1867: William Terry Hanged at Castlemaine for the Murder of Peter Reddick
William Henry Terry, known under a string of aliases including Hopkins, Williams, and Mitchell, was convicted at the Castlemaine Circuit Court before Chief Justice Sir William Stawell of the wilful murder of his mate Peter Reddick at the Coliban on 14 July 1862. The case rested on bones and other remains found at the scene, surveyed and mapped for the court. Terry had listened to the prosecution with apparent indifference throughout the trial.
On 31 July 1867, Terry was hanged at Castlemaine Gaol before around 100 witnesses. The execution was badly botched: too thick a rope and an improperly adjusted noose left him convulsing for eleven minutes, with the hangman pressing down on his shoulders to hasten death. Standing on the scaffold, Terry forgave those he blamed for his conviction, naming two detectives, Hockey and his daughter, and a man called Dring, accusing them of perjury.
Terry made no confession of the murder itself, though he had told the attending Wesleyan minister that he deserved to die for his many crimes.
