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1826: The Head Was Never Found: Three Men Hanged at Hobart for Murder

Alexander Simpson, a shopkeeper who lived and slept in two houses near Pittwater not far from Hobart, was last seen walking home at dusk. The next morning his body was found mutilated on rocks below the high-water mark, his head and much of his flesh removed and never recovered. A discoloured mark around his neck suggested he had been strangled with a cord before his body was carried to the water and cut apart, apparently to prevent identification. His shop had been completely rifled, yet the doors were found padlocked exactly as usual, suggesting the killers had taken his keys and relocked the premises after the robbery. Strangely, no footprints, blood or signs of a struggle were ever found.

Three neighbours who knew Simpson well, Thomas Dunnings, Edward Everitt and William Smith, stood trial for three days on largely circumstantial evidence, including stolen goods traced back to Simpson’s shop and their movements on the night of the killing. All three were convicted, sentenced to death on 2 September 1826 and hanged together at Hobart on 13 September 1826.

Each man gave a different account at the end. Dunnings insisted he had “had no hand in it”; Everitt admitted stealing goods from the house after Simpson’s death but denied any part in the murder; Smith maintained the evidence used to convict him was “entirely false.”

⬅ See all events from 13 September