The only woman hanged for murder in Queensland*

Ellen Thomson was married, rather unhappily even by the standards of the day, to William (Billy) Thomson, an early selector on the Mossman River. They both worked the selection but lived separate lives, with Ellen in the main house and Billy in another building next to the house.

On 22 October 22 1886, at about 10pm, Billy was found dying from a gunshot wound to the head. The noise of the shot woke the house and Ellen, John Harrison and Edward Marshall, the local bailiff, gathered around the dying Billy, who was found with a revolver by his side. The distance to any medical help condemned Billy to death. Despite repeated questions from the three gathered at his side, no words passed from Billy’s lips and he died during night. Constable Holland arrived the next day and a neighbour brought Doctor Marley and a coffin to take Billy away. Dr Marley examined the body and said that Billy had been shot through the temple with entry and exit wounds in a straight line. He asserted that only one bullet did the damage. Billy Thomson was buried at Port Douglas cemetery on 24 October 1886.

Harrison, the hired hand, stayed on at the selection at Ellen’s insistence and the local rumour mill got to work. On 6 January 1887, Ellen and Harrison were arrested and charged with Billy’s murder. The committal proceedings took place almost immediately before Major M.P.B. Fanning, the local police magistrate.

Ah Wing, Ah Chune and Ah Loy, Chinese diggers who had been working the creeks on the Thomson selection, all came forward and swore that they had heard two shots, despite the contrary evidence from Dr Marley that only one shot was fired. Major Fanning ordered that the body be exhumed and examined to determine if one or two shots had been fired.

Dr Marley examined the skull and told the court that he had found ‘a bullet hole in the right temple and another on the left side, however after groping around in his skull I came across a bullet. I am now of the opinion that a second shot was fired into the same wound as the first shot.’ On the new medical evidence, Ellen and Harrison were committed to stand trial at the Northern Circuit Court at Townsville on 27 April 1887.

The trial proceeded before Mr Justice Cooper with Virgil Power leading for the Crown. Power, who had sensed animosity to the Chinese witnesses, had access to another witness, Henry Oubridge. Oubridge had shared a cell with Harrison and claimed that Harrison confided to him that there was ‘sugar hanging on this death’, meaning that he (Harrison) would benefit from Billy’s death by furthering his relationship with Ellen. Oubridge gave evidence, despite the fact that he could have fabricated the whole story from newspaper reports of the time. He was subsequently sentenced for theft at the same sittings.

Mr Leu, for the defence, did his best to point out the inconsistencies in the evidence of the Chinese diggers, who had been at loggerheads with Billy and had held a grudge against the Thomsons. He also pointed out the possibility of the bullet wound being inflicted by only one bullet, quoting from Taylor’s Medical Jurisprudence that bullets were known to split and inflict several wounds. As to the ’sugar’ that Harrison allegedly referred to, Billy’s will left the real property to his brother Thomas, with Ellen receiving only some personal items that would have gone to discharge his debts.

Mr Justice Cooper, in his address to the jury, made the Freudian slip that ‘in every case of murder the law assumes that murder has been committed until the contrary is proven’. Quite the opposite; the ’presumption of innocence’ is a jealously guarded right of British law. Mr Justice Cooper also told the jury that Oubridge, despite his lower class, had a moral obligation to tell everything he knew and the jury were not to regard him as an informer; that the Chinese ‘are an observant race whose minds are concentrated on the small matters’; that Ellen and Harrison had lived together ‘on improper terms’; and that Ellen was to profit from Billy’s death. He charged the jury with their ‘duty to find the prisoners guilty’. Two hours later, the jury returned the sought-after verdict, and Ellen and John were sentenced to death.

Despite impassioned appeals, execution was set for 13 June 13 1887, at Her Majesty’s Gaol, Brisbane. Harrison is supposed to have confessed to his priest that he had seen Billy turn a gun on himself after a heated quarrel and that Ellen had no part in the killing. This was reported to the Under-Sheriff, who is said to have replied: “It’s too late. The executions must move forward.”

Ellen died on the gallows, and became the only woman to be hanged in Queensland. To the end, she declared her innocence: “May heaven bless my children. I never shot my husband, I never harmed anyone. I am innocent. I die like a wounded angel.”

*Disclaimer: This article represents an historical narrative compiled by its author, and is not to be considered a legal opinion.