1853: John Smith Hanged at Melbourne Gaol for the Murder of a Miner at Fryer’s Creek
In 1853, John Smith and Henry Turner forced their way into the hut of John Warren at Fryer’s Creek, demanding gold. When Warren could not produce it, the pair shot him in the eye with a revolver at close range. Warren was found blind and bleeding, groping through the bush. He died shortly after, the bullet having shattered a fragment of his temporal bone into the brain.
Both men were tried, convicted, and hanged at Melbourne Gaol on 23 August 1853, before a large crowd assembled outside the walls.
Smith, attended by Catholic priests in his final days, was brought to acknowledge that the sentence he was about to suffer was just and merited.
