Our city's dark past revealed: Hanged for their crimes || Stepping Back in Times

The first of these took place on June 18, 1876, after Somerton farmer Michael Connolly was convicted of murdering his wife. This was followed by the hanging of Chinese Van King in 1880, found guilty of murdering a fellow Chinese resident.

Both of these hangings took place on a temporary scaffold behind the 1859 Watch-house Gaol, our second local gaol, situated adjacent to our second courthouse in Darling Street, where Billabong Clubhouse is now located. The latter hanging took place just prior to the gaol relocation to its present Johnston St site. By this time hangings were no longer public executions, like they had been in Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane, going back to convict days, when there were often large audiences present.

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An extremely rare double hanging was the next to occur in Tamworth, on this occasion featuring the pair in the photo - Alick Lee and John Cummins, taking place at our third gaol, now the Tamworth Correctional Centre in Johnston Street. Both men had previous convictions when tried for murder in Barraba at the Commercial Bank (now Victoria Hotel) of Manager William McKay. Their trial began in the Tamworth Courthouse (now PCYC location) on June 21, 1894 before Justice Sir George Innes. Lee was a sailor who had come from Sweden to Australia, whereas Wallabadah native 34yo Cummins was a horse-trader who had strong links to the shearing community. Cummins had shown considerable literary talent, and was reputed to have considered standing as a candidate for the Legislative Assembly elections which occurred around the time of his execution. The trial lasted four days, with the jury retiring for two hours before delivering a guilty verdict for both men, the sentence by hanging being then passed. An execution date of July 20 was then set. Considerable debate ensued about Cummin's possible innocence, but eventually dismissed.

Although a restricted affair behind the gaol walls, we know many verified details of the execution through a particular family history source. The Assistant Tamworth Police Magistrate was Tamworth resident Surgeon Dr Eustace Pratt, who attended the post-mortem examination of William McKay's body by the official pathologist Dr H.L.Harris. Dr Pratt was also present at the hanging as Magistrate and Medical Consultant. It is in the 2013 family history publication 'Witnesses to History' by Eustace Pratt's grandson Eric Pratt that a number of intimate details of the double-hanging were revealed. Amazingly, the son of Eustace Pratt, 9yo Clement, and his 11yo nephew Basil, witnessed the hanging from outside the gaol wall. Perched high up in a white-box tree, along with six other schoolboy companions, the Pratt boys were able to recount what they had witnessed some years later to their son/nephew Eric Pratt, the author of the family history publication. Recent personal investigation has revealed that the external tree in which the eight boys were secretively perched may still exist, albeit considerably higher 128 years later.

Apart from Eustace Pratt, in his official role , those inside included the Government Hangman George Howard, visiting gaol Surgeon Dr James Harris, Sheriff Arthur Maybury and several newspaper journalists, as well as some invited members of the public. Cummins had attempted suicide within the gaol by cutting his right wrist in the hours before the execution. This resulted in him being in a state of collapse and unable to stand, requiring him to be strapped into a wheelchair to be taken on to the raised wooden platform 10 feet from the ground where the scaffold was located. The hanging turned out to be a botched affair in the case of Cummins, who was still bound and seated in his wheelchair when the six feet drop was implemented, left hanging together with Lee for the regulation 20 minutes. Cummins' last words were reported as - "Farewell Alick. Silence is the language of the dead." The hanging at the time was reported to be the first double hanging in country NSW. Lee was buried in a pauper's grave within the gaol grounds, whereas Cummins was buried, at his family's wishes, in the Anglican section of the West Tamworth Cemetery, to be visited there during the Historical Society's Heritage Week Cemetery Walk on Sunday, May 1 (9 - 12).

The 5th and last hanging in Tamworth took place on November 26, 1907, on this occasion within the gaol building itself, the trapdoor site still in existence. This was for 20yo Quirindi resident George Toft, who had murdered a Ms Fletcher. The State Hangman was a Sydneysider known as 'Nosey Bob'. The original two Condemned Cells at the Johnston St Gaol (today's Tamworth Correctional Centre) have thus only been used by three people - Lee, Cummins & Toft.

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