1852: Mercy Recommended, Mercy Denied: John Riches Hanged in Melbourne Over a Deadly Camp Quarrel
John Riches shot Harry Webb through the stomach after a drunken argument on the road to the goldfields near the town of Macedon, over who had the right to sleep under their cart. As he fell, Webb clung to a companion and gasped, “Jack done it, Jack’s done, mind him, mind him, oh, my dear wife Charlotte,” naming his killer with his last breath.
Riches ran but was chased down and beaten with his own gun by Webb’s widow. Tried in Melbourne, he was convicted of murder, and the jury added a recommendation of mercy, then refused to explain why when the judge pressed them. The recommendation went unanswered, and Riches was hanged in Melbourne on 3 November 1852.
