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.
