NOTORIOUS CRIMINALS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4308, 24 August 1921, Page 1

NOTORIOUS CRIMINALS

BIG COURT CASES. MURDER, OUTRAGE, AND SCANDAL The extraordinary, .interest which has been shown in what has come to be known as the Sister Ligpuri case recalls a number of other famous cases heard in the Supreme Court. King Street, Sydney, and at the Central Criminal Court (says the Sydney Sun). The trial of Louisa Collins in 1889, on a charge of having poisoned her husband, Michael Peter Collins, ere,atI ed unusual interest. She was first arraigned at the Central Criminal Court, before 1 the late Mr Justice Foster i|nd a jury of 12. The trial lasted several days, and the courtyard was thronged with excited crowds endeavouring to secure seating accommodation. There was*'also considerable excitement when the jury disagreed. She was again put upon her trial', the popular excitement was revived, and the jury ’again disagreed The late Mr Justice (Sir William) Windeyer their presided. But she was not yet out of the toils. She was then tried at the Central Criminal Court for 'the murder of another of her husbands, Charges Andrews. On this* charge she was found guilty, and sentenced to death. She was executed on January 8 ? 1889 —the first woman t,o be hanged in .the old Darlington Gaol. , Another case which created much public excitement in 1889 was that of Ernest Buttner, a German restaurant keeper. He was charged with a capital offence upon a woman who had recently arrived in.•' Sydney from Queensland. The. evidence of a peculiar nature excited great public attention, and crowds flocked to the Darlinghurst Courthouse. Mr Justice Foster heard the case. The jury found But.tner guilty, and he was sentenced •to death. The date of execution was fixed, when certain information camo to the knowledge of the Grown,, and he was reprieved. In that case the late David Buchanan (instructed by the late Mr W. P. Crick) appeared for Buttner, and Mr Coffey (afterwards Judge Coffey) prosecuted.’ f Mount Reainie Outrageu During the year of £he jubilee of the late Queen Victoria, 11 youths were indicted for. a capital offence upon a girl at Mount Rennie. The .trial commenced at the Central Criminal Court, Darlingliurst, on November 15, 1887, and lasted during a period of great popular excitement. Mr Justice Windeyer was the judge. - Four youths . who had not attained then* majority were hanged, and another four sentenced to life fcnprisonment. Earl Carrington was the then Governor of New South Wales. The extraordinary public excitement lasted up to the day of the execution.

Intense public interest was created by the trial of the crimina.li Frans Butler in 1897. He was charged at the Central Criminal Court with having murdered a man named Preston on the Blue Mountains. Sir Frederick Barley, the Chief Justice of New South Wales, presided, and after a trial which attracted thousands to the Darjinghurst Court, Butler was found guilty and sentenced to death. He Was also charged with having murdered Captain le. Weller, of Glenbrook. Butler paid ,the las.t dread penalty of the law. The late Mr J. H. Wanlj, K.C.,-was the leader of the Bar for ■the Crown on that memorable occasion. George De,an. Few cases in the history of the criminal annals of Australia created more intense public excitement than .that of the trial of George Dean, in 1896. Dean was charged with having administered poison to his wife, with intent to murder. Mr Justice Windeyer presided. During the progress of the trial and the subsequent proceedings—the Royal Commission and the public meetings relative to Dean’s guilt or innocence—the* 81 excitement amongst all sections of the community. was extraordinary. The crowds that followed all the court proceedings reDative to Dean were enormous, often blocking the traffic in the vicinity of the courthouse at Darlinghurst. Another case celebre. which drew great crowds to the Central Criminal Court in 1893 was the Makin babyfarming case. Still another famous criminal trial, at the Darjinghurst Central Criminal Court, was that of Digby Grand and Henry Jones for the murder of a constable at Auburn* The late Mr Justice G. B. Simpson presided, and the late Mr Henry Pollack was the Crown Prosecutor, There were l many dramatic scenes during the trial, both in and outside the court, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the police could keep the crowd back. Grand and-his confederate were hanged. * The ConiMghain Case. Heaving the crimina.li for the civil side, no case ever heard in divorce jurisdiction in Australia created such widespread interest as did the Coningham . case. Arthur Coningham, a famous cricketer, levelled charges against his wife and a prominent Roman Catholic churchman. During the series of trials before the late Mr Justice G. B. Simpson, and the late Sir William Owen, the Supreme Court day after day was besieged with tremendous crowds of excited people, and mixed their religion and politics. Repeatedly the traffic in King Street was blocked, and innumerable pugilistic encounters took place in the vicinity of the court. AU kinds* of devices were resorted to to secure admission to the court, and every second man tried the dodge, “I’m a

barrister ; I’m a solicitor I” There was an extraordinary demonstration when the late Cardinal Moran left the court on one of the headed days of the trial, and there were also daily demonstrations in favour or against some prominent person in the case. The principals were closely guarded by the police. Montgomery ami Willi aims. The most desperate fight ever put up by Sydney police .took place in Bridge Street,' more than 20 years ago, when one of several ..policemen was seriously injured in an attempt to arrest three Victorian criminals who were disturbed while breaking into large business premises in that thoroughfare.. A running, fight ensued between two of the burglars, Montgomery and "Williams, on one side, and a couple of police officers on the other. The police at that time ,we v c not aimed, while the burglars, wh? carried revolvers, did not use them, because it is believed they were afraid the reports would attract other police to the scene. The men, evi-. dently not knowing Sydney, ran up Bridge Street, and then turned towards the Water Police Station, which act proved to be their undoing, for’they ran right into the arms of the officers from th.e waterside. The third man, who must, have known Sydney well, got into the Domain, and ,was never afterwards captured, neither was his identity ever divulged. Montgomery was a man of fine physique, and he used a heavy jemmy to such purpose on the head of a young constable who put up a great fight in an effort to capture the desperado that the unfortunate officer never properly recovered. The two burglars in due course were found gtiilty of attempted murder, and were hanged. The result of .the affair was that Sir George Dibbs, the then Premier, gave orders for the arming of the’police.

Twenty-one years ago Jimmy Governor, one of the Breelong blacks, was tried at tlie Darlinghurst Central Criminal Court for murder, and in view of the remarkable exploits of himself and his brother, JoO Gov-* ernor,, big crowds attended the trial. Jimmy Governor was hanged. “Land Scandals.’ The la,te Mr W. P. Crick was a prominent figure in what came to be known as the/ .land scandals. The Royal Commission, presided over by .the late Mr Justice Owen, arose out of a certain suspicious land transaction. The importance of the commis--sion daily grew with the revelations of the evidence. The late Mr C. E. Pilcher,.K.C., was the leading counsc.l for .the Crown, and he had a difficult task in cross-examining Mr Crick, who had been the Minister of Lands in -the See Administration, and Mr W. N. Willis, a former M.L.A., and land agent. The interest of the public in the ’ proceedings was extraordinary, and many of the principals often had to seek police protection. '