1857: Newly Freed, Then Shot by His Employer: A Convict Hanged in Perth for Attempted Murder

John Lloyd, a ticket-of-leave convict working near Geraldton, shot his own labourer John Brown with intent to kill at Port Gregory in June 1857. Brown was himself a former convict, but only months earlier he had been granted a conditional pardon for manslaughter, finally free after years under sentence, before his own employer put a bullet in him.

Lloyd was tried and convicted that October, and hanged at Perth Gaol on this day in 1857. It was not his first brush with the gallows' shadow: a decade earlier he had been transported for life from Wales for highway robbery, and had already served years in the colony before the shooting that finally ended his.

Old Perth Gaol circa 1862
Old Perth Gaol circa 1862

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1884: "A Sort of Duel": the First Man Hanged at Geraldton

Sing Ong, a Chinese settler at Cape Lesueur on Shark Bay, shot his countryman Ah Foo twice on 11 May 1884 in a quarrel over a servant Sing Ong believed was rightfully his. Witnesses heard the shots and found Ah Foo dying of a wound below the chest, having first picked up a stick and told his killer he was not afraid of his knife, gun, or revolver.

At his trial in Geraldton, his own counsel argued the shooting had been a sort of duel between the two men, pointing out that police never produced the pistol and failed to call other witnesses who might have helped him. The jury convicted him regardless, and the Governor delayed the sentence to weigh a mercy petition, but found nothing in it to change the outcome.

On 29 October 1884, Sing Ong was hanged at Geraldton gaol, the town's first execution, carried out so cleanly that death came the instant the bolt was drawn.

From his arrest to the gallows, Sing Ong never denied the killing.

The original Geraldton Courthouse, circa 1900. Built in the 1860s, the courthouse was in use when Sing Ong stood trial for murder in 1884. State Library of Western Australia, BA597/26.
The original Geraldton Courthouse, circa 1900. Built in the 1860s, the courthouse was in use when Sing Ong stood trial for murder in 1884. State Library of Western Australia, BA597/26.

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1873: A Tearful Confession in Custody Cracked the Case: Two Men Hanged at Perth Gaol for Eating their Victim

Young Edward Dunn vanished near his family's farm at Port Gregory, north of Champion Bay in Western Australia in October 1865. Search parties tracked his footprints for a short distance before they disappeared, and no trace of him surfaced until the following April, when fragments of clothing, a skull and other remains were pulled from a well.

The mystery stood unsolved until 1873, when one of the accused broke down in a Geraldton lock-up and told police what had happened: a group of men had come across Dunn, killed him, then cooked and ate portions of his body before hiding his remains down the well. Two men were convicted of murder, admitted their guilt, and were hanged at Perth Gaol on this date, eight years after the killing.

Pitcher and well in the Negev Desert, Israel
Pitcher and well in the Negev Desert, Israel

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On This Day in True Crime History

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