1902: "Me Done It, and I Am Satisfied": The Chilling Calm of a Perth Murder

Samuel Peters killed his wife Trevenna in their home at Leederville, a suburb of Perth, on the night of 3 July 1902. A neighbour heard a scream and Peters's voice between 2 and 3am, but it was not until half past nine the next morning that the couple's children raised the alarm. Mrs Peters was found lying in a pool of blood in her bedroom, badly injured, with no weapon in sight; Peters himself was discovered fully dressed and asleep in an adjoining room.

When the arresting constable woke him and told him his wife had been murdered, Peters answered flatly, "Me done it, and I am satisfied."

At his trial, witnesses described a marriage marked by constant quarrelling. Peters had accused his wife of carrying on affairs with two men, Adams and Nicholas, and was said to have taken to calling her Mrs Adams in front of neighbours. The jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to death, later hanged at Fremantle Prison.

Old rustic bedroom with a metal-framed bed and rumpled blankets, sunlight streaming through an open door and a window in a stone-walled room.
Old rustic bedroom with a metal-framed bed and rumpled blankets, sunlight streaming through an open door and a window in a stone-walled room.

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1863: An Escaped Convict Asked for Directions After a Fatal Attack, Then Was Hanged at Perth Gaol

John Thomas, a convict known as prisoner number 7279, escaped from a work party at Sutherland's Bay in June 1863, taking a blanket, a carpenter's axe and other items. He made his way to Peninsula Farm near Perth, where he entered the cottage of 70-year-old servant Duncan Urquhart and began helping himself to clothing.

When Urquhart returned and discovered the intruder, Thomas fled through a window armed with Urquhart's own axe. He pursued the elderly man outside and struck him repeatedly, fracturing his skull. Despite his terrible injuries, Urquhart managed to make his way more than half a mile towards the farmhouse on his hands and knees, covered in blood.

Around noon, farmhouse owner Joseph Hardey stepped outside and saw a stranger walking up the cart road, coatless and carrying a bundle over his shoulder. The man calmly asked Hardey for directions to a property several miles further inland, apparently unconcerned that the man he had just attacked lay gravely injured nearby. Hardey later identified the stranger as Thomas.

Urquhart survived for more than two months, but died in the Colonial Hospital on 24 August 1863 from his injuries. Thomas was tried before Chief Justice Burt at the Supreme Court on 2 September and convicted of wilful murder. He was hanged in front of Perth Prison on 8 September 1863.

Carpenters axe
Carpenters axe

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1928: Clifford Hulme Hanged at Perth for the Wubin Murder

In June 1928, Clifford Hulme shot and killed Harold Eaton Smith at Wubin, a remote farming district north of Perth. The two men had been working together that afternoon. When Smith's children went to bring their father his usual tea, they found Hulme approaching the house carrying a rifle. What followed included further attacks on Smith's widow and children, crimes that shocked the court and compelled the Chief Justice to clear the public gallery before Mrs Smith gave her testimony.

Hulme's defence rested on a plea of insanity, but the jury declared him sane and guilty. He received the death sentence without a word. He was executed on 3 September 1928.

Clifford Hulme murderer hanged at Fremantle Gaol Monday morning
Clifford Hulme murderer hanged at Fremantle Gaol Monday morning

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1963: The Trap That Caught Serial Killer Eric Edgar Cooke

In August 1963, Perth police discovered a rifle hidden in bushes, linked to the murder of Shirley McLeod. Rather than remove it, they set a trap: replacing the weapon with an inoperable replica tied with fishing line, then waited.

On 1 September 1963, Eric Edgar Cooke returned to retrieve the rifle and was arrested on the spot. Under questioning, he confessed to 22 violent crimes, including eight murders, making him one of the deadliest serial killers in Australian history.

Captured trying to retrieve the hidden weapon
Captured trying to retrieve the hidden weapon

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On This Day in True Crime History

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