Captured: Portraits of Crime 1870-1930 - Flipbook - Page 80
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DUBBO
GAO L
GRANDMOTHER HIGGINS
Margaret Higgins
MURDER
Margaret Higgins, a 45 year old servant from Maitland, was
photographed at Dubbo Gaol on 17 October 1905 while serving
a life sentence for murder.
On 24 August 1905, Higgins’ unmarried daughter, Florence,
gave birth to a baby in the home of her uncle, Thomas Higgins,
at Springfield Farm, near Coolah in the NSW central west.
The body of the infant was found in a local water hole by a
traveller several days later. An inquest into the baby’s death
was held on 1 September. The Coroner found that both Margaret
and Florence “were half witted. It has been [a] generally
recognised thing in the district for years past that neither
of them are quite right in their minds”. He ruled that the baby
was wilfully drowned by Higgins with the knowledge of Florence.
Both Margaret and Florence were charged with wilful murder.
On 13 September, while in police custody, Florence died from
puerperal fever, a postpartum infection.
Higgins was tried at Dubbo Circuit Court on
27 September 1905. In her defence she claimed that the baby
had fallen into the water by accident. But the weight of
evidence about the concealment of the pregnancy and birth was
against her. During the trial Higgins’ mental condition was
again called into question, however, she had been examined by
the gaol surgeon and pronounced sane. Higgins was found guilty
of a capital offence and sentenced to death. The jury
‘recommended the prisoner to mercy on the grounds of the
surroundings of the case, and the state of mind in which the
prisoner was, at the time the murder was committed’.
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