The Death of Ben Hall

Forensic Sci Med Pathol https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-017-9914-1 LESSONS FROM THE MUSEUM The death of Ben Hall Roger W. Byard1 & Damian McDonald2 Accepted: 22 August 2017 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2017 Abstract Ben Hall was a nineteenth-century Australian bush- free settlers, an Australian equivalent of American outlaws. ranger (outlaw) who was shot and killed by colonial police on However, later in the century bushrangers were more often May 5 1865. Popular belief is that Hall was shot while native-born sons of convict parents [1].Theseweremen sleeping in his camp bedding. This contrasts with the official who imprinted themselves upon the national psyche and be- police version of Hall being shot while attempting to escape came legendary, with “Robin Hood” type exploits being at- by running away. To evaluate this divergence of opinion a tributed to them. Often nothing could be further from the truth, study of the gun belt allegedly worn by Hall at the time of however, emerging Australian nationalism required “heroes” his fatal shooting was undertaken. This revealed a nineteenth- and the antiauthoritarian stand of the bushrangers fulfilled this century belt with a defect corresponding to an oblique bullet requirement [2, 3]. hole. The shelving was in keeping with the shooter being The most widely-known bushranger is probably Ned located to the rear and left of the decedent, in a position cor- Kelly, the son of Irish parents, who was hung in responding to police reports. Scanning electron microscopy Pentridge Gaol in Melbourne on November 11 1880 for (SEM) revealed the presence of lead, in addition to mercury, the murder of Constable Thomas Lonigan at Stringybark silver and sulfur, materials used as primers in nineteenth cen- Creek, Victoria, on October 26 1878 [2, 4]. Despite the tury ammunition. Thus, contemporary examination of the belt murder of a serving police officer Kelly is still admired in provides support for the police version of events. certain parts of contemporary Australian culture, and tat- toos of Ned Kelly remain quite popular [5]. The fact that Keywords Bushranger . Police . Shooting . Australia . he attempted to kill over 20 police officers in a train Colonial . Forbes . Gunbelt derailment, and had personally been involved in the murder of three other officers is often downplayed. Of note, contemporary psychiatric assessment has classified him as Introduction a typical psychopath [3]. Investigations into the location of his remains continue [6]. Ben Hall was one of Australia’s most iconic bushrangers (Fig. 1). In the early colonial era bushrangers were often es- caped convicts who lived off the land and survived by robbing Background Ben Hall was born in Maitland in the colony of New * Roger W. Byard South Wales on May 9 1837 to ex-convict parents, an [email protected] English father and an Irish mother. He married Bridget Walsh when he was 19 years of age and became a suc- 1 School of Medicine, The University of Adelaide, Level 3 Medical cessful grazier. Unfortunately for Hall his wife elected to School North Building, Frome Road, Adelaide 5005, Australia leave him and move away to live with a young stockman, 2 The Museum of Applied Arts and Science (Powerhouse Museum), James Taylor. It was after this that Hall’slifebeganto Ultimo, Sydney, Australia unravel and he began an association with the bushranger, Forensic Sci Med Pathol Frank Gardiner [7]. In June 1862 Hall was a member of Gardiner’s gang that robbed the gold escort coach near Eugowra netting cash and gold worth more than £14,000, an enormous amount of money in those times. Following this, Hall and his gang were involved in ac- tions which resulted in the deaths of two police officers, Sgt. Parry and Constable Nelson. Over the next 2 years Hall and his gang committed over 100 robberies which resulted in the colonial government introducing the Felons Apprehension Act 1865 which permitted any named bushranger to be shot and killed on sight [7]. Fig. 2 A contemporary etching depicting the shooting of Ben Hall by police officers at Billabong Creek outside the township of Forbes, New South Wales, in 1865. (Reproduced with permission of the Forbes Controversy Historical Society) Ben Hall was indeed shot and killed by members of the included Billy Dargin (see below), all of whom were armed. New South Wales constabulary on May 5 1865, near The prevailing story about the killing is very poignantly Billabong Creek outside the town of Forbes, Australia outlined in the ballad “The Streets of Forbes” that was attrib- (Figs. 2 and 3), but as this occurred before the legislation uted to Hall’s brother-in-law, John McGuire: had been formally enacted there has been ongoing debate as to the legality and force of the police action. The cur- “Come all you Lachlan men and a sorrowful tale I'll tell rent study is not, however, dealing with the legitimacy of Concerning of a hero bold who through misfortune fell the police behavior, but rather with the possible scenario His name it was Ben Hall a man of good renown of his death. Who was hunted from his station and like a dog shot down For riddled like a sieve was valiant Ben Hall Popular legend T’was early in the morning upon the fifth of May When the seven police surrounded him as fast asleep he lay A police party led by Sub-Inspector Davidson consisted of Bill Dargin he was chosen to shoot the outlaw dead five police officers and two indigenous trackers, which The troopers then fired madly and filled him full of lead” [8] Fig. 1 A photograph of Ben Hall reproduced with permission of the Fig. 3 A stand of eucalyptus trees marking the official site of the Forbes Historical Society shooting of Ben Hall near Forbes, New South Wales Forensic Sci Med Pathol So, the popular belief was that Billy Dargin had shot a (The Goulburn Museum was a branch of the Museum of sleeping Ben Hall and that the police had then emptied their Applied Arts and Science in Sydney from 1890 until it was weapons into him. closed in 1983). Records show that the belt was actually do- nated to the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences not by transfer from the Goulburn Technological Museum but by Police report Mr. W. Davis of Goulburn in April 1958. Examination at the museum revealed a 40 mm-wide leather It must be recognized that the report by Sub-Inspector belt in two parts with friable irregular defects at both ends. Davidson is not without its inconsistencies. For example, However, when the two ends were opposed, a roughly oval while Hall was noted to be only holding a bridle in his hand defect was formed measuring ~12 × 22 mm (Fig. 5). No bullet in the evidence tendered by Davidson to the inquest immedi- smear or wipe was observed on the crumbling edges of the ately after the death on May 6 [9–11], a week later Hall is hole which showed shelving in an approximately back to front allegedly holding a revolver (which for reasons that are un- orientation, with grazing of the posterior margin and clear was not discharged, despite him being in clear danger of undermining of the anterior margin. Measuring the belt his life). The latter version was put forward by Davidson in his against a volunteer showed that the defect lay over the left Police Report dated Friday 12 May 1865 [7, 12] and men- flank. All of this was quite compatible with a defect caused tioned in subsequent books [13]. Further testimony from by a large caliber bullet being fired from a position behind and Davidson was that two officers (including himself) and Billy to the left of the wearer of the belt. Dargin confronted Hall who ran from them. They fired from a distance of approximately “40 yards” and hit him in the back. After this, Hall ran parallel to and slightly away from, the Summary The defect in the belt had the shape of an oblique second group of five men. One of them, Trooper Hipkiss, bullet hole. The shape was quite consistent with the shooter fired, hitting Hall in the left flank, causing his gun belt to being positioned where the police had alleged that Trooper detach. He died soon afterwards following a “most fearful Hipkiss had fired a .56 carbine causing a through and through riddling” [13, 14]. shot which had penetrated the gun belt causing it to fall off. Investigations Examination of the belt A nineteenth century gun belt that is believed to have been the belt that was worn by Hall when he was shot near Billabong Creek has been in the possession of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney, New South Wales since 1958 (Fig. 4). Prior to being acquired by the Museum, the belt is referenced in an article in Truth magazine in 1911 stating that it was on display at the Goulburn Technological Museum [15] Fig. 5 The defect in the gun belt as displayed in the museum (a). The Fig. 4 A nineteenth century gun belt at the Museum of Applied Arts and appearance of the hole once the two ends of the belt had been Sciences allegedly worn by Ben Hall on the morning of his fatal shooting approximated (b) Forensic Sci Med Pathol A small (<2 mm diameter) piece of leather from the edge of enabled examination and photography/filming of the belt, in addition to the defect was taken along with three touch samples for scan- removal of a small portion for scanning electron microscopic evaluation.

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