Trial - Dark Stories True Crime Tours

1808: The Bushranger Who Apologised Mid-Robbery, Then Hanged at Sydney

Hugh Dowling and his accomplices broke into William Styles’s house near the Nepean River in 1808, beat a sleeping servant unconscious, bound Styles’s wife as she nursed an infant, and ransacked the home at gunpoint. When Styles’s wife protested handing over her husband’s watch, Dowling reportedly replied, “I ask your pardon madam,” before taking a pipe instead and settling in to smoke tobacco with his companions before leaving.

He wore a crude crape mask, but it slipped while he examined stolen banknotes by candlelight, and Styles’s wife later swore in court that she had seen his bare face clearly enough to identify him without doubt. Convicted despite an alibi the court found riddled with contradictions, Dowling was sentenced to death and hanged the following Thursday.

Dowling maintained his innocence through trial, but the alibi he offered collapsed under questioning and was judged a fabrication by the court.

Antique pocket watch resting on old books.

⬅ See all events from 28 September

Australia Burglary Execution Nepean NSW Robbery Sydney Trial

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1829: The Informer They Called Kangaroo Jack: Silenced in the Bush Near Bathurst

John Hazeldine went by the name Kangaroo Jack, and he liked to remind men what his evidence could do: he claimed it had hanged one man in England and transported two others. So when he and a young absconded convict named Parker were caught butchering a stolen bullock in the bush near Bathurst in 1828, Parker knew exactly what Hazeldine intended to do next. That evening, as Hazeldine knelt blowing a campfire alight, Parker struck him with a tomahawk.

The case against him rested almost entirely on a confession he was said to have made to two fellow convicts, men a settler who watched the trial branded liars who “contradicted each other in all other things” and may have been the real killers. It was enough. Parker, about 19, was hanged behind the gaol at Sydney on 28 September 1829, still hoping until the last for a reprieve.

He denied the murder almost to the moment the rope was placed around his neck, then confessed his guilt as the drop was prepared.

⬅ See all events from 28 September

Australia Bathurst Execution Informer Murder NSW Sydney Trial

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1829: The Five-Pound Threshold: Two Men Hanged at Sydney for Burglary

Daniel Grier and Charles Penson were hanged at Sydney in 1829 for nothing more than burglary: stealing from a dwelling house goods valued at just over five pounds, a sum that under the law of the day was enough to turn a break-in into a hanging offence.

They died on the same gallows as a young murderer, though their own execution became its own grim spectacle. As the drop fell, the rope twisted at the nape of Grier’s neck and his limbs quivered horribly for several minutes, while Penson spun briefly and died with barely a struggle. Before the ropes were adjusted, all three men on the scaffold had joined in singing a hymn together.

⬅ See all events from 28 September

Australia Burglary Capital Punishment Execution NSW Sydney Trial

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1803: Bribery Couldn’t Save Them: Two Men Hanged at Castle Hill for a Hawkesbury Robbery

On 27 September 1803, John Lynch and James Tracey were hanged at Castle Hill for a violent robbery at the Hawkesbury home of Samuel and Elizabeth Phelps. Five men had entered the house on the evening of 24 July, knocked Samuel down and bound both husband and wife before stealing money, watches, clothing and other property. Before leaving, they stripped two gold rings from Elizabeth’s fingers.

The following morning, Lynch gave a labourer a bundle of stolen papers to hold, warning him not to show anyone. When he delayed returning them, he was offered silver teaspoons and then a watch. He accepted the items but kept the papers, eventually informing the authorities and producing evidence that linked Lynch to the robbery.

Both men were convicted and sentenced to death. At the Castle Hill gallows in Sydney, Lynch admitted his guilt and urged the spectators to take warning from his fate. Tracey continued to deny involvement and interrupted Lynch’s final address before the two were hanged.

Vintage pocket watch, fountain pen and spoons on a table

⬅ See all events from 27 September

Australia Castle Hill Colonial Crime Execution Hawkesbury Home Invasion NSW Robbery Trial

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Subscribe to Dark Stories