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TRIMESTER 3 2018 CRIM333 Serial Killers: Panic or Intrigue?

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Alexander Pearce topic notes

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Jason Parsons

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Sunday, 20 January 2019, 10:27 AM

Table of contents 1. Details of the case 2. Discrepancies in Alexander Pearce's first escape 3. Discrepancies in Alexander Pearce's second escape 4. Serial killer characteristics 5. Panic or Intrigue? 6. References

1. Details of the case Alexander Pearce is considered to be Australia’s first documented serial killer despite being charged with only one murder. There is little documentary evidence surviving to shed light on Pearce’s experiences, and the material that we do have available must be treated with scrutiny. What follows is the currently accepted understanding of the circumstances (however, there are numerous discrepancies in the details of the case depending on the source). Born in the County Monaghan, Ireland, Pearce was sentenced to seven years’ transportation in 1819 for the theft of shoes and was sent to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) (Bisdee Confession, cited in Sprod 1977: 51). When Pearce first arrived, he worked in Hobart Town, and during his relatively brief stay between February 1821 and August 1822 he recorded a series of offences. On 16 May 1821, for ‘Embezzling 2 turkey’s and 3 duck’s’ he received 50 lashes, hard labour, and was confined at night; on 17 September 1821, for being ‘drunk and dis-orderly and absent from his lodges at the watch’ he received 25 lashes; on 26 November 1821, for being drunk and disorderly and stealing a wine glass’ he received 50 lashes, and on 29 November 1821, for ‘stealing a wheelbarrow’ he received 50 lashes and 6 months hard labour. Finally, on 6 July 1822, he was charged with ‘absconding into the woods for a long time’ and ‘forging an order […] with intent to defraud’, and he was sent to Macquarie Harbour Penal Station on Sarah Island ‘for the remainder of his original sentence of transportation’ (Hobert Town Gazette and Van Diemen's Land Advertiser 1822: 2). In September 1822, less than one month after his arrival, Pearce and seven fellow convicts escaped by forcibly seizing two boats at Kelly’s Basin in Macquarie Harbour. They planned to use the boats to sail out of the harbour and to freedom, and so the men first proceeded to nearby Coal Head where they raided the huts of coal workers - stealing 10 lbs of flour and 6 lbs of beef - and recruited Robert Greenhill, a skilled navigator. At this point, upon seeing signal fires, the men feared authorities were pursuing them, and so they ditched their boats and headed into the push. Instead of sailing, the new plan demanded they walk 150 kilometres through one the world’s most rugged environments back to Hobart Town, and there is some suggestion that they once again hoped to steal a boat there and sail home to Britain. However, progress was slow, and within several days, the stolen food was consumed and the only food left was their kangaroo skin jackets. After one week on the run, the escapees, cold and hungry, agreed that for the self-preservation of the group, one escapee should be killed and eaten. The morning after this discussion, three of the escapees separated from the group; the rest assuming they had returned to Macquarie Harbour discontent with murder and cannibalism. The remaining escapees drew lots to decide which of the five should die. Subsequently, Bodenham was killed, dismembered, cooked, and eaten over the course of seven days. Then, after drawing lots, another escapee, John Mather, was to be killed and eaten. However, Mather wrestled the axe from Greenhill when he tried to kill him with a blow to the head. Days later, however, Greenhill killed Mathers while he was asleep. After being bitten by a snake, Travers, another escapee was killed and consumed by the only two remaining – Pearce and Greenhill. Within a few days, Pearce and Greenhill stumbled across an Aboriginal settlement. After scaring off the natives they consumed what was left in the cooking pots and carried as much as their bodies allowed. Over the ensuing days they raided more Aboriginal camps. However, again the food supplies grew scarce and each began to eye off the other. After lulling Greenhill into a false sense of security, Pearce took the axe out of Greenhill’s grasp and killed him with several blows to the head. Pearce eventually reached the settled districts of the eastern coast where he met a shepherd, Tom Triffer, who helped Pearce recover his health. Several days later Pearce had a chance encounter with two other escaped convicts, William Davis and Ralph Churton, and he joined th their sheep-stealing ring. At the time, the 48 Northhamptonshire Regiment of Foot were based in Van Diemen’s Land with the primary task of th

guarding convicts and pursuing escaped convicts. With this remit, in January 1823, the 48 Regiment tracked, located and surrounded Pearce, Davis and Churton. Churton and Davis, as the two leaders of the group, were quickly tried, found guilty of ‘robberies of stock’, and were hanged in Hobart on 14 April 1823. For unknown reasons, Pearce was not charged alongside Churton and Davis, but was instead transported back to Macquarie Harbour. He had spent 113 days on the loose, and he readily admitted his crimes and provided details of his experiences to authorities. However, despite confessing to the murders and cannibalism of his co-escapees, it was considered fanciful and it was assumed Pearce was protecting his fellow escapees who, it was believed, were still at large (Knopwood Confession, cited in Sprod 1977: 28-2) Nine months after he was captured and re-incarcerated at Macquarie Harbor, Pearce escaped again, this time with one fellow convict, Thomas Cox. Five days after their escape, the crew of the schooner Waterloo, saw a figure waving from the shore. After rowing to shore, they recognised the man to be Alexander Pearce. Pearce initially informed them that his fellow escapee, Cox had drowned, but after searching Pearce’s body, raw human meat was found in his pocket (they also found pork, bread and fish on him). After some questioning, Pearce relented; he admitted to killing and eating Cox and he escorted the crew to the site of Cox’s mutilated body. Pearce was subsequently charged with the murder of Thomas Cox and later found guilty and hanged for his crime on 19 July 1824 (Connolly Confession, cited in Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen's Land Advertiser 1824: 3). Image: Sketches from the Dixson Library, Sydney, of the face of PEARCE, Alexander, after his execution, https://linctas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/tas/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fARCHIVES_DIGITISED$002f0$002fPH301-2721/one

2. Discrepancies in Alexander Pearce's first escape Dan Sprod spends considerable time in his book Alexander Pearce of Macquarie Harbour: Convict, Bushranger, Cannibal exploring the different empirical sources available that provide details of Alexander Pearce's first escape. Many of these sources rely on information allegedly provided by Pearce himself, however as you will see, each account provides varying details. Details that change include, key dates; who the victims actually were (and in what order); and Pearce's role in the murders. As you will see, in each of the accounts, Pearce’s role changes. Sometimes he has nothing to do with the murders, at other times, he commits the murders himself. Similarly, in some accounts he charges Indigenous People, and wounds them; and in others, he only raids abandoned camps. The differing accounts change the way we understand and empathise with Pearce and demonstrate the necessity for approaching even empirical sources with skepticism. The different sources are the: Knopwood Confession: is a 66 page manuscript watermarked 1816. It has two different authors, none of whom are Reverend Knopwood (one source is from the Dixon Library, and the other from the National Library). Reverend Robert Knopwood was acting as magistrate in Pearce's trial, probably held in January 1923 in Hobart Town Gaol (after his first escape and pending his transfer back to Macquarie Harbour). According to Sprod (1977: 23) the Knopwood confession "does not appear to be the original disposition of Pearce before Knopwood ... in essence the account reads as a literary re-working based on the facts of the official statement". The narrative of this confession changes from third person, to first person representing the two different authors, and has a number of missing sections. It is designated the Knopwood Confession because the document closes follows the original deposition that Pearce provided to Knopwood. Cuthbertson (or Macquarie Harbour) Narrative: This narrative comes from Thomas Barnes, Assistant Surgeon who provided a deposition on Pearce to the Select Committee on Transportation [of convicts] pf the House of Commons on the 12th February 1838 (well after Pearce was executed). The account is supposed to originate from Pearce himself, when he was ill in hospital and expected to die - this narrative was allegedly recorded in the 'Black Books' of Macquarie Harbour settlement which are now missing. Pearce allegedly made his statement to Commandant Lieutenant John Cuthbertson while in Macquarie Harbour hospital (and was scribed by an educated convict, John Douglas). Sprod, again pieces together the narrative from two different sources; from the Pearce's Narrative held in the Mitchell Library and from the Molesworth Committee report of 1838. There are variations between these sources, which Sprod acknowledges throughout his replication of the narrative. Bisdee (or Gaol) Confession: In 1825 (the year after Pearce was executed) the Tales of today: or, Modern Facts containing Narratives of the most extraordinary occurrences of recent date (published in London) featured an account of Pearce under the title 'Horrid Cannibalism'. The narrative reported the trial, Father Conolly's scaffold confession (both of which were taken verbatim from the Hobart Town Gazette) and the third source was a confession (which at that point had not been seen before) given to what was believed to be the Keeper of the Hobart Town Gaol, Mr Burder on the 20th June 1824 which the London paper argued was the evening before his execution (this was named the 'Burder confession'). However, Sprod (1977: 51) argues that the Keeper at this time was actually John Bisdee and the name 'Burder' was a mistaken name given for Bisdee (as you will see in the below table, many of the names at this time seem to have been confused or changed across different sources), and in addition, the 20th June 1824 was actually the day Pearce was tried and found guilty in the Supreme Court of Van Diemen’s Land, a month prior to Pearce's execution. However, it is believed that the 'facts' presented in this account have some factual merit. Conolly (or Scaffold) Confession: This source comes from the Hobart Town Gazette which published information given to them by Reverend Philip Conolly, who delivered his version of Pearce's confession to the crowds just prior to Pearce's execution (and which allegedly came first from Pearce himself). All of the information on this page comes directly from Dan Sprod's book: Alexander Pearce of Macquarie Harbour: Convict, Bushranger, Cannibal (pages 22-81). Knopwood Confession

Cuthbertson (or Macquarie Harbour) Narrative

Bisdee (or Gaol) Confession

Conolly (or Scaffold) Confession

28/9/1822: Alexander Pearce,

20/9/1822: Robert Greenhill,

Dalton, Traverse, Badman,

Alexander Pearce, Matthew

Alex Dalton, Thomas

Matthew Travers, Thomas

Mathers, Greenhill, Crown,

Travers, Bob Greenhill, Bill

Bodenham, William Kennerly,

Bodenham, James [Edward]

Cornelius and Pearce escaped.

Cornelius, Alexander Dalton,

Matthew Traviss, William Brown

Brown, William Kennelly [alias

They kept together for 10 days,

John Mathers, Bodnam and

and John Mathers forcibly

Bill Cornelius], John Mather,

eating their kangaroo jackets.

Brown escaped in two

seized two boats at Kelly’s

Alexander Dalton and

On the eleventh night the

boats.

Basin, Macquarie Harbour and

Alexander Pearce stole a boat.

group decided to kill one of the

Eightor nine days

proceeded to the Coal Works

After seeing fires along the

group for food.

later Greenhill suggested

where they were accompanied

river, the group thought they

On the twelfth morning the

that they draw lots to see

by Robert Greenhill. The group

had been spotted and

group woke to find Dalton,

who should die so the

proceeded down the river in the

abandoned the boat. They

Cornelius and Brown missing.

others could survive on their

boat until they saw a light and

began their journey on foot after

The remainder convicts

meat. The night, Cornelius,

became apprehensive and

sharing the divisions to be

believed they had tried to return

Brown and Dalton sat by

disembarked near Phillips

carried.

to settlement. The remaining 5

one fire; while the other five

Island. They began their journey

After five days the provisions

‘drew lots’ to see who would

sat at another fire.

on foot after sharing the

ran out. On the ninth day the

die. Badman was killed by

Pearce did not know what

divisions to be carried.

group was very

Traverse.

happened to Cornelius,

Brown was alleged to have

weak. Brown was detaining

Unknown date: when the food

Brown and Dalton, but he

slowed the group’s progress

progress and he was warned

from Badman had run out, the

believed that Cornelius and

with his fatigue and inability to

that he would be left if he

group drew lots again and

Brown reached Macquarie

keep up with the group. The

couldn’t keep up. The night,

Traverse and Greenhill

Harbour where they soon

group warned Brown that he

Kennelly said “he was so

killed Mathers.

died; and Dalton perished on

would be left behind if he could

hungry he could eat a piece of

Unknown date: Traverse

his return to settlement.

not keep up.

Man”.

became lame and Greenhill

Two or three days

By the fourth day some of the

On the tenth day Greenhill

suggested Pearce kill him.

later Greenhill and Travers

group began to see their “folly”

raised the idea of killing a

Pearce killed Traverse.

killed Bodnam while

and wished themselves back at

companion and eating him (but

Unknown date: Pearce

Mathers and Pearce

Macquarie Harbour. The terrain

only to three others – Pearce

became scared of Greenhill

collected firewood. Everyone

and weather had been harsh

being one, Mather being

killing him, so he

was required to eat Bodnam

and they were running low on

another). Mather said it would

killed Greenhill.

to make them all equally

supplies.

be murder and should not be

Unknown date: After the meat

guilty in the event that they

On the eighth morning the

done. Greenhill said all would

from Greenhill was used,

were captured.

group realised that William

need to help kill/eat the victim

Pearce raided abandoned

Unknown date: Greenhill

Brown, William Kennerly and Alex Dalton were missing. They

so that they would all be guilty.

Indigenous huts and collected

and Travers proposed to

Greenhill suggested

the remaining food.

Pearce that Mathers be

tried to find them by cooee-ing

that Dalton should be the first

Unknown date: Pearce came

killed. Pearce agreed.

as they walked. The group

victim.

across M Guire’s hut near the

Travers and Pearce held

began to fear that the three had

At around 3am on the eleventh

High Plains where he stayed

Mathers while Greenhill

returned to Macquarie Harbour

morning Greenhill

for a fortnight. He had decided

killed him.

and became concerned that the

killed Dalton while he slept.

to turn himself in when he met

authorities would be able to find

After dividing the meat from

Davis and Churlton and

Three or four days later Greenhill and Pearce

them.

Dalton the group began to walk

remained with them for a few

agreed to kill Travers who

On the twelfth day the

again. Kennelly and

weeks.

was now lame. Greenhill

remaining 5 crossed the river.

Brown went missing. They tried

killed Travers.

On the fifteenth day the group

to find them by cooee-ing as

Unknown date: Greenhill

reached another River, which

they walked. The group

and Pearce constantly tied

they believed to be the Gordons

believed they had tried to return

to kill the other; Pearce

River. They were unable to

to settlement but would not be

eventually succeeded and

cross the river due to fatigue

able to make it back, so

killed Greenhill.

and hunger; talks began about

continued on their journey.

Seven days later Pearce

the need to sacrifice One for

On the eighteenth day the

found small pieces of

food in order to keep the rest

group crossed what they

possum at a place where

alive. They agreed

thought was Gordon’s

Indigenous people had

unanimously. Thomas

River. Mather was ill, so they

recently had a fire. He then

Bodenham was selected as the

stayed in the one place for

fell in with some

first victim. Greenhill and Traviss

another night.

bushrangers.

told Pearce and Mathers to

On the twenty-third day the

collect firewood; Greenhill

group was weak again. Travers,

executed Bodenham.

Greenhill and Mather discussed

On the twenty-second

who should be

day Mathers tried to make some

killed. Bodenham was unaware

food from ferns; making himself

of the discussion, but was killed

sick. Greenhill tried to kill

shortly after by Greenhill and