion had visited Miss Schmidt’s family home.

Mr. Hogan: “You were very friendly with the mother and father?”

Clark: “Yes.”

Mr. Hogan: “And they were anxious you should be friendly with their daughter?”

Clark: “Yes.”

Mr. Hogan: “And you never heard Haines's name mentioned in the home?”

Clark: “No.”

His Honour: “did you regard yourself as the young lady's sweetheart?”

Clark:  “Yes.”

Mr. Hogan: “From what you heard at the home, what was the parents' attitude towards Haines?”

Clark: “They did not want her to have anything to do with him.”

Mr. Hogan: “The mother was very bitter, I think?”

Clark:  “Yes.”

Mr. Hogan: “And the father something the same?”

Clark: “Yes.”

Mr Hogan: “You did not care whether Haines went to Bridgewater?”

Clark: “Yes.”

His Honour – “Why?

Clark:  “Because I knew he would not be there for any good.”

The next witness was Jack Rickard, who gave evidence of the shooting. While Rickard and Haines were carrying Miss Schmidt’s body to the car, Haines reportedly said “Her people drove me too it. She loved me, but they said I was too old for her, and she would not go against them”

Another witness cross-examined by Mr Hogan, Albert Powell of Thebarton, described seeing Haines shoot the girl, then kneeling beside her body, placing the gun against her temple and firing again, only to hear the gun “click” as it was out of bullets.
Haines then stated to Powell as Mounted Constable Gumley arrived “I am the man you are looking for. I am the man who did it. I shot her with a revolver. I went mad. I was jealous of her. Her people drove me to it. I wish I had ended myself. The poor girl is happy now”.
 A packet of 38 bullets was found in Mr Haines's pocket – six bullet wounds were found in Miss Schmidt’s head

(From “The Register” Newspaper Friday 18 Nov 1927 )
Mounted Constable Walter James Gumley, of Stirling West, deposed having heard the accused say, "I'm the man you are looking for.  I did it." The witness said, "Where is the revolver," and Powell produced it.  The witness then cautioned the accused and asked him if he had shot the girl.  He replied, "Yes, I went mad." Asked why he shot her, he replied, "I was jealous. Her people drove me to it." Subsequently he searched the accused and found the cartridges (produced) corresponding to the shells found in the revolver.

Next Week on The Haunts of Adelaide,”

  Bridgewater Beauty Killing Pt 3: Through The Eyes of a Murderer”:  Haines chilling recount of the murder of Devina Schmidt

The Tragedy at Towitta (Part 6) –What the Inquest Found

 Towitta could not handle the influx of people who had come to hear the slightest bit of news from the inquest, Sedan was overrun, and even Angaston’s overnight lodgings were full.

 August was the first to be called to the inquest, which was being overseen by Coroner Mulligan, with Detective Fraser taking the depositions and Detective Priest acting as Clerk. Wilhelm followed August – as the boys gave their statements, Mary and her Mother, Johanne, waited in the kitchen of the family home.
 The boys stories differed slightly from that of Mary’s original story, they stated, they had come home and the girls were already in bed, so they helped themselves to cake, before retiring themselves, Mary’s statement said she had cut the cut for the boys, before they had retired to bed.

 Dr Steel was next to be questioned, and his statements proved to be quite damning for Mary. After describing his initial examination of Bertha’s body as she lay dead on the floor, he then described the port-mortem examination and the findings there, but, it was his examination of Mary, on the morning after the murder that proved most news-worthy.

 Dr Steel stated that some the strips of clothing found near Bertha’s bod were missing from Mary’s night clothing, Mary also had scratched on her arms, bruising on her knees and upper thighs, but perhaps the most damning was Mary had complained of a sore neck, Dr Steel discovered Mary’s hair had not been pulled or was even out of place, and that the back of her neck had been recently washed.

 Matthes and Johanne were called upon next, but offered no new clues, or a clear motive for the attack. The inquest went on well into the night and was only adjourned until the next day because there was enough light to allow the clerk to take notes.

The next day the inquest began again at 8am. Mary was called to the witness chair at 10:20am. She wore a brown dress and white apron and was sworn in, something that wasn’t normally done at an inquest.
 An argument then broke out between the two solicitors over Mary giving evidence that may or may not incriminate her, and both men argued the point to the Coroner. Detective Fraser then told Mary she does not need to say anything she thinks may incriminate her.

 Mary answered all the questions asked of her for the next four and half hours, never wavering and never showing much emotion. Her story had not changed, but one piece of evidence was about to be brought forward that would change the case, and cause the biggest media sensation South Australia had ever seen at the time.

 Mary revealed she had been having relations with a man named “Gustave Nitschke”. The Police Solicitor jumped on this as a possible motive for the killing of Bertha, who, as it turned out, had known of Mary’s Trist with then older man.
 Gustave Nitschke was called to the inquest to give evidence, and spoke of having sex with Mary on a t least three occasions, one time on the Schippans parents bed, with Bertha in the room next door, possible watching through the cracks in the door. This of course in 1902 would have been scandalous, an unwed woman and man having sex and secret meetings.

 During Nitschke’s evidence he stated he had previously “spooned with Bertha, whilst another man spooned with Mary, and had often joked with Bertha about whisking her away to the city with him.
 It came to light that Nitschke had had sex with Mary on the night her parents had left for Flaxman’s Valley, December 17^th 1901, just a few days before Bertha’s murder, but he had witnesses to prove he had been in Adelaide at the time of the murder.

 More witnesses were called during the afternoon, including Mary’s Mother and Dr Smith, the jury retired at 5 to 6pm and returned an hour later with their verdict on the matter.

At about 7pm that night the Jury’s verdict was read aloud by Coroner Mulligan:

 “We, the Jury, are all of the opinion that Johanne “Bertha” Elizabeth Schippan met her death on the first night of January, 1902, by having her throat cut by Mary Augusta Schippan.”

The room was silent.

Mary was called before Mr Mulligan and the murder charge was read out loud to her, and everyone present. She was then ordered to be arrested and to be transported to the Adelaide Gaol, where she would await trial for murder, a sentence that carried the weight of being hung if found guilty.

 Mary’s Mother embraced her daughter, and refused the police to take her away, all the while Mary pleaded with her mother that she had not done the crime.

 The Police put Mary in a horse trap, and took her to the Angaston police cells where she was kept until the next morning, they then took her to Freeling train station and awaited the Kapunda train.

 The Police officer knew word was travelling, and a crowd had gathered at Gawler to get sight of Mary, a larger crowd was now gathering at the Adelaide Railway Station as the news of the young girl who had killed her sister made its way into Adelaide.
 The officer in charge of transporting Mary had other ideas to beat the crowd, and he disembarked from the train at North Adelaide, taking Mary straight to Adelaide Gaol.

NEXT WEEK: The Tragedy at Towitta (Part 7) –The Trial of Mary Schippan