An Unparelleled Career of Infamy Brought to A Finish
ENDED BY A ROPE
Melbourne, May 24.
Deeming was hanged at 10:01 o'clock a.m. Deeming passed Sunday in writing, calmly discussing at intervals his approaching doom. He said he had no intention of making a speech on the scaffold. On Sunday night he thrice swallowed eagerly a small allowance of spirits, after which he slept soundly until he was awakened at 7 o'clock this (Monday) morning. Then for the first time since his arrest the manacles on his wrists were removed and, smoking a cigar, he conversed with those around him. He declared that he was resigned to his fate and had no fears in regard to the future. To the governor of the prison he said he had made his peace with God. He persisted in denying that he was guilty of the Rain Hill murders. He had never, he declared, lost his self control in England as he had since his arrival in Australia. He expressed gratitude to the governor and all the prison officials for the consideration they had shown him and also to Mr. Lyle, his counsel, and to all concerned in his defense. He said he thought he would not falter or make any scene on the scaffold.
A few moments before the time set for the execution Deeming was allowed a glass of brandy, which he swallowed at a gulp, and he was told that he might have more if the prison doctor so ordered. The doomed man was then led to the gallows and in a few moments it was all over. The drop was 7 feet.
The execution was witnessed by a large gathering, including government and civil officials, magistrates, police and clergymen. There was an immense crowd outside the prison from an early hour in the morning until long after the execution was over. Order was maintained by a strong force of police.
With the execution of Deeming there ended the life of one of the greatest criminals the world has ever seen. At the beginning of March last the police at Liverpool received a dispatch from the police at Melbourne stating that the murder of a woman had just come to light at Windsor, a suburb of Melbourne, and that from certain facts that had been revealed it was thought that the Windsor murderer had killed another woman at Rain Hill, a suburb of Liverpool. The police of the latter place at once started an investigation and soon a most horrible crime was unearthed. Beneath the hearthstone of a residence known as Dinham Villa, at Rain Hill, there were found the bodies of a woman and four little children.
It was soon learned that the house had been occupied by a man who had given his name as Williams, but who, it was subsequently ascertained, was Frederick Bailey Deeming, whose family resided in Birkenhead, across the river from Liverpool. Williams, or, to call him by his right name, Deeming, had married at Rain Hill a young and beautiful girl, a Miss Emily Mather, and had sailed for Australia with her, and it was her body that had been found at Windsor. She, too, had been buried under the hearthstone of the house and her grave was covered with a coating of cement.
The police inquiries into Deeming's career soon revealed that he was a monster of iniquity, guilty of nearly all, if not all, the crimes in the calendar. Numerous swindling transactions were traced to him, principally in mining lands. Detectives followed him to England where it was found he was living in Birkenhead. Deeming, however, had evaded his pursuers, having left Birkenhead that morning. The pursuit was continued, but Deeming always managed to evade his pursuers, in one instance escaping by just seven minutes. Deeming later appeared in Liverpool under his alias of Williams. He paid addresses to a number of Liverpool ladies, among them one who, from his conversation about the Jack the Ripper crimes, became terribly afraid of him. One night he had an engagement to take tea at her home, but he did not appear and she never saw him again. It was just about this time that he appeared at Rain Hill where his wife and family subsequently joined him.
