In September 1948, within the space of a few days, two seventeen year old youths committed murder in New South Wales. Stranger still, they had been good friends before their otherwise unrelated crimes. They had played ice hockey together, and were both snappy dressers who enjoyed the
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THE CONCLUSION OF THE VERA WATT POISONING CASE. FOR THE FIRST PART, CLICK HERE. When the Coronial Inquest into the death by poisoning of Mrs Vera Watt ended in January 1942. her ex-lover Conald Pagett was committed for trial and remanded in Long Bay Gaol. However, on
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THE A.P.C. OF MURDER ….… click here for previous episode. The coronial inquest into the death of 36 year old Mrs Vera Doris Watt on December 1 1941 opened on December 29. She had died from strychnine, placed
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On September 9 1922, twenty one year old William Guy Higgs married Helena Potter in a society wedding at Hunters Hill. The couple honeymooned in the beautiful Blue mountains. The groom was the fourth born of seven sons, and chose his older brother Hubert as best man.
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Forty eight year old Ronald Lachlan Leslie was a wealthy, retired grazier living in the Sydney suburb of Manly. He was a happily married family man with two young children. On Wednesday, October 12 1927 he set out to drive to the central western town of Forbes,
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HAVE YOU EVER BEEN CONVICTED BY THE CIVIL POWER? Men enlisting in World War I were required to answer a series of personal questions. At the time, military authorities had no idea what lay behind recruit Robert Coombe’s answer to No. 6, regarding apprenticeships; ‘Mr Pike, Crowthorne,
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Shortly before midnight on Tuesday, April 8 1930, what has been described as one of the most daring robberies in the history of Australia took place. The heist was conceived by Roy Wilkinson, a 24 year old railway porter. Wilkinson had been serving as escort on the mail train from Sydney to
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A CONTINUATION OF THE STORY, THE STRANGE LIFE OF EDWARD RIDLEY – PART ONE. In May 1933, police were called to a crime scene at a damp hovel below what had once been Ridley and Sons Department Store complex, on the Lower East Side of New York. The Ridley family had disposed
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Edward Ridley Snr emigrated to New York City from Nottinghamshire in the early 1840’s. From humble beginnings as a hawker of ribbons and other small items he eventually built a vast emporium at Grand and Allen Streets, on the Lower East Side. It was one of the city’s
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