1895: "Look, Jimmy": The Chilling Instant Before a Fatal Tomahawk Attack Near Mount Morgan, Hanged in Brisbane.

Jacky shared a meal with Jimmy Williams, a Javanese gardener living with his partner near Mount Morgan, then walked off and sharpened a tomahawk at a neighbouring camp. Returning, he offered to sell Williams his boots for two shillings, and when Williams said he had no money, Jacky said only "Look, Jimmy" before striking him in the face with the blade. Williams suffered six wounds to the head and hands and died in hospital the following night.    Jacky admitted the killing to police within days, explaining it followed from accusations that he had given Williams's partner money and drink. When told that Williams had died from his injuries, Jacky replied, "Yes, it will make it worse for me. I thought that fellow would be alright."    At trial, the judge openly doubted whether Jacky could understand the proceedings. Asked if he had anything to say before sentencing, Jacky offered no defence for the killing, instead repeating his claims about Williams's partner. He was convicted of murder and hanged in Brisbane on 4 November 1895.

Freshly sharpened
Freshly sharpened

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1895: Eight Stab Wounds, One Final Act of Duty: a Thursday Island Constable Dragged His Attacker to Arrest

Frank Tiniala, a Manilla-born man living on Thursday Island, had accused his wife Amelia of infidelity and threatened her for days before he cornered her with a knife in a neighbour's house on the night of 2 July 1895. Senior-Constable Conroy ran in at her screams and was stabbed eight times in the struggle that followed, yet he held on to Tiniala, dragged him through the house to the street and handed him to another officer, gasping, "Take him; he has killed me," before collapsing. He died within hours.

Tiniala was tried for Conroy's murder; his lawyers argued he had been running amuck and was not responsible for his actions, but the jury convicted him and he was sentenced to death. He was hanged in Brisbane on this day in 1895.

According to the attending clergy, Tiniala was deeply affected on the scaffold and went to his death contrite.

Frank Tiniala: Queensland State Archives, Item ID ITM654070, Digital Image DR18920
Frank Tiniala: Queensland State Archives, Item ID ITM654070, Digital Image DR18920

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1885: Hanged in Brisbane After a Feverish Stockman Shot the Manager Who Denied Him Hospital

Walter Edward Gordon was a woolshed hand on Darr River Downs station near Muttaburra when fever took hold of him in 1885. He begged station manager Walter Dunning to send him to hospital, but Dunning refused, warning that if he took one sick man in he would have fifty more lining up behind him. The night before the killing, Gordon was overheard muttering that he would shoot him.

On 2 May he walked into the station office, placed a revolver to Dunning's back as he sat writing, and fired. Dunning died within minutes, saying only "Good-bye George" to his brother before blood filled his throat. At trial Gordon's counsel argued the fever had left him delirious and not responsible for his actions, but a doctor testified he had acted with full awareness, and the jury convicted him, though they recommended mercy given his poor health. He was hanged in Brisbane on this day in 1885.

On the scaffold Gordon struggled against the hood, insisting he wanted to speak. "I am innocent of the murder of that gentleman. I conscientiously," he began, before his voice failed him entirely.

Portrait of Walter Gordon: Queensland State Archives, Item ID ITM2947
Portrait of Walter Gordon: Queensland State Archives, Item ID ITM2947

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1888: Mutiny on the Brisbane River: the Captain Who Threatened to Turn His Guns on Parliament

Captain Henry Townley Wright refused to hand command of the gunboat Gayundah to his second officer, Lieutenant Francis Taylor, and had him arrested instead, declaring the vessel under Royal Navy authority rather than the Queensland government. He threatened to train the ship's guns on the Parliament building overlooking the Brisbane River while loading coal and three months of supplies, apparently preparing to sail for Sydney rather than be dismissed over a long running dispute about unauthorised spending of public funds.

On this day in 1888, the Colonial Secretary sent the Police Commissioner and twenty armed constables to retake the ship, drawing a crowd of two thousand onlookers to the riverbank. After a tense standoff, Wright accepted defeat. He wrote a formal letter of protest, read it aloud on deck, released Taylor from arrest, then calmly borrowed a light for a cigarette from a bystander before stepping ashore under police escort.

HMQS Gayundah Queensland Navy flagship in 1890
HMQS Gayundah Queensland Navy flagship in 1890

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On This Day in True Crime History

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