ON THIS DAY – October 17, 1898
At the Bendigo Assizes today, before Mr. Justice Williams, Thomas Waters, aged 39, was presented on a charge of murdering his wife at White Hills on October 17. After a long retirement the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter. Prisoner was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment with hard labour.
Around Christmas last year, in consequence of the accused’s conduct towards his wife, she separated from him. On several occasions, in consequence of his conduct, the woman and children had to leave the house and sleep in the bush. Those violent fits generally occurred when accused was under the influence of liquor. Although practically separated since Christmas, accused used to go and see his wife on Saturdays and Sundays, and the children would say that when he was drunk he ill-treated her.
Coming home on Saturday night, 15th October, he was under the influence of drink, and he ill-treated his wife shamefully. On the Sunday night he left apparently to go his work at Jackass Flat, where he was mining, taking with him one of the children’s boots to repair it. He had apparently no intention of returning until the next Saturday night. However, on the Monday morning it appeared that a man took some washing to Mrs. Waters’s house for the first time. The accused also went working, and he found some gold for which he obtained £1 10s. Having got that he decided to return home.
Apparently he saw the man who had left the washing near the place, and this appeared to have aroused his jealousy and he started to drink. The drink worked on him and made him go home and beat his wife to death. The elder boy, in consequence of his father’s treatment, refused to live with him, but he used to see his mother at times and give her money. On that same night the younger boy George returned home and heard sounds of a quarrel. He looked through a window as shown in the photo of the house he produced. It was a very makeshift sort of a place and had no comforts. He saw his mother lying on the floor. Her husband was beating her, and she cried out, ” Oh, Thomas, don’t,” but he only replied by using a horrible expression. The boy was so alarmed that he went away and slept in a house nearby.
In the early morning of Tuesday, 17th October, accused, having found his wife dead, went and alarmed some of the neighbors. They saw what, had taken place and communicated with the police. Constable Coffey came and a conversation took place between him and accused. There were no clothes upon her but a chemise, the others having been torn off her.
He told the constable that when be came home on Saturday his wife was very drunk and on Monday she was again in a state of intoxication. He went out and on his return found her lying on the floor with her face cut and injured in the manner the constable found her. He lifted her up and placed her on the bed. He thought she was dead drunk, but be found afterwards that she was dead. Shortly afterwards Dr. Gafiney arrived with Constable Davidson. The accused told the constable that he did not strike his wife; he had never struck her in his life. The only account he could give of the marks on her face was that she received them by falling. By a post-mortem examination the doctor found that the woman had a small heart, which made her less liable to withstand violence. Her death, he said, resulted from the shock produced by violence used towards her.