The gallows on which Ryan was hanged
Herald Sun
I have written about capital punishment before. Dr Hawley Crippen was hanged in Pentonville London for killing his wife (1910); Eddie Leonski was hanged at Pentridge Melbourne by the American Army for murdering 3 Australian women (1942); William Joyce was hanged for treason in Wandsworth UK (1946); Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were electrocuted in Sing Sing N.Y for spying (1953) and Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel (1962) for WW2 genocide.
Dorothy and Ronald Ryan 1950
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He converted to Church of England to marry Dorothy George in 1950. They had 3 daughters, so Ryan needed reliable jobs to look after them all eg timber cutter and a rail service painter. Alas he also tried armed robbery. In 1960 Ryan pleaded guilty to multiple charges of breaking & stealing, and was gaoled.
In 1964, he fled to NSW committing 9 robberies in 3 months, and again was sentenced to 13 years' for these crimes. Rehabilitation was tried at Bendigo Prison, especially worthwhile since he completed matriculation. After he was paroled he worked as a clerk, but after a few months reverted to robbing shops.
In gaol Ryan met bank robber Peter Walker. In late 1965 Ryan heard his wife Dorothy wanted a divorce, so he planned with Walker to escape together. During the prison warders' 1965 Christmas party, Ryan and Walker scaled the 5m inner prison wall and got outside. After seeing the escapees, warden George Hodson came out from the party and chased them, without sounding the alarm. Option #1: Ryan heard Walker call for help, when Hodson had caught him and then Ryan heard a random shot ring out. Option #2: Witnesses said Ryan was waving the rifle at cars, to get them to stop. In either case, Hodson was shot dead during the escape.
Ryan and Walker went into hiding in Sydney for 19 days. When Ryan arranged to go to Concord Hospital in Jan, Sydney detectives led an armed team of 50 officers to the hospital. As Ryan and Walker were pulling out, they were grabbed, the police finding fully loaded rifles and handguns, axes and ropes in their car! Ryan & Walker were extradited back to Victoria.
Ryan’s barrister Philip Opas argued that the shot killing Hodson might have come from an armed prison officer. At trial Ryan testified that a prison guard had fired at the escapees, and all parties agreed only one shot was heard. But despite ambiguous or missing evidence and the fact that Ryan's rifle was never examined to determine if it had been discharged, after 12 days the jury found Ryan guilty of murder. In Mar 1966 Justice John Starke imposed the mandatory death sentence. Unbelievable :(
Police arrested 97 protesters as anger boiled over at Victorian Premier Henry Bolte’s refusal to commute Ryan’s death sentence. Bolte was determined that Ryan be executed, despite intense opposition from the public, media, politicians and clergy. Even Ryan’s jurors loathed the Premier, writing to Bolte’s cabinet pleading for his mercy, saying we didn’t want the rope. Bolte didn’t budge!
Detectives escort the captured Ronald Ryan in the old Sydney CIB
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In Feb 1967, 14 male reporters were inside the Old Gaol, next to Ryan’s gallows. The hangman was a stooped old man who boasted about his executions everywhere for 38 years. He wore welder’s goggles and wound the noose around the massive beam, leaving it dangling over the trap. The sheriff and the prison governor walked slowly to the death-cell to fetch Ryan. The hangman tugged the noose under Ryan’s chin, then he worked the lever that drew the bolts of the trapdoor. Ryan fell down, the rope jerked against the beam and death took 25 secs.
Father John Brosnan and prison psychiatrist Dr Allan Bartholomew stepped forward. Father Brosnan made the sign of the cross with holy oil on Ryan’s forehead, and Dr Bartholomew pronounced him dead. Ryan’s body was cut down and carried to the prison hospital for a post mortem, then Australia’s last-ever executed prisoner was covered and buried in unmarked Pentridge land.
The two pro-hanging premiers in obscene agreement
Jo Bjelke Petersen Qld and Henry Bolte Vic
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Anti-hanging protest marchers outside Pentridge Prison,
before the hanging of Ryan in Feb 1967.
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