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** This is an archived, static copy of the Casebook messages boards dating from 1998 to 2003. These threads cannot be replied to here. If you want to participate in our current forums please go to https://forum.casebook.org **
The Gatton Mystery of 1898
Casebook Message Boards: Beyond Whitechapel - Other Crimes: The Gatton Mystery of 1898
Author: Kieran Brakes
Saturday, 16 November 2002 - 11:22 am |        | Hi, I have had the above book by James and Desmond Gibney for a number of years and the case has always intrigued me.
Anyone else out there willing to offer their thoughts etc?
Cheers
Kieran |
Author: James Jeffrey Paul
Monday, 06 January 2003 - 09:58 pm | | | What WAS the Gaston mystery of 1898? |
Author: Harry Mann
Tuesday, 07 January 2003 - 03:28 am | | The Gatton murders took place on Boxing night 1898.The victims were Michael,Norah and Ellen Murphy.They had gone to Gatton to attend a Boxing night dance,and were returning home after learning the dance was cancelled.
The Murphy,s owned a farm at Blackfriars Creek someway outside Gatton.Gatton is a farming centre 98 miles west of Brisbane,Queensland,Australia.
A searh on Tuesday 27 December led to the discovery of their bodies in a paddock,about 400 metres from the road.Sulky tracks led from the road,through a sliprail to where the bodies were found.All three had been bludgeoned,and at least two also shot.The horse pulling the sulky had also been shot.
The two girls had their hands tied behind their back,their underclothes were torn and bloodied,and they had been sexually assaulted.The brother had a bullet wound at the base of the neck.There was no sign of a struggle,and all the bodies were facing in a westerly direction.
A mrs Margaret Carroll and her 13 year old son Johnnie,had passed the Murphy,s as the latter were going to Gatton,and at about 8.30 P.M. had passed the sliprail.At this time a man was standing in the shadows opposite the sliprail,and Johnnie had remarked,"That's Clarke's man".Another woman saw a man loitering near the sliprail at 9.15 P.M. and hurriedly galloped away when he attempted to speak to her,and a farmer living about a mile from the paddock heard a shot about 9.30 P.M.Also screams were heard from the direction of the paddock about the same time,but by a different man.Other people reported hearing shots and screams from the direction of the paddock.
The man alledgedly recognised by Johnnie Carroll was named Thomas Day,and he worked for Arthur Clarke the Gatton butcher.He was a newcomer to the district,coming from New South Wales,and was 21 years old,tall and well built.He explained away blood on his clothing as having got there while working for the butcher.He denied going out the night of the murders.Day left the district early January,and was later reported as having died during the Boer war.
The night of the murders was calm,clear,and quite moonlight.Some years later a revolver and holster were found in a hollow tree trunk.No one was ever charged with the killings,but in other accounts of the murders,it is clear that suspicion is directed at Day.
Hoping this explains some aspects of the murders,and you may find books on the killings at local libraries.
Regards,
Harry Mann. |
Author: James Jeffrey Paul
Tuesday, 07 January 2003 - 12:35 pm | | Dear Harry, Thanks for the info. But I know who committed the killings.
The murders were committed by the illegitimate son of Prince Eddy and Alice Crook, acting upon the orders of Freemasons angered by the victims' plan to reveal that Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper! |
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