Remembering a Policeman and a Brave Engineer

Tomorrow will mark the 100th anniversary of a sad event in our area's history. On 9 March 1924, an arrested man shot and killed two men in a car that was transporting him from Cordeaux Dam to Campbelltown Police Station. Both brave men's lives were cut tragically short, and the perpetrator was ultimately hanged that same year.

The incident that lead to the double murder was a break and enter at the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board at the settlement at Cordeaux Dam by William George Gordon Simpson. Work on the now heritage-listed Cordeaux Dam began in 1918 and was completed in 1926. Simpson had stolen two revolvers. After his arrest, Simpson was conveyed to Campbelltown by Constable James Flynn and dam engineer Guy Chalmers Clift. Clift's car was used for the operation, and he was the driver. As the car was one mile (1.6kms) from Appin, Simpson drew his revolver, and shots were fired. Constable Flynn was shot through the stomach. Following the fatal shot, Clift immediately pulled the car up and sprang at Simpson. After a struggle, Clift was then shot in the groin. Despite this, he was able to wrench Simpson's revolver from his grasp. He then punched Simpson in the jaw, got him out of the car, and drove towards Appin for help, despite heavy bleeding. A man named Gibson who was on his way to work at the dam, came across the scene just after the shooting. Clift told him to ride back to Appin as fast as he could and tell the police and that he would attempt to follow him in the car. Clift got there first and pulled up at the Appin Police Station where the brave hero struggled up on the police veranda on hands and knees to get help, where he was eventually found by a Constable Porter. On hearing Clift's account, the constable then set out to reach the prisoner Simpson. Flynn and Clift were soon transported to hospital, where the Constable died soon after. Simpson had boarded a car from the scene of the shooting and was later located at the Appin Hotel by Constable Porter. He found him in the backyard and then overpowered him with the help of another man. He was then arrested and taken to Campbelltown where he was charged with murder and other charges the following Monday. Clift was conveyed to Camden Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries the following morning. He was buried in Camden General Cemetery.

The opening of Cordeaux Dam in 1926 (Wollongong City Library)

Constable James Flynn was unmarried. He was known as 'Porky', aged 23 and had been a policeman for two and a half years. He was from Lithgow and his body was transported back there for burial. He joined a long list of policemen that have died in the line of duty in Australia.

Guy Chalmers Clift's hometown was Maitland in the Hunter Valley. Aged 37 at the time of his death, he was described as having some grey hairs that made him look older. In his boyhood while at Maitland Public, he was remembered for creating some amazing inventions. This creativity passed on to his adult years and he became proficient and later qualified in engineering. He obtained his degree from the University of Sydney. He used this qualification soon after when he became employed at Cordeaux Dam. He lived in a cottage at the site with his wife Muriel and his four children. Guy was described as quiet, retiring and competent. He would later have bravery added to these qualities.

Guy Clift's grave in Camden General Cemetery

William George Gordon Simpson was a motor mechanic and aged 37. When younger he was noted as a good footballer and first-class boxer. But it appears that there were deep underlying issues with William Simpson. He was reported as being kicked in the head by a horse as a child and thrown off a tram and fell on his head. These injuries were thought to have contributed to his personality. This claim was provided by his family to the Executive Council in an attempt to save his life.

It was claimed by Simpson's defence that he was drunk on the day of the murders. One witness described him as drunk from whiskey. It therefore appears as though alcohol was a contributing factor however, comments made by Simpson after the murders provide an insight into his mental state and probably therefore make a stronger argument for poor mental health as the cause of his actions. On hearing of Clift's death, Simpson said "This is terrible. I must have gone mad. I don't know what made me do it." He claimed that Clift and Flynn were his best friends and the last men in the world he would injure. He also stated that they were killed because they were preventing him from committing suicide. His father had committed suicide 16 years previously and he had tried twice. At his trial Simpson claimed that he took his revolver out to shoot himself.

William Simpson's 1924 Long Bay Gaol photograph

It was thought by a number of people that the real reason Simpson had acquired a revolver was to rob the Cordeaux Dam pay car. The car was supposed to have carried an enormous amount of money and would have been an easy target on the area's quiet roads. Simpson had previously driven the car. Cars were an unusual site around Appin and the dam. A 14-year-old Syd Percival wrote later in life that he remembered seeing Clift's car pass while picking pears at Cordeaux on his brother-in-law's farm. 

William Simpson's trial was on 6 June 1924 at the Criminal Court. He pleaded not guilty. Simpson was found guilty by the jury and Justice Ferguson passed a sentence of death. An appeal was lodged on the ground that the murdered man's dying depositions were wrongly admitted in evidence. The appeal was upheld, and a new trial ordered on September 2. The jury had to consider whether there had been deliberate murder. After only 45 minutes, the jury again found Simpson guilty. The media reported that Simpson had made an outburst of obscene language against the judges while he was being removed to the cells. He later made an appeal to the High Court that was refused. A letter written to the Minister for Justice by Simpson was never made public. 

On the morning of December 10, after he slept well through the night, William George Gordon Simpson ate a hearty breakfast and smoked a last cigarette. At 9am he was led to the scaffold. When asked if he has any last words, he did not reply. Death was instantaneous. 

I was initially intrigued over why Simpson was allowed to carry a revolver with him in the car. After further reading it was revealed that Constable Flynn did not regard him as dangerous but also that Flynn had searched Simpson, but the revolver was hidden in his sock and on the side of the boot.

A plaque dedicated to the memory of Guy Chalmers Clift on the Cordeaux Dam wall.

Update

I have received feedback from Deidre D'arcy about this story. Deidre wrote that her father Norman Percival heard the shots and that it all played out on Wilton Road, across the paddock from Northampton Dale (outside the entrance to what is now the turkey farm). She explained that Ellen D'arcy was driving her sulky into town from her family farm when Simpson tried to jump into the sulky. She "took off at the gallop towards the police station in Appin".

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Whitaker, Anne-Maree 2005

Appin: The Story of a Macquarie Town

Adelaide Chronicle 15 March 1924, The Sun 11 March 1924, The Herald (Melbourne) 27 November 1924, Evening News (Sydney) 11 March 1924

Highway Hold ups

Travelling along Appin Road has long been a hazardous trip. If you were doing it in 1866 there were even more reasons to be filled with trepidation. My research has revealed at least three terrifying hold-ups between Campbelltown and Wollongong during this year, leaving the community shaken.

In early April 1866 one late evening, two armed men stopped the mail coach at Loddon River just outside of Appin on the Wollongong side. They robbed the coach coming from Campbelltown to Wollongong of its mail bags and £5 from the only passenger. They later stopped the mail coach from Wollongong to Campbelltown, known as the up mail, and robbed the passengers of various sums of money, but did not take the mail bags.

It is believed the same bushrangers robbed again about a week later. At about 3am and four miles (7kms) from Appin, the bushrangers stopped the horses, and ordered the the coachman to bail up. The coachman and contractor was James Waterworth, and he was accompanied by the driver, a man from Wollongong and two youths returning either to home or school. The bandits tied everyone up, searched and robbed them. They also undid and rifled the mail bags, opening the letters, and helping themselves to whatever they liked. After leaving the letters scattered about the road, one of them cracked the whip and they drove off, leaving the poor passengers tied up. They eventually untied themselves and raised the alarm.

A few days later a girl on a farm on the Macquarie Fields Estate, was returning from school, when she picked up a parcel which turned out to contain 36 cheques, amounting to £360, and was a portion of the proceeds of the robbery. The cheques were handed over to the police and later a man from Appin was apprehended by the police.

James Waterworth was the coachman on Appin Road for many years. He died in his nineties in Campbelltown in 1920 after a lifetime of amazing stories of bushrangers and robberies. He was held up by bushrangers on three separate occasions. Before the robbery described above, James was held up once with a sickly man as his passenger. He was coming back from Wollongong with £300 and when the bushrangers stuck up the coach, James picked the little man up and carried him to a nearby shed. "You surely wouldn't harm this poor sick fellow" he said, and the bushrangers let him go.

Joshua Bray lived at Denfield on the Appin Road. In 1866 he wrote "They are very much excited about here, the mail was robbed ten days ago...The night before last they stopped it about a quarter of a mile from this house- the coachman and the passengers came about 4 o'clock in the morning to tell us. These robberies take place in the night...they were hiding all their jewellery. Papa has loaded his pistol". Bray describes this robbery as a quarter of a mile from Denfield or about 400 meters in today's measurements. This would rule out the robbery where they tied the victims up as it was seven kilometeres from Appin and therefore too far from Denfield, however it could have been the one where Waterworth carried his sickly man to safety.

The bushrangers are long gone but the same narrow and winding Appin Road continues to move thousands of people between Campbelltown and Wollongong every day.

 James Waterworth pictured in 1902 driving the same coach that travelled from Campbelltown to Wollongong via Appin

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Empire, 16 April 1866, p4

Sydney Morning Herald, 14 April 1866

NSW Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime, 4 April 1866, p118

Mysterious Rock Throwing

I recently came across an unusual story that I was unaware of. In the winter of 1901 a local family suffered a traumatic experience at their home on the Glenlee Estate near Menangle. The family was terrorized by rock throwing that lasted for at least three months. The disturbance appears to have stopped as suddenly as it started.

James Carroll, a respectable and well-to-do dairy farmer, was overnight the focus of media attention. His family first noticed rocks being hurled at their farmhouse in May 1901. These missiles were hurled from the foot of the steep knobby hill next to their home. All attempts to identify the culprits failed, despite large groups of police and civilians camping out each day and night to catch them in the act. What puzzled everybody was that James and his family had no enemies or any cause to attract them. He was popular with all who knew him.

The house was attacked mostly at night, often in the small hours and almost always from the adjacent hill. The rocks landed on the iron roof but occasionally on other areas of the house and sometimes striking members of the family. The matter was reported to the police after a week. The missiles still continued, even after the police kept guard. Large search parties were formed to scour the surrounding land for miles around but nobody was ever found. The Evening News reported that "For weeks men formed a cordon along the hill, six at a time, and watched in relief of four hours each, crouching in the frost behind bushes and stumps, but without result." The newspaper went on to describe how "One evening one of the employees, going outside, sang out, as a challenge, "Give us a stone now!" Swift and sharp came the reply, as a stone struck the wall of the house beside him with a loud knock".

Damage to the place included broken windows, a hole knocked in a corrugated iron tank and roof damage. A state schoolgirl named May Ryan, living at the house, had her temple cut open as she was carrying wood. As soon as stones were heard crashing into the house, police and family members would rush out to find and hear nothing but "the moaning of the wind in the trees".

On one or two occasions unidentified people were seen on the hill. Each time they disappeared as soon as they were persued.

James Carroll later believed that someone was determined to remove him from his property. He told media outlets that he suspected why but this was never published. James was quoted as saying "They can make it as hot as they like, and I'll stand my ground all right with them, until they get tired".

The reports in the media suddenly stopped after 16 August when they reported that it had been a week since the last incident. I could find nothing else in the library's records about this episode. James Carroll's property was called Hillside Farm and he later bought Sugarloaf at Menangle. He died in 1936.

I'm not sure if the house still exists but I'd like to find out more about this story. Perhaps one of our readers knows more or know descendants of the Carroll family.

A sketch of the house in the Evening News

Written by Andrew Allen

The Black Sheep

The Bray family were a much respected family of Campbelltown during most of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They lived at 'Denfield', a house best known for being built by John Farley, the man who claimed to have seen the ghost of Fred Fisher. The Bray's bought 'Denfield' from Farley in 1841. John Bray Senior was highly respected in the community and served the town as a magistrate, as well as a JP, grazier and farmer. His marriage to his first wife Charlotte produced ten children, including Joshua who played a significant role in the development of the Tweed Valley on the Far North Coast of New South Wales. All the children appear to have lead successful and respected lives, except son John- the black sheep of the family.

Denfield in 1914

John Donalus William Bray was born on March 20 1834, the fourth child of John and Charlotte Bray. He moved into 'Denfield' when he was around six or seven years of age. Two events in the life of John reveal the dubious character he became known for. The first event occurred in 1856 when he was aged 22. John had fallen for a local girl named Sarah Keighran, the daughter of another respected pioneer of the district John Keighran. John had given his consent for Bray and his daughter to marry, however for reasons unclear from the newspaper report from the time, he was later 'denied the presence and hand of the young lady'. This denial seems to have been the trigger for John's subsequent outrageous behavior. In the early hours of October 17, John Bray Junior was accused of riding to St John's Catholic Church in Campbelltown and stealing a large crucifix. He also destroyed the altar. It was also discovered that all the seats had been disturbed and unmarked, except that of Catherine's and her family. They 'were covered with the altar cloths, tied in fantastic forms, which connected the accused with the transaction'.

St John The Evangelist Roman Catholic Church c.1871. This photograph was taken about 15 years after John Bray Junior's early morning visit.


A few weeks earlier John Junior had been removed from his father's house. Tensions between John and his family had become too much. John then moved in with a H. Rose. He left the area later that morning of the visit to the church. Despite having been seen riding from the direction of the reservoir where the crucifix was found, having his presence unaccounted for by Rose during the time of the "disgraceful occurrence" and a large amount of circumstantial evidence, the case was dismissed as Bray was not actually seen in the church.

John celebrated his good fortune by marrying Sarah the following week. They were married by special license by the Reverend Dunmore Lang on October 23 1856. Their marriage produced only one child named Ada May who sadly died in 1868 aged only 2 years and 9 months.

Later that same year John again found himself in strife with the law. Perhaps the loss of his daughter had affected his mental state. The NSW Police Gazette described how a warrant for the arrest of John William Bray had been issued in relation to a charge of the abduction of an under aged girl named Ellen Maroney. John was described as about 35 years of age, 5 feet 10 or 11, sandy hair, large red beard and whiskers, stylish dress and always wares a black top hat. In July that year John was found in Melbourne and charged with abduction. I was unable to locate anything further relating to this case.

John Bray Senior died at 'Denfield' in 1883. Sarah Bray died at Campbelltown in 1884. It's unclear if she remained with John after the abduction of Ellen. John Donalus William Bray died at the Melbourne suburb of Richmond on January 24 1915.

Written by Andrew Allen

The Murder of Ellen Hyndes

On the afternoon of Friday January 22, 1847 a man by the name of James Fitzgerald was walking towards a house on the Campbellfields Estate at Minto when he noticed a number of cattle gathered round in the scrub with their attention focused on something on the ground. Thinking that it might be the saddle and bridle that he came to look for he suddenly realised to his horror that it was the body of a young woman. The woman was lying on her back with the face and upper part of the body smeared over with clotted blood, which had recently flowed from a long and deep gash across the throat. He recognised the woman as 20 year old Ellen Hyndes.

Ellen had been married to a man by the name of Thomas Hyndes. He was killed the year before at the age of 33 when he fell from his horse. Although the devastation of her loss of her beloved husband and father of her two children was obvious to the locals, it didn't stop one particular admirer from making advances to the young widow.

John Kean was a ticket-of-leave man living in the same neighbourhood as Ellen Hyndes. Kean had become a frequent visitor to Ellen's house ever since the death of Thomas six months previous. After much persistence, Kean obtained her consent to become his wife, in return he would have to buy her some furniture and put it in her house. For reasons unknown she later refused to have the marriage solemnised, and returned his furniture to him which he sold off. Some time later they reconciled and he repurchased some of the furniture and returned it to her in the belief that she would accept his proposal. She expressed no interest this time which greatly upset Kean.

By coincidence a Constable McAlister was at Campbellfields with a warrant for John Kean for horse stealing, when Fitzgerald made his gruesome discovery. Whilst at the house of a man named Thomas Sharpe, he heard the voice of James Fitzgerald call out from the bush. He went over to investigate and an examination of the scene was carried out. The body lay about a half a mile from her house.

Later that day John Kean made his way to Reeve's Public House at Narellan with intentions to leave the district the next day. He knew the police would be on his trail. Constable Charles Bamford of Campbelltown made a statement "I had information that he (Kean) had been charged with horsestealing and murder; I went on Saturday morning, the 23rd, to Reeve's public house at Narellan; Kean was sitting under the verandah, the moment he saw me he ran through the house into the bush."  After running about a mile, Kean was apprehended and brought to the watch house at Campbelltown.

John Kean made a confession to the murder of Ellen Hyndes on the 29th of January. He declared:

 I murdered the woman and wish to suffer for it. I came to Campbelltown on Thursday, and went to James Hogan's house in which his mother resides. I arrived there about two or three in the afternoon. We began talking about Ellen Hyndes, and about a brother of his named Michael Hogan marrying her. We talked about nothing else that evening. I remained there that night, and next morning pretty early James Hogan and I left the house together, taking different roads, and we both met in the bush, not far from Ellen Hyndes house, and after waiting some time we saw her coming towards us. James Hogan first took hold of the woman and threw her down, and tore her shawl ; she got up and ran away, and I got hold of her and threw her down again, and James Hogan then gave me the razor that he had purposely brought to kill the woman; I then cut her throat. The night previous we had arranged how we were to murder her—that one was to hold the woman, while the other cut her throat. The reason for Hogan joining with me to murder the woman was, that he did not wish his brother to marry her. After we had murdered her we both returned by different roads to Hogan's house; I got to the house first, and he about ten minutes after; this was about 11 a.m.; after I had cut her throat with only one cut of the razor, I gave the razor back to Hogan; no blood came on my clothes; the mother of Hogan came into Campbelltown that day, and on her return, said there was a report about my stealing a horse; I then left the house and went over to Reeves's public house on the Cowpasture road, and remained there until the next day, when I was taken and brought into Campbelltown by constable Charles Bamford; no one knew of the murder but our two selves; Mrs. Hogan did not know of it, and Michael Hogan was not at home; I was aggravated to the deed by the jeering of the ogans (sic) and others.

James Hogan was initially taken into custody on the suspicion that he aided and abetted in the murder. He was later cleared of any involvement as the only evidence against him came from the confession of John Kean. He was later put on trial for misleading the police. The charge was proven and he lost his ticket of leave.

During Kean's trial it was brought up that he became jealous when he received word that Ellen was about to marry a man by the name of John Cremer. This was the real reason behind her refusal to marry John Kean.

A number of witnesses were called up at the trial and each gave damning evidence against Kean. One stated that he had heard Kean make several threats as to what he would do to Ellen if she did not marry him. One such threat was that before he was humbugged any longer by her, "he would go on the Sydney gallows". Another witness claimed that Kean came to her shop the day before to buy a knife and a handkerchief- the same patterned handkerchief that was at the scene of the murder and presented in court.

John Kean made no other defence other than the assertion of his innocence, declaring that the confession attributed to him was made while he was in a state of excitement from drink, so that he did not remember anything about it.

The jury, after having retired for a few minutes, found a verdict of guilty. The judge addressed the prisoner "solemnly as to the heinous nature of the crime which he had been proved, beyond all manner of doubt, to have committed."

John Kean was executed at Darlinghurst Gaol on April 30. He was reported to be penitent, and his conduct and demeanour uniformly pious. Since his confinement he became very corpulent. His appetite never failed him right up to the day before his execution.

Ellen Hyndes was buried in the same grave as her husband at St John's Catholic Cemetery, Campbelltown. The grave can be seen in the photograph below.

Written by Andrew Allen

Eight Days in Glenfield

During the week of the 2^nd to 10^th July 1968, Wally Mellish, a minor criminal and car racketeer, managed to hold the attention of the NSW Police Commissioner, and over 30 policemen.  Wally was holed up in a fibro cottage at Glenfield, with his girlfriend, Beryl Muddle, and her baby son.

Police had come to the cottage to speak to Wally about some stolen car parts, and to deliver an arrest warrant for car theft.  Wally, who had been released from gaol five months earlier after serving a sentence for stealing, did not wish to engage with the police, and fired a shotgun over their heads. Thus began the dramatic week, which made headlines not only in the local Campbelltown Ingleburn News, but also in the Sydney papers. 

Norm Campbell – local newspaper photographer for the Campbelltown Ingleburn News at the time, tells the story.  “Wally Mellish made some outrageous demands, so Police Commissioner Allen decided to take charge and gave Mellish an army rifle. Mellish said he wanted to marry his girlfriend; I think it was Beryl Muddle, and so he arranged for the wedding. Then Mellish wanted to join the army. The whole thing was a real farce. They closed off Glenfield Rd to the Crossroads, that was one of the most amazing things that happened.”

Ultimately Wally gave himself up on the proviso that he be allowed to join the army and go to Vietnam “to make up for the trouble I have caused”.  He was taken to Ingleburn Army Camp to be interviewed by Army officers, and then taken to Morisset Hospital near Newcastle for psychiatric treatment.

To add an interesting twist to the tale, years later in his book “Bristow – Last of the hard men”, author Kevin Perkins claimed that Wally had been part of a car-stripping racket, which was being investigated by the Motor Squad, and who were about to be arrested and charged. One of the racketeers arranged for someone to see Tim Bristow about it (Bristow being a larger than life private eye and enforcer), and Bristow arranged for them to bribe their way out of it through the Motor Squad. Unfortunately, Wally couldn’t afford the bribe, and, upset at being left to be the fall guy, staged the siege. It was said that Commissioner Allen had rushed to the scene to try and keep a lid on a police scandal!

Written by Claire Lynch

Sources

Sydney Morning Herald

Campbelltown Ingleburn News

“Bristow : last of the hard men” by Kevin Perkins, 2003

Scratchingsydneyssurface.wordpress.com

 

 

Police Commissioner Norm Allen, Wally Mellish, Beryl Muddle, and the Reverend Clyde Paton, after Wally’s surrender.

Refuge at Long Point

Sydney in the 1930s was a busy time for criminals and gangsters. It was in the height of the depression that the razor gangs operated throughout the city, especially in the east around suburbs like Darlinghurst and Surry Hills. Names like Tilly Devine, Kate Leigh and Frank "The Little Gunman" Green were commonly found in the newspapers.

Sometimes things became too hot for these high profile gangsters. During these times they would use small houses set up in Long Point bushland as hiding places from the law. Long Point is now a tiny suburb in Campbelltown near Ingleburn and Macquarie Fields.

Many of the early residents of Long Point were also families left homeless by the Great Depression who built little shanties in the bushland. Here they could live by catching fish in the river or rabbits in the scrub. Despite the growing population of Long Point and nearby Macquarie Fields, the Department of Education wouldn't establish a school because there was no permanent population: families had only taken refuge in the area until work was available elsewhere.

                     Charge Sheet of Sydney criminal Frank Green in the early 1930s

Written by Andrew Allen

Source:

LISTON, Carol 1988
Campbelltown: The Bicentennial History
Campbelltown: Campbelltown City Council

McGill, Jeff et al 1995
Campbelltown's Street and Suburbs: how and why they got their names
Campbelltown: Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society

"The Campbelltown Sensation"

"The Campbelltown Sensation" was one of a number of dramatic headlines that filled both local and national papers in the late Autumn of 1905. The small village of Campbelltown was left in shock at the news of the attempted murder of a young woman by a man from a well known and respectable local family. The incident left the community shaken in a way similar to the Richardson-Lack murders 56 years earlier.

On the morning of the 17th of April 1905, shortly after 9am, 20 year old Thomas Oxley Kershler visited the residence of the parents of Maud New, a girl he had been seeing for the past eight months. The house was located in Broughton Street, Campbelltown. Maud was alone at the time in the kitchen attending to the fire when Kershler entered. He first sat on the kitchen table. She said in her evidence in court that she was "suddenly struck across the face with a poker, and, on turning round, saw that the accused's face wore a peculiar expression. He had a horrible look in his eyes, as if he were mad."

Maud quickly ran out of the house but was chased by Kershler and she was hit on the head several times by the poker. Despite her severe injuries, she managed to grab hold of the poker, and got it away, but Kershler secured it again. He hit her again a number of times and she fell to the ground. Whilst on the ground she was struck with a block of wood on the shoulder. She got away again but he caught up with her once more and got her by the throat and tried to choke her. She fell and then Kershler picked up a board with nails on it, but she could not remember if he struck her with it or not. He then picked up an axe which was lying close by. She caught hold of the axe and got it from him and then said "Oh Tom don't kill me: if I am to die, let me die easy."

Thomas Kershler didn't let up. He asked Maud "Have you got any poison?" She replied "Yes in there, behind the door." When he asked her to show him where she replied that she couldn't because she had blood all over her face and couldn't see. Kershler forgot the poison and then asked Maud for the axe back. He then went behind the door of the wash-house, and as he did this Maud ran into the next door neighbour's house. During the whole time she was attacked, Maud kept calling "Help! Help! Murder! Murder!

Thomas Kershler was eventually contained by the neighbours. He was reported to have said "I have done it now. I went off in another of those fits." Kershler was driven into town in his cart and gave himself up to police.

Dr Wilson examined Maud New's injuries. He said that they were dangerous but that she would survive.

Thomas Oxley Kershler was committed for trial at the Criminal Court, Darlinghurst on May 29 for having wounded Maud New with intent to murder her. He was found not guilty on the grounds of insanity at the time he committed the crime. The jury, in returning their verdict, added that, in their opinion, the accused should not be allowed out at large. It was recommended by the Government Medical Officer that Kershler be sent to the appropriate ward in Darlinghurst Gaol and kept under strict observation. His honour then ordered Kershler to be kept in strict custody in Darlinghurst Gaol, pending the Governor's pleasure.

Thomas Oxley Kershler's Gaol Portrait and Description on June 1, 1905 (click on image for a larger version)

Records reveal that Thomas Kershler was released from Darlinghurst Gaol in 1908. He married that same year to Winifred Wilson at Mosman. They had one child named Edwin. In 1924 an item appeared in the NSW Police Gazette: A warrant has been issued by the North Sydney Bench for the arrest of Thomas Oxley Kershler charged with wife desertion. He is 40 years of age, about 5 feet 10 inches high, thin build, fair complexion, fair hair going grey, grey eyes, clean shaven, majority of teeth missing, a carrier. Complainant, Winifred May Kershler, 32 Gerard St, Neutral Bay.

Thomas later got laboring, contracting and storeman jobs around Sydney. His last address was in 1943 at Vaucluse where he was working as a storeman. Later that year or the next he moved to Adelaide with a woman he had been living with. The woman's name was Mary Turner and he had gone into a housekeeping business with her. It was not a particularly harmonious relationship and Mary decided to leave Kershler. On April 11, 1945, the day that Mary broke up with him, Thomas was involved in a melee at Mary's flat in the Adelaide suburb of Norwood. It was the same one that he had been living in with her. Mary's son Lawrence was charged with stabbing Thomas 20 times in the chest with a large sheaf knife when Thomas broke into the flat to retrieve his belongings. Mary Turner was sent to hospital to treat her injuries that she received in the melee. Although both claimed self-defence, Mary at least was found guilty and sent to gaol.

Despite his disturbed past and a life involved with crime, Thomas Oxley Kershler went on to live to the age of 93. He passed away in the Adelaide suburb of Myrtle Bank in 1977. His son Edwin died in Cooma in 1956.

It is unclear what became of Maud New. A search of the Births, Deaths and Marriage records for NSW reveal a Maud New dying in Gunnedah, NSW in 1971. Of all the Maud News that come up in a search for that name, this is the only possibility of being the Maud New that was assaulted in Campbelltown in 1905. Those with the Maud New name that married can all be ruled out for various reasons. It appears that she left the area after the attack.

One can only imagine the horror the families and the Campbelltown community felt at that time. Despite surviving the ferocious attack, poor Maud would have suffered terribly from the memories of that day in Campbelltown for the rest of her life.


Update

This week I serendipitously came across a newspaper item that revealed what became of Maud New. I was checking an unrelated news story and happened to glance at the funeral notices next to it. A September 1961 obituary of a man with the surname New mentioned that he was a sister to a Maud Singleton of Lindesay Street Campbelltown. A check of both siblings parent's names and dates confirmed that this was our Maud and that she was living in Campbelltown! Maud Singleton passed away at Carrington Nursing Home near Camden on 7 September 1981 aged 96. She died five years after Thomas Oxley Kershler who died aged 93. Andrew December 2017.

Update 2

Maud (actual spelling is Maude) was buried at Camden General Cemetery. Her epitath reveals she was referred to as Maunie. She was born on 9 August 1886. Maude married Jim Singleton in the Randwick area in 1911.

Written by Andrew Allen



Sources:

Campbelltown Pioneer Register

NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages website

Campbelltown Herald, 19 April 1905, 7 June 1905

Singleton Argus, 29 April 1905

Adelaide News 15 June 1945

Gaol Description and Entrance Books 1818-1930,
State Archives NSW; Kingswood, New South Wales

Campbelltown's Day of Horror: the Richardson-Lack Massacre

Campbelltown is famous as the murder scene of Fred Fisher in 1826, however the 1849 murder of three people and the ferocious attack on another was one of the most brutal ever seen, not only in Campbelltown, but the entire colony. The murders appear to have been forgotten by the town as if it wanted to erase the whole episode from its collective memory. With the help of Trove and the research of Alan Jarman, a descendant of the victims, I have attempted to recount the story of one of Campbelltown's most infamous events.

At 4.00am on the morning of January 20, 1849 James Richardson murdered his wife Elizabeth and step-daughter Sarah Sophia Lack. He also murdered Sarah Sophia's infant child and attacked her 4 year old niece Sarah Lack who, although she survived, was left with terrible injuries. Newspaper reports of the day and official documents from State Records help build a picture of what happened.

James Richardson had been married to Elizabeth for a number of years. She had been married twice before: firstly to a John Frazier and then to Robert Lack. James Richardson was her third husband. Elizabeth and James had an unhappy marriage and for about 6 weeks had been living apart. During their separation James became jealous due to a number of persons visiting his wife and children. For a succession of nights he had kept a watch on the cottage.

Richardson had decided to go to Adelaide on the day of the murders, probably to get away from his troubles but changed his mind. On the morning of January 20 he stated that he'd been watching the house armed with a gun-barrel when a man was let in by his wife. After hearing conversations from inside that made his blood boil he broke open the door of the house with an axe that he had retrieved. According to the Sydney Morning Herald report he "struck at the man with the gun-barrel; that the man struggled with him and threw him down, and took the gun-barrel from him and ran away with it".

Elizabeth Richardson, Sarah Sophia Lack and her infant were killed instantly with the axe. Four year old Sarah Lack had her head stove in by a heavy candlestick that Richardson had brought with him. She survived the attack but was to suffer both physically and mentally for the rest of her life.

Richardson quickly buried the murder weapons in a nearby paddock. Then at about 4.30am he went to the house of the Chief Constable of Campbelltown and gave himself up. After locking Richardson up the policeman proceeded to James Graham's house and together they proceeded to the scene of the murder. Receiving no answer to their calls, they went in and saw two women and a child lying dead, and a great quantity of blood about the floor. They later located another 4 year old girl with a large wound behind the left ear.

An inquest was held at 3 o'clock that same afternoon with a jury of twelve. After seven hours of investigation, a verdict of wilful murder was recorded against James Richardson. He was then committed for trial at the Criminal Court in Sydney.

James Richardson was executed on the morning of Monday May 7, 1849 at Darlinghurst Gaol. He was described in Bell's Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer as a "slight-built mild-looking man, about 5 foot 2 inches in height, and always had an irreproachable character up to the time of the murder for which he committed".

It appears however from witness statements that Richardson's character was questionable. A local man John Keighran, who was foreman of the jury on the inquest, gave a character description in a letter. He refers to comments made by a Thomas Rixon who mentions that he had taken liberties with his step-daughter Sarah when she was 14 years old. There is also a theory passed on through the generations that the infant belonging to Sarah Sophia was in fact James Richardson's child. Perhaps it was this inappropriate behaviour that caused the conflict between Elizabeth and her husband? It was reported that Sarah Sophia Lack screamed to Richardson "please don't hurt me on account of the baby".

The story of the man entering the house is debatable. Was Richardson lurking because of his wife's infidelities, or because if he wanted to see if young Sarah was entertaining other men?

Elizabeth, Sarah Sophia Lack and her infant child were all buried in St Peter's cemetery in unmarked graves. Four year old Sarah Lack lived a long life despite the scarring from the events of that morning.

Using original drawings made by the Chief Constable, Alan Jarman was able to accurately pinpoint the exact locations of the sites involved. The stone cottage where the murders took place was located where the front garden of today's Campbelltown Council Civic Centre is located. There is also a drawing made of the cottage that shows where each body was found.

Thanks to Alan Jarman for sharing his research with me.

This is the scene of the murders today in front of Campbelltown Council's Civic Centre.

Update: After further advice from Alan Jarman this site above is the exact spot where the murders occurred.

This is the plan of the cottage where the murders took place made by Chief Constable McAdam (click on the image for a larger version)

Written by Andrew Allen

Escaped Prisoners

Campbelltown was thrown into a state of panic one day in 1963 when two prisoners escaped from the lock up at the local police station. The Campbelltown-Ingleburn News reported that the men used a piece of board wrenched from the cell to prise open bars at the top of the lock up yard.

The two men were James Thornton aged 20 and Alfred De Bono aged 23. They had both appeared earlier in the day at the Campbelltown Quarter Sessions and had been remanded. Thornton had been charged with breaking, entering and stealing and De Bono with two counts of stealing.

As soon as the escape was noticed, the police organised a wide search. Police sirens wailed, road blocks were set up and police examined all cars leaving the area. A watch was kept on the railway station. The escape soon became the talk of the town.

Early next morning a wet, muddy and tired Alfred De Bono was spotted by an Ingleburn nightwatchman and later surrended to police without resistance.

The newspaper report explained that police were still continuing their search for James Thornton. I checked the following week's edition and it mentioned that he still hadn't been apprehended. A check of subsequent editions revealed no further mention of him.

The photograph above shows the back of the police station and its outbuildings in Railway Street. This image was taken a year after the escape from the lock up.

Written by Andrew Allen

Source:

Campbelltown Ingleburn News, November 1963

Bushrangers Rob Redfern

As Dr William Redfern of "Campbellfields" at Minto was travelling along Liverpool Road in his cart one evening in 1824 he was bailed up a group of bushrangers. The bushrangers had struck as the cart was passing James Meehan's Estate at Macquarie Field. Redfern was speechless with anger and offered a reward of eighty Spanish dollars for information leading to the conviction of the bushrangers. This was a huge amount for the day.

A tin trunk containing some of Redfern's very best wearing apparel had been stolen. This included: black and blue dress coats; a dress uniform coat, blue with red cuffs and collar; black trousers, open and to fit the boot; black dress pantaloons; plus clothing belonging to Mrs Redfern.

It is not known if the culprits were ever tracked down.

Dr William Redfern

Written by Andrew Allen

Source:

The Crier, October 12, 1983.

Gaoled for Stealing Peaches!

In the small hours of February 8, 1898 four Campbelltown men were charged and gaoled for a heinous crime: eating another man's peaches from his tree!

Daniel Dwyer, Patrick Meredith, Michael Daly, Daniel Daly, and Alfred Brown were brought up charged with having been found in the enclosed garden of William Gee for an unlawful purpose. The case was withdrawn against Brown and he was used as a crown witness. The rest pleaded not guilty except Meredith.

William Gee had suspected that his orchard was being raided in the early mornings and had arranged with police to catch the culprits in the act. At about 1.45am on the 8th of February Gee, armed with a gun, and Constable Auckett waited for the orchard raiders to appear. A quarter of an hour later five men jumped the fence and commenced to pull the peaches from the tree. Gee called upon them to stand or else he would shoot but instead of obeying him after Gee did fire his gun, they ran away and climbed back over the fence. Meredith however was caught by Gee and detained until Auckett joined him and was taken to custody. The other four were arrested at their residences.

At the court hearing, Alfred Brown swore to Meredith and Dwyer being in the garden but would not swear to the others. Daniel Dwyer gave evidence on his own behalf. He admitted being one of the group, but denied entering the garden. None of the other accused wished to give evidence.

The Bench considered the offence proved, and sentenced the four accused to one month's imprisonment in Parramatta Gaol.

William Gee was a local builder and also served as an alderman on Campbelltown Council. He was involved in the Congregational Church in Campbelltown and was also an undertaker at one stage. He died on the 11th of September, 1915 and is buried in the small Methodist Congregational Cemetery on St John's Road, Campbelltown.

               Above is a photograph of William Gee taken in 1912

Written by Andrew Allen