1873 – It took up to two months for the body of 25-year-old William Baxter to be found in the New South Wales bush.
Drover Thomas Sheppard told the coroner’s inquest into Baxter’s death that he was four miles from Combanning, at about 5.30 in the morning, when he saw the remains of a man lying on his belly.
He could not see the man’s head, which was doubled in over his chest with a coat pulled over the back of the head, as if the “deceased had been dragged along by it”.
The body had been covered by pine saplings, which would have hidden the body when they were green.
A carpet bag alongside the body contained letters addressed to William Baxer, from his sister and brother. Baxter’s family was from Taralga, near Goulburn, 240 kilometres east. Newspaper reports did not say whether he was travelling for work or lived near where he was found.
Baxter’s assumed remains were buried (place unknown) after an autopsy, but in March 1874 he was disintered and his body “brought into town” to be reburied in Young Cemetery.
There were three unsolved murders in regional New South Wales at the time, and when a man named John Hawthorne (alias Perry and Sherlin) was arrested on suspicion of attempting to murder a Goulburn cattle dealer named James Slocombe, it was hoped Baxter’s murderer had also been found.
However, Hawthorne refused to admit to any of the murders – although he did attempt suicide in Goulburn jail, using a piece of rope.
A newspaper picture of John Hawthorne, Baxter’s supposed murderer. Illustrated Sydney News and New South Wales Agriculturalist and Grazier
But on May 19, 1874, as he stood on the scaffold, about to pay the ultimate price for trying to murder Slocombe, he declared that it was needless to look for the man responsible for the other murders, effectively admitting to having been responsible.
Sources:
Australian Town and Country Journal, 23 May 1874, p10
Illustrated Sydney News and New South Wales Agriculturalist and Grazier, Saturday 30 May 1874, p20
Queanbeyan Age, Tuesday 3 February 1874, p2
The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, Saturday 21 March 1874, p18
The Gundagai Times and Tumut, Adelong and Murrumbidgee District Advertiser, Saturday 23 May 1874, p3
The Newcastle, Saturday 23 May 1874, p3
Way to go Australia 