Armidale Gaol (where the old Teachers’ College stands today) was opened in July 1863, disestablished in July 1920 and demolished in 1929. There had been six executions at the Gaol. The first was in June 1874 and the last was in June 1912. This week we recall the final execution 100 years ago.
As usual, the story will be told chronologically, starting in England with the marriage of William Frederick Ball (aged about 22) and his wife, Lois, in August 1911. Departing on the ship ‘Demosthenes’ in September, they arrived in Brisbane, and went to Dalby and Toowoomba before heading south to Bingara. On December 9 they were both engaged to work for William Rodney Mack, a grazier, at his property ‘The Hills’, 14 miles from Bingara (as far as Uralla is from Armidale). Although Lois had been healthy when she arrived, her feet began to cause her great pain and she spent a week in Bingara Hospital, but the pain continued after her discharge because of her severe rheumatics.
At 3 o’clock on Tuesday, January 16, 1912 Mack and his wife left the property for a few days. Ball went to open and close a gate, and was away about 10 minutes. He later claimed he returned to the house and found his wife in great distress, dying from something she had drunk. Ball went inside and came out with a shotgun, fired and fatally wounded her near the heart. He put her body into a wheel-barrow, pushed it about 400 yards, dumped the body and set fire to it. He also burnt some of her things. Next he had a shave and a bath, lit another fire and burnt his blood-soaked trousers, then walked to Bingara, where he cashed a cheque for £4 (given earlier by Mack), had two beers and spent a night at the Commercial Hotel. Next morning Ball went by coach to Warialda and took the train to Sydney, where he signed on as a coal trimmer on a steamer, ‘Star of Scotland’.
Meanwhile, Mack and his wife had returned home on Friday, January 19 and found a note from Ball asking Mack to send a box of Ball’s things to Brisbane. A few day’s later, Mack and his brother, Alexander, found blood in several places, and notified the Police in Bingara. On Sunday (January 21) Senior-Sergeant Burns and Constable Athens arrived at the property, searched the ashes of the fire, and found a backbone, skull and shin bones. Sub-Inspector Butler from Narrabri inspected the scene and sent material to the Government Analyst. A hunt for Ball began.
Early on the morning of Tuesday, January 23 Senior-Detective Walker and Detective Malone (both from Sydney) boarded the steamer and arrested Ball, who wanted to know how the Police had found him in Sydney when they were supposed to be looking in Brisbane. Taken to the Water Police Court, Ball was formally charged and remanded in custody at Darlinghurst Gaol.
Escorted to Bingara, Ball was taken to the property on February 7. A long statement he made at the Inquest was read by Sub-Inspector Butler at the Trial in Armidale on April 23. Judge Sly presided. The jurymen were: CF Nott, JHT Smythe, RW Youman, JT Baker, JJ Ferris, H Cahill, CJ Egan, W Carlon, JB Watson, CE Frazier, GP Glass and H Fittler. Many of their descendants still live in Armidale.
Evidence given is summarised above. Judge Sly remarked that the Crown Prosecutor was “giving the prisoner a very fair trial”. Ball gave evidence. He never denied shooting his wife, but stated “I am innocent of murder. I must have been mad at the time I burnt her.” There was no evidence that his wife had taken poison, and the jury must have wondered why he shot her when she was almost dead. Mr Chubb (Counsel for the Defence) asked the jury to bring in a verdict of not guilty of murder because the prisoner “was not in his right mind”, and suggested that a verdict of manslaughter might be returned. Judge Sly summed up against Ball, who had offered no evidence that he was insane, and who “had no justification for shooting his wife”. The jury retired at 5.30 and returned to court at 7.30 with a verdict of wilful murder. He was sentenced “to be hanged by the neck” until he was dead.
There had been no executions in Armidale for 20 years. Jimmy Tong — a Chinaman — was hanged at Armidale Gaol in November 1892, for murdering Harry Hing at Walcha. The first execution was on June 23, 1874 when Gottlieb Eichorn, a 16-year-old, was hanged. Rather than having a high scaffold which was visible from outside the Gaol, there was a gallows over a brick-lined pit into which the condemned boy fell the necessary distance to break his neck without pulling off his head, as happened occasionally in other Gaols.
A new gallows had to be erected in Armidale Gaol in June 1912. Elizabeth Beahan (who had lived at the gate-keeper’s house at the Dangar Street railway line crossing in 1912), said in an interview in 1960 that she heard the banging of hammers and other sounds as they erected the scaffolding in the western tower corner. Archdeacon Lewis (from St Peter’s Cathedral) had been in constant attendance on Ball, with considerable success. Ball was penitent and sorry for his dreadful deed, and resigned to his fate. On the night before his execution, Ball ate well and slept well.
At 9 o’clock on Monday, June 17, 1912 all was ready. It was a perfect Winter morning, with the sun shining in a clear blue sky, and birds twittering. A procession formed up at the condemned man’s cell: Archdeacon Lewis led the way, followed by Ball, who was pinioned between the Executioner and his Assistant, then the Sheriff’s Deputy, the Gaoler (John James Clifford), the Government Medical Officer, three Warders, two Police officers, and media representatives. They went round the hospital to the scaffold at the western side of the Gaol. When they reached the scaffold, things happened quickly. Ball’s legs were pinioned, the flap on his cap was lowered over his eyes, the rope was adjusted, the bolt was drawn and death was almost instantaneous. As one newspaper states: “The ghastly affair was admirably carried out.”
After the regulation 20 minutes passed, his body was cut down, an inquest was held, and a formal verdict of “death by hanging in accordance with the law” was entered. Ball’s remains were interred in the Armidale Cemetery.
