DEATHS IN CUSTODY 

There have been at least 40 Deaths in Custody in Beechworth Gaol

Date       

Prisoner

Details
1857, September 7  John Williams Was sentenced to 9 months imprisonment for the stabbing of his fiances step-father, swallowed 10 grains of strychnine powder. Within 10 minutes he was in the torture of the tectonic spasms produced by this deadly poison. The spasms prevented the use of a stomach pump and he died within the hour. His stomach was sent to Melbourne for analysis.
1858, March 22 William Sewell General paralysis.
1860, August 25 Mary McMasters Diarrhoea.
1861, October 10 A Kit Ruptured blood vessel.
1862, January 20 Peter Manning Chronic paralysis.
1862, June 18 Alexander Stephenson Paralysis.
1862, July 7 Ah Ling Congestion of kidney's urine retention.
1863, May 25 Alexander Keefer Effusion of the brain and congestion caused by acute mania.
1863, July 6 Courtland Barberry Effusion and congestion of the brain.
1866, May 21 William Davies Visitation of God.
1867, January 2 Annie Hamilton  Was arrested a few days prior to the 1st of January on two charges of stabbing. On the 30th December Annie swallowed a piece of granite and part of a clothes peg. On the 1st she swallowed a piece of blanket and suffocated to death. A coroner's inquest was conducted in the Gaol and proved that she died from suffocation, caused by the piece of blanket.
1867, February 16 Ah Chin  Ah Chin who was serving a sentence in Beechworth Gaol for Coining (making coins) hanged himself in a shed of the Gaol on a projecting hook. 
1869, August 29 Caroline Bruce Abdominal pain.
1869, September 3 Harriet Bruce Scarlet fever.
1869, October 17 Lewis McDermott Ward Delirium tremens.
1872, March 9 James Hogan Condon Old age and exhaustion.
1872, September 2 Thomas Duffy Apoplexy accelerated by confinement.
1875, August 10 Louis Boswell Exhaustion debility old age.
1878, May 13 Michael Wilmont Senile debility.
1879,November 4 John Wilson Old age and general debility.
1880, January 5 William Whitehouse Heat apoplexy.
1881, January 20 William Bloomfield  Choked on a piece of meat.
1881, July 21 Julia Babington Old age, enfeebled pulse of the heart.
1883, January 20 Charles McMahon Phthisis and hypertrophy.
1887, August 13 John Pusill Heart and lung disease.
1888, February 13 Margaret Whitworth Effusion on the brain.
1888, July 19 George Banford Debility and old age.
1888, September 10 Michael Keenan Serious apoplexy.
1890, March 13 Phillip Welch Dysentery.
1892, January 29 George Mulligan Pleuro-pneumonia.
1893, May 31 Nellie Roberts Acute softening of the brain.
1895, June 20 George Davis Died of heart disease and a brain hemorrhage.
1895, August 1 William Bennet Broncho pneumonia.
1898, July 4 Ah Won  Was charged with Vagrancy, was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment in Beechworth Gaol. He was removed to the lock-up at 10.30am to await the departure of the afternoon train, an hour later Senior-Constable Hayes and others went back into the lock-up and found him hanging from the top bolt of the cell door by a piece of twine, which had been knotted together. It is surmised that he picked up the string while exercising. He was dead, the fine cord having cut into the throat. 
1898, October 18 Charles Emmilhainz Died of exhaustion from suppuration in and around the bladder and right kidney.
1901, July 27 John Smith   
1906, July 9 James Paterson Died of croupous pneumonia.
1907, August 29 Mary Rafferty Heart disease and pulmonary embolism.
1915, December 10 William Henry Barrett Died of Disseminated Sclerosis.
1934, March 9 George Henry Turnbull Cerebral haemorrhage.
1975, March 23 Wayne Jahn  Not determined.
1981, April 27 Derrick Jackson  Asphyxia.
1981, September 1 John Fitzpatrick Asphyxia.
1982, October 29 Graham Morley  Asphyxia.
1997, August 10 Paul Keating Compression of the neck.
1997, October 24 Colin Laffey Compression of the neck.
1998, September 10   Hanging.
1998, September 10   Hanging.
1998, September 10   Hanging.
1998, August 15 Darren Miller Was serving a six month sentence for breaching a Domestic Violence Order. Hanging.
2001, January 1 Matthew Gunn Not Determined.
2002, November 21  Anthony Kennedy  Hanged himself in a shower block two days after arriving from the Port Phillip Youth Unit. His transfer was delayed a week after he threatened suicide if he was transferred. He apparantly was anxious, unsettled and troubled by memories of his dead parents. He was in custody on burglary offences and for breaching parole.