The Tragic Death of Alfred Rantanen near Ethelton Station.

 

Headstone of Alfred and Laura Rantanen, Cheltenham Cemetery.

On Saturday 14 August 1926, a body was found lying near the train tracks between Ethelton Train Station and the Port River. It was estimated that at about 6:24 pm, Mr Alfred Waldamer Rantanen had been walking home to Fairfield Terrace at Glanville Blocks. Rantanen used the railway bridge as a shortcut; he was struck by a train heading toward Ethelton from Adelaide.[1]

The engine driver, Thomas Trueman, had pulled into Ethelton Station and noticed that the engine's ‘grip tap’ had been turned on. He switched off the tap and proceeded to the Mile End train yards, as required. Trueman inspected his engine at the end of his shift. It was at this time he found evidence that the grip tap had struck something. There was blood and other body matter on the tap and spread over the rear of the engine.
 Trueman telephoned the Commercial Road station at Port Adelaide and told them he thought he had hit someone coming over the bridge. Porter Burden went and inspected the area and discovered, at about 9pm, the body of Rantanen. Burden, with a lamp, inspected a large area around the bridge and discovered a man's coat. He then found parts of Rantanen's body, spread out over a large area. The body was removed to Semaphore, where Sergeant Wilkin and Constable Atkinson were awaiting its arrival for inspection.[2]

The Rantanen Fund was established to help support the family. T.E. Stephens (secretary of the Port Adelaide Branch of the Driver Union) convened the committee meeting. The Mayor of Port Adelaide, A.O.R. Tap, was appointed to control the fund, while A.E. Wagner (President of the Port Drivers Union) was appointed Chairperson. S.J. Verran, a local M.P., was appointed Vice-Chairman, and J.P. Tapping, treasurer. Trustee duties fell to Alderman J Anderson, J.H. Clouston, F.J. Brown and W.E.C. Baudinet. The auditors were D.B. Mason and E.W. Russell, with Mr Stephens appointed honorary secretary.[3]

 Mrs Laura Rantanen appealed for assistance via a letter in The News. This letter sparked the community into action to form the fund. The Semaphore and Exeter Labor Party, with permission from the fund board, held a dance at the Port Adelaide Town Hall to assist in raising money. The Port Adelaide Council also agreed that a ‘tarpaulin collection’ could be held during the halftime break of a game between Port Adelaide Football Club and North Adelaide Football Club at Alberton Oval.[4]

Mr Rantanen had been a member of the Port Adelaide branch of the Ancient Order of Foresters. Mr Rantanen was also a member of the Port Adelaide branch of the Waterside Workers' Federation and was employed as a wharf labourer.[5]

  Rantanen left behind his wife and children: Emil, 17, Hilda, 14; Helma, 12 years; and Olga, 8; Walter, 4 years; and Alfred, 17 months.[6]
  Mrs Ada Dickason, of Military Road, Semaphore, and Mr August Raeinberg, who lives with his mother, are children of Mrs Rantanen's first marriage.[7]

Mr Ranatan was buried at Cheltenham Cemetery.[8]

 

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2020.

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Photograph: Find a Grave, Alfred Rantanen, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/154087178/alfred-waldemar-rantanen

[1] 'SHOCKING RAILWAY ACCIDENT AT ETHELTON.', Port Adelaide News, (20 August 1926), p. 5., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article212964328.

[2] Ibid.

[3] 'RANTANEN FUND', News, (2 September 1926), p. 13., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129700599.

[4] Ibid.

[5] 'BREADWINNER KILLED', News, (16 August 1926), p. 1., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129743998.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

John Martin the Celebrity Delinquent: Part 2: Escape Artist

 

John Martin the Celebrity Delinquent: 

Part 2: Escape Artist

 

 John Martin became well known in Adelaide for his constant escapes from the Industrial School and Glanville Reformatory. His escapades became legendary and earned him celebrity status in Adelaide.
 When writing of his escapes, the 15-year-old (14 at the start of his crime spree) was often described with words exemplifying his actions, rather than vilifying him, as would have been done if he was an adult. ‘Pluck and determination’ were often used to describe him, and, ‘courageous, fearless, and brave’.

The Express and Telegraph newspaper published one of his escapes. In the middle of the night, Martin awoke in his third-floor dormitory. While everyone else was asleep, he quietly drifted through the room, opened a window, and stepped out onto an 8-inch (20cm) ledge protruding from the wall. He was 40 feet (12 meters) above the ground. Martin, quietly, without fear, moved along the ledge until he reached a water pipe, which he slid down to reach the ground.

 

Artist impression on John Martin 1896.

He was captured after three days. On his return to the reformatory, he was shackled with ‘school-irons’, a leather and iron shackle designed to hobble the wearer. The irons were chained to the bed, and a warder was assigned to stay in the room the entire night.
 On one occasion, Martin waited for the warder to fall asleep. He found a way to quieten his shackles, and snuck over the warder, removing the keys from his pocket, and unlocked himself. Again, he snuck out the window onto the ledge and used the waterpipe to escape to the ground.

 On another occasion, Martin was segregated into an isolation chamber that the superintendent thought inescapable. The only things in the room with Martin were his blanket and bed. Martin was put in the chamber, and the warders left to their rooms. The following morning, Martin was nowhere to be seen,
 As soon as the warders had left him, Martin bit the metal buttons off his trousers. He used the buttons as screwdrivers and removed the lock from the door, from the inside! He escaped into a courtyard, where he escaped over the wall.
 Unfortunately for Martin, his notoriety meant he was easily recognised and was arrested soon after his escape. [1]

 

Next Week: John Martin the Celebrity Delinquent: Part 3: Glanville to Manoora.

 

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2020

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[1] 'THE LAD JOHN MARTIN.', The Express and Telegraph, (11 September 1894), p. 2. (SECOND EDITION), http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article209038878.

A Demented Husband

A Demented Husband 

Port River - Photo ©Allen Tiller 2016

  On the 27th of December 1910 the body of 38-year-old Glanville Greengrocer, William Finch Battye, was found floating face down in the Port River. Thought to be a suicide, an inquest into how and why he was dead launched. An inquest that would uncover a far deeper tragedy.

A couple of years prior to his death, William had married Annie Campbell Othen on the 30th of September 1908 in Port Adelaide. Seven months later, a baby boy was born, William George, on the 13th of May 1908

 From all reports at the time, the couple seemed like they were in love and very happy, so why would William Senior kill himself?

The police arrived on Carlisle Street, Port Adelaide at 1am on the 27th of December 1910 after reports of a fire at the address. First on the scene was Corporeal J.J. Maloney, who later stated in court, that when he arrived, he saw the body of a woman and small child on the balcony of the premises. He was later informed by the fire chief, that they had removed the burnt corpse from the bed, and placed it on the balcony.
 The Corporeal searched the house and found on the bed a broken aerated-water bottle, the other half of which was laying on the floor. He found a tin of kerosene near the bed, but could not smell kerosene in the burnt bedding, nor in the clothing of the victims. There were a candle and a box of matches on the nightstand, but no spent matches in the room.

Further investigation revealed an expired fire insurance policy, and a life insurance policy for £250, which had been taken out on December 8th, 1910. Also found was £9 in banknotes, two half-sovereigns, and 12/- in silver and a watch and chain, from which the constable concluded it was most probable that the deaths were not part of a robbery.

No evidence was found to determine the cause of the fire…

Annie and baby William had wounds on their heads, but that had not been the cause of death, they had both suffocated to death in the fire. Their bodies had been severely burnt in the house fire, but, William Snr’s body, pulled from the Port River, had also been badly burnt, but he was not found in the remains of the burnt building. 

After hearing evidence from the brother of Annie, and a brother of William, and also from Corporeal Mahoney, Dr W J Gething, the Battye family doctor gave his evidence.
 In his conclusions, he stated that William Snr’s burn wounds were sufficient to have caused his death before he died of drowning in the river.

Dr Ramsey Smith, City Coroner delivered his verdict on whether the case was a murder-suicide, a robbery that went horrifically wrong, or something else. He stated:

“It would be evident that the three deaths were connected in some way, but the connection was purely a matter of conjecture. There were many possibilities, and, although in some cases a conjecture might amount to an almost moral certainty, it could not be said that that was so in the present case. To conclude on the evidence given that the husband murdered his wife and child, set fire to the house, and drowned himself would be legally unjustified. Verdicts must be founded on the facts of the evidence, and on the inferences, that could logically and legally be drawn from them. In the present case, there were many possibilities, and perhaps not a few probabilities. The fact that the husband's body was found in the water with marks of burning on it would alone make one hesitate even to suggest a theory of suicide. The verdict in the case.”

“Of Annie Campbell Battye was that she came to her death at Glanville on or about December 27, 1910, by suffocation, and the evidence did not show the cause of the fire. In the case of William.”

“George Battye, the verdict was that he came to his death at Glanville on or about December 27, 1910, by suffocation by fire, and the evidence did not show the cause of the fire. “

“In the case of William Finch Battye, the verdict was that he came to his death at Port Adelaide on or about December 28, 1910, by drowning and the evidence did not show how he came to be in the water.”

It is most likely we will never know what really happened to the seemingly loving Battye family leading up to their deaths, even the Coroner was unwilling to speculate. Whatever the case may have been, robbery, murder or murder-suicide, the Battye family met a horrible and tragic death.
May they Rest In Peace…

Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2015

 www.allentiller.com.au

Bibliography

1910 'GLANVILLE TRAGEDY.', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA: 1889 - 1931), 30 December, p. 6. , viewed 27 Jan 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5227602

1910 'SIMPLE TRAGEDY.', The South Eastern Times (Millicent, SA: 1906 - 1954), 30 December, p. 3. , viewed 27 Jan 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article200002571

1910 'THE GLANVILLE TRAGEDY', The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide, SA: 1867 - 1922), 29 December, p. 1. (4 o'clock.), viewed 27 Jan 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article210005434

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