1869: He Faked His Own Death to Escape His First Wife, Then Murdered His Second at Beechworth
James Smith, born Peter Higgins, solved an unhappy marriage in colonial Sydney by faking his own death, having a letter sent to his wife's family claiming he had fallen down a mine shaft and drowned. She rebuilt her life believing herself a widow, remarried, and prospered, while Higgins resurfaced years later under a new name, tracked her down and asked her to take him back. She refused.
He returned to his second wife, Elizabeth, at a mail station near Beechworth, where their marriage was marked by constant drunken violence and her threats to expose his bigamy. That July, Elizabeth was found dead in their bedroom, her body covered in fresh wounds and broken ribs. Smith was tried and convicted of her murder, and hanged inside Beechworth Gaol on this day in 1869.
At his trial he insisted his wife's injuries had come from being trampled by a loose horse, an explanation the court found impossible to credit; he went to the gallows without ever admitting his guilt.
