Australia Australia - Michael, 29, Norah, 27, & Ellen Murphy, 18, Gatton, Qld, 26 Dec 1898

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One of the most intriguing chapters in Gatton's history is the unsolved multiple murder known either as 'The Gatton Tragedy' or 'The Murphy Murders'. On 26 December 1898 the sisters Norah and Ellen Murphy and their brother Michael were murdered in particularly strange circumstances. The Murphy family, who had lived in the Gatton area for over 20 years, farmed outside Gatton. On the night of 26 December Michael took his sisters to a dance at the Gatton Divisional Hall. They left their parent's farm by cart at about 8.00pm and arrived in Gatton at 9.00pm. The dance had been cancelled due to a lack of young women.
The trio decided to return home and on the way they were waylaid by the murderer. When their bodies were found the next morning Michael and his sister Ellen lay back to back with their hands tied behind them while Norah was on a neatly spread rug with her hands also tied behind her back. They had all been beaten to death and the cart horse had been shot.
The subsequent investigation was a litany of stupid bungling by virtually everyone involved. Within hours the paddock where the Murphys had been killed had up to forty people in it - all destroying what evidence there was. The police took a day to arrive from Brisbane. The first doctor failed to find a bullet in the head of Michael Murphy (it was only found later when his body was exhumed and a second post mortem carried out) and the prime suspect, an intinerant labourer named Thomas Day, simply walked out of the town two weeks later and was never heard of again. The graves of Michael, Norah and Ellen Murphy can be seen in the Gatton cemetery.
(Information taken from: Sydney Morning Herald database 2006, retrieved 17 August 2006, from <http:/&#8203;/&#8203;www.smh.com.au/&#8203;news/&#8203;Queensland/&#8203;Gatton/&#8203;2005/&#8203;02/&#8203;17/&#8203;1108500203329.html>)

http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/36917592?q=gatton+murder&c=picture&versionId=47930885
 
This is the site where I did most of my reading on the Gatton murders a few years back. Interesting posts from people who actually knew members of the Murphy family as well as from people who've researched it for years:

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=97846&st=0

Well worth a look through.

The murders seem to me to be the work of somebody who had killed before - the ritualistic positioning of the bodies and overkill, as well as the unnecessary killing of the horse implies, IMO, that this was not the killer's first murder.

But aside from the Oxley murder's dead horse, and that the boy there was killed by a bullet in a very similar way to Michael Murphy, no other crime has displayed this same signature, or so it's said... But the killer -had- killed before, I really believe that. There has to be other crimes.. maybe not all in Aus?
 
Ooops, unnecessary post about police bungling, covered in Flinder's post above. Sorry!

I can kind of understand how they got flustered and things got crazy at the crime scene, though. It's not like murders of that calibre would have happened often, anywhere. But it seems every aspect was tainted. somehow, so much evidence lost. Such a shame.
 
Thanks for all the links everyone. Will have to read up on this one - I've heard about it over the years, but didn't know all the details.
 
After a bit of reading, including the (somewhat sketchy) autopsy notes, it looks to me like Norah was the primary focus of the attack.

Some quick impressions of this crime:

- the killer was a psychotic sadist, with sexual motives.

- he was very organised, and while I think this could have been a crime of sheer opportunity, he was certainly prepared to take that opportunity and had no trouble controlling three scared ADULTS who were all strong and healthy. Hence:

- I think he probably shot Michael fairly quickly, to get him out of the way as a potential threat, and maybe also to scare the girls into submission. But not right away... this could be part of the thrill, the sadism of the crime..

- I don't believe this was a one-off occurrence - he'd surely killed before, and in a sadistic way. This looks like an escalated crime, not a first one. There's other rapes, maybe other bodies...

- He probably shot the horse so it wouldn't bolt back home (as horses left to themselves often do) or wander onto a road with an empty sulky and thus alert people to the crime. Maybe he'd made that mistake before...

- If there were fingernail scratches on the bodies, it may be that he had not undertaken manual labor for a long time. Long nails and hard outdoor work don't mix! (I know this from experience!) and thus he may have looked quite unkempt in general. In my mind, this supports the theory of an itinerant. So how'd he support himself? No welfare back then... Equally though, he could have come from wealth, had money and no reason to work the land or rob for a living...
 
If I recall, there were several "confessions" - the last from some oldster in the 1970s.

I wonder if he killed the horse because he feared that it might shy in his presence later; tipping others on to him.
 
1970's? -- either he was lying, or the oldest man in Aus!

I'm still looking for reasons why the Oxley murder was discounted as being connected to this crime.

Also, for mysterious instances of riderless horses returning home, missing persons, sadistic rapes and the like, in QLD at the time.

Thank goodness for free-access newspaper archiving!

ETA: Yes, Stan, that's also a good reason for him to have shot the horse. It might already have been nervous with a stranger nearby (I believe he led the victims off their intended course somehow..) and silencing/controlling it would have been his first act, when it came time to attack. Horses can be loud and obvious when scared... It could have also served the purpose of increasing terror - I think he enjoyed their fear... kept the other two bound and alive for a time, though the brunt of his attack was on Norah.

Picking three healthy ADULTS at once is a bold, bold move - especially in the days before cars and quick getaways.
 
The nature of Michael's purported "recent sexual activity" has always perplexed me.

So far, this case has one vote in my Classic Cold Murder Case Poll.
 
Stan, where's that info on Michael, please - and to be blunt - was that anal sex? I've been trying to figure out whether Michael was also raped - just the papers of the day are so very 'tasteful' when describing sexual crimes, there's hardly any detail available..

Okay - and in addition to being shot, the horse's throat was cut. Leans me toward the whole sadism theory.. Overkill on an animal is more than just 'necessary action'.

ETA - wth. I've been for some reason reading this as a bunch of teenagers.. Michael was 29 years old, Norah 27 and Ellen 18... That's what I get for reading too many crimes at once! Silly me, forgive me for that error.

So they were -adults- raised on a farm.. strong and fully grown.

The perp had to either trick them into going off the main road to the kill-site, or mount the sulky and use a gun to threaten them into it.. I wonder if the kill site was already chosen, then??
 
Patrick Murphy went to the dance also but I don't know why he didn't ride his horse along with his siblings; assuming that he wasn't involved in the crime.

Ausgirl-I read that sex business somewhere and I will try to find it but I'm fairly sure that it wasn't specific as to the nature of the sex.
 
Got it! From the January 1999 issue of Ripperana Magazine-Article=The Gatton Murders: A Century of Mystery by Eddie Murray

As per: Michael Murphy's foreskin was found to be very swollen, as though from 'vigorous connection.'

It also says that there were semen stains inside his trousers but it was not possible to determine if they were pre or postmortem.
 
The end of the article mentions the old man's 1972 deathbed confession although he is not named. Policemen investigated his claim but pretty much excluded him when they found that he was only 12 years old at the time of the murders.
 
Thanks for that info, Stan! Michael was a handsome young man, maybe he had a girlfriend or two.. but then, looking at how sick this crime was, maybe the killer tried to force him into some sexual act or other, who knows..

Also - here was I, thinking I was going mad because I could swear I'd discussed this case on WS before... turns out I have!

Australia Australia - The Gatton Murders: 3 Siblings killed, 1898 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

Not many posts, but the compiler of that pamphlet I linked earlier makes a post or two.

Now, it's mentioned here and there that some family members came under suspicion. My first choice there would be the victim's brother in law, William McNeill (M'Neill, in the papers) who discovered the bodies by following a wobbly wheel track, and then inserted himself with remarkable enthusiasm into the investigation. His wife, sister to the victims, was in extremely poor health due to ongoing rheumatic disease and was basically bed-ridden. He pops in in news report after news report.. I wouldn't blame anyone for looking at him more closely..
 
STANDREID said:
The nature of Michael's purported "recent sexual activity" has always perplexed me.

So far, this case has one vote in my Classic Cold Murder Case Poll.
Click to expand...

Explicit content here.

His sexual activity was based on an inflamed foreskin. A non circumcised child is common these days but not then. My theory based on a friends child is that he had an infection, hence the swelling.

I would have thought back in the day he would have not sought medical help for this. I did notice in his last full length picture that his trousers dressed to one side.

I do not believe that he was involved in anyway in the heinous acts of his sisters
 
Ausgirl said:
Thanks for that info, Stan! Michael was a handsome young man, maybe he had a girlfriend or two.. but then, looking at how sick this crime was, maybe the killer tried to force him into some sexual act or other, who knows..

Also - here was I, thinking I was going mad because I could swear I'd discussed this case on WS before... turns out I have!

Australia Australia - The Gatton Murders: 3 Siblings killed, 1898 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

Not many posts, but the compiler of that pamphlet I linked earlier makes a post or two.

Now, it's mentioned here and there that some family members came under suspicion. My first choice there would be the victim's brother in law, William McNeill (M'Neill, in the papers) who discovered the bodies by following a wobbly wheel track, and then inserted himself with remarkable enthusiasm into the investigation. His wife, sister to the victims, was in extremely poor health due to ongoing rheumatic disease and was basically bed-ridden. He pops in in news report after news report.. I wouldn't blame anyone for looking at him more closely..
Click to expand...

He seems like an interesting suspect. Maybe it would have been easier for a family member, a trusted person, to get the drop on them, rather than a stranger/transient. JMO
 
Flinders - works okay for me? It does take a long time to load, however. I'll try to find a better link.. the original site seems to pop on and off the net at random, which is why I linked via wayback.. But worth pursuing, the collection of articles is good. Trove also has most of those articles, I've been delving about in there for relevant MSM stuff.

katydid, hi! McNeill was a bit dodgy in several ways, lying about a few details of his account, as well as all the self-insertion into the police activity.

He actually quotes Mrs. Murphy's words asking him to go find her kids, while Mrs. Murphy herself swore she never said any such thing to him. Later, he changed the story to having inferred from Mrs. Murphy's distress that he ought to go look for them. There was something very odd about his account of the slip-rails into the paddock, as well, but I need to look at that more closely before I comment, I think.

Plus, one of the younger Murphy brothers was convinced McNeill was guilty and said as much in court. McNeill wasn't terribly liked among the Murphys, I think (Mrs. Murphy loudly opposed his marriage to Polly for a start), and wasn't living with his wife and children who'd all moved back to the Murphy farm without him when Polly got sick when thier youngest was born. She'd been living back home for quite some time, it seems..

But McNeill was seen at home at 9 - 9..30 pm, and police were satisfied he was in bed (he didn't share a bed with his wife and no-one actually saw him after that time) at the time of the murders.

ETA: Another hint that maybe the victims knew their killer was that there was no sign of the sulky or its horse having stopped before turning off for the paddock - the wheel marks were smooth and consistent with the sulky making a continuous motion as it turned off the main road.

Maybe they'd been told to go there... since the dance wasn't on and all, and they'd come all this way into town... who knows, maybe the killer suggested they meet out the paddock for a few drinks, a picnic, something. It's just about the tracks - if they were accosted or stopped on the road to listen to fake cries for help, or even stopped to talk to someone near the turn-off, the tracks would've shown it, but they didn't. So the obvious conclusion is that they were headed to the paddock, when they left the dance venue...

It's stated in one paper I read that they arrived just as the doors to the place holding the dance were being locked. The dance organiser said, "If they'd been ten minutes earlier, we'd have held the dance." What a thing to have in your mind, when three young people are murdered. Poor man.
 
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