1863: The Lover Whose Pistol Misfired: David Gedge Hanged in Melbourne for a Murder Near Mansfield
David Gedge was a 19 year old groom at a bush shanty near Mansfield, and the lover of the wife of its keeper, Robert Scott, who lay dying of delirium tremens in his bed. Gedge tried to shoot him himself, but the pistol would not fire, so he turned to Julian Cross, a servant on the property, melted down a charge of shot into a crude bullet, and ordered him to finish the job. After the single shot rang out, Gedge forced Cross to his knees and swore him to secrecy, then told the search party that Scott had killed himself.
The story collapsed within a day, and Gedge was the first to turn on his accomplice, naming Cross as the shooter. He, the victim's wife and Cross were all convicted of murder and hanged together in Melbourne on this day in 1863.
On the scaffold, the victim's wife turned to Gedge and asked him to clear her. He said nothing, and the trapdoor fell a moment later.
