1789: The Doctor Who Wanted Death to Be Humane: Joseph Guillotin Proposes a Single-Blow Beheading Machine
In Versailles in 1789, a physician named Joseph Guillotin stood before France’s new National Assembly and argued that execution should not be a matter of rank or suffering. Read more →
1865: Australia’s Only Chinese Bushranger: Convicted of Murdering a Constable Without Understanding His Own Trial
Sam Poo was an itinerant Chinese bushranger who spent ten days terrorising stockmen and settlers near Talbragar before shooting Senior Constable John Ward in February 1865. Read more →
1866: “I’ve Done Away With the Kangaroo”: A Butcher’s Callous Boast Led Police to His Door in Sydney
William Henry Scott, a butcher working in Sydney, was arrested on 10 October 1866 after police traced a bloodstained axe and a scrap of twilled calico he had left in storage with his former landlady, Mrs Janet Orr. Read more →
1880: The Enduring Bermagui Mystery: Five Men Vanish Without a Trace Off New South Wales
Geological surveyor Lamont Young, his assistant and three boatmen set out from Bermagui, New South Wales by night and would be last seen on this date, searching the coast for gold. Read more →
1960: Caught by a Picnic Blanket: Australia’s First Kidnap-for-Ransom Killer Arrested at Colombo
Eight-year-old Graeme Thorne was snatched walking to school in Sydney in 1960, just a day after his family’s lottery win made headlines. Read more →
1965: The Moors Murders: Police Find the First Victim on the Moor
After three days searching the moorland above Manchester, police uncovered the first grave. Read more →
