On May 8 1895, Mrs Fanny Bushell, a bank manager’s wife from Young, boarded the mail train to Sydney at nearby Harden. The train reached Goulburn late that night.
Goulburn Railway Station in the 19thC.
Mrs Bushell had been the only passenger in a first class, ladies compartment. However, at Goulburn, two nuns entered the compartment with a woman dressed entirely in black and heavily veiled. The three chatted quietly until the train was about to leave. The nuns then disembarked before the heavy carriage doors closed and the train left.
There was no conversation between Mrs Bushell and her fellow traveller. Mrs Bushell fell asleep and awoke as the train reached Picton.
Picton Station circa 1900. Source – NSW State Rail.
The veiled woman was sitting in a corner of the carriage. Neither spoke and Mrs Bushell dozed off again. When she woke not long afterwards the mysterious woman had vanished, although her luggage remained in the carriage.
As soon as the mail train reached Sydney at 6.00am on Thursday, Mrs Bushell reported her strange experience to a porter. She described the missing passenger as unusually tall, wearing a black shawl, black dress and black straw hat, Her facial features had been completely obscured by a heavy black veil. Only a couple of bags and a basket remained as proof it had not all been a dream.
Meanwhile, Sydney couple Thomas Crowe and his wife Mary had been waiting for the train to arrive at Redfern station. They were expecting to meet someone coming to stay with them, but she failed to appear. The Crowes were feeling as confused as Mrs Bushell. On Wednesday they had received a telegram from their close friend, a young Irish woman called Jane Ryan. She had been a postulant at St Joseph’s Convent for three years, but without warning she said she was coming to stay with them while she looked for a position as a governess. A worried Mrs Crowe telegraphed the convent and was assured that Miss Ryan had been accompanied aboard the train at Goulburn.
St. Joseph’s Convent, North Goulburn.
A BODY BY THE TRACKS
Early the following morning two railway workers came upon the body of a woman by the tracks, not far from Menangle station.
The tragedy was soon being reported in newspapers around the country. Murder was suspected and there were lurid headlines,
The victim was identified by the name tag on her belongings left on the train. Yes, she was the Crowe family’s friend, 22 year old Jane Ryan. She had been a lay teaching assistant at the St. Joseph’s convent.
FAR FROM HOME
In 1891 the Irish born Bishop of Goulburn, William Lanigan, had made a 12 month visit ‘home’ to Tipperary. He returned with six young women (including Jane Ryan) from convents where orphans and children of the poor were educated, The women were sent as postulants to different Australian convents. Visiting St Joseph’s Bishop Lanigan told the community;
‘In the same ship in which he had come out he had brought six postulants for the order from the very heart of Tipperary….He had brought them out to meet the demands of the order and to be able as teachers to keep up its character. (Goulburn Evening Penny Post, April 5 1892.
Bishop William Lanigan.
A post mortem on Jane Ryan was conducted at the South Sydney Morgue by Dr George Rennie. He found no evidence of any physical or sexual assault. The injuries were all consistent with a fall from a moving train, though how the tragedy occurred remained a mystery. However, there was a completely unexpected discovery; the victim had been close to death from tuberculosis. ‘Both lungs were adhering to the chest wall and contained a copious deposit of tubercule.’ (Evening News, May 11 1895) He noted that the liver was softened and enlarged. The disease had also spread widely in the lining of the stomach (Peritoneal TB). Dr Rennie considered the deceased would have died within two or three months.
When questioned further by the coroner at the subsequent inquest, he commented that the diseased condition of the organs would have contributed to the internal hemorrhaging after the body hit the ground.
The first person to give evidence at the inquest was Thomas Crowe, a dairyman who lived in Ultimo. He was born in Tipperary and had known the deceased for about 16 years; presumably having been a friend of her family in Ireland. Jane Ryan had stayed with Thomas and his wife when she first arrived in Sydney, before travelling on to the convent in Goulburn. Mrs Crowe corresponded with Jane, but the couple had not seen her for the past three years. Thomas Crowe was adamant that Jane Ryan would not take her own life. Her letters had never mentioned any sickness or unhappiness.
The two nuns who had put the young woman on the mail train were called to give evidence. Sister Mary Joseph was the principal of the school. She testified that when Miss Ryan left Goulburn she was content and cheerful. She had promised to send a telegram when she arrived in Sydney. As to the deceased’s years at St. Joseph’s, ‘ She always seemed happy, but said she could not overcome her pride to stay in the Convent’. Other reports stated that she had refused to follow the rules. If this was the case, why did Jane Ryan remain at St Joseph’s for so long. Surely her ‘pride’ was not a new character trait? In relation to her state of health, the Sister said Miss Ryan had eaten and slept well and had not been treated medically at the convent.
Oddly enough, Sister Mary Joseph seemed aware of Jane’s friendship with Thomas and Mary Crowe, ‘Miss Ryan did not say what friends she intended going to.’ She told the court that she had given the deceased, a basket with sandwiches and fruit, and a purse with some silver in it. The purse was found to contain 18s and 9d.
Sister Mary Bernard gave similar evidence about Miss Ryan being quite well and happy. She did comment that the deceased seemed uneasy during her final week regarding what she might do in the future.
The nuns were not challenged about the dead woman’s health, despite the autopsy findings. The symptoms of advanced tuberculosis include weight loss, night sweats, fever, the coughing of blood and chest pain. With peritoneal involvement there is likely to have been severe abdominal pain and diarrhoea. A case of active TB would have been disastrous for the convent and the pupils of the school.
Mrs Bushell, who had shared the mail train carriage with the deceased, testified that when she woke to find the woman missing, the window was open. According to rail staff , it would have been possible to access the window by standing on a seat. This did suggest suicide, but the jury members were not convinced and returned an open verdict.
At no time was there any mention of Jane’s family in Ireland. Her parents may well have been dead, hence her education at a Tipperary convent, It was the kindly Thomas Crowe who arranged for her funeral and invited his friends to attend.
Source – Sydney Morning Herald, May 11 1895
There were such disturbing aspects about this case.
After three years at the convent Jane Ryan left with barely any money and the only people she knew in Sydney were Thomas Crowe and his wife. Sustaining herself until she found employment as a governess with less than a pound to her name would have been almost impossible. Ultimo, where Mr and Mrs Crowe lived, was a very poor, inner city suburb.
It also seems strange that a 22 year old lay teacher was travelling so closely veiled.
Of course the biggest question concerns the discovery of advanced tuberculosis. How on earth could the young woman have appeared in good health, as the nuns from the convent insisted, when the post mortem revealed her body to be so full of disease that she had only a couple of months to live?
I would love to know what others think about this case. I have been puzzling over it for days.
THE HISTORY OF THE SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH
