Trove Tuesday: In which Bessie Phelan recognises a wanted murderer

It was early in May 1895. Bessie Phelan, 26 years old, was working at Ford's Bakery in Sydney Road, Coburg (a suburb of Melbourne), serving customers. She lived with her parents, Daniel and Jane, and five siblings. Her father had not long retired from his job as a Chief Warden at Pentridge Prison just up the road. Another brother, William (my husband's great-grandfather), was teaching at Balmattum in country Victoria.

Then began a series of incidents that ended up being reported in newspapers across the country and even in New Zealand.

Bessie had been reading the news in the paper that morning and it included the story about a man wanted for the murder of his wife and her mother in Collingwood (also a suburb of Melbourne). A man came into her shop to buy buns but only had a sovereign so she told him she couldn't change it and suggested he go next door to get the change. While he was gone she read the newspaper article again because she thought he resembled the description of the wanted man.

Coburg Leader 11 May 1895

After Dooley left the shop she sent word to her father, the ex-warden, who told the police and a hunt began. They were joined by more and more men as word quickly spread around Coburg. Daniel Phelan was in the group that found Dooley and they set off after him 'in hot pursuit' and he was caught and taken to the police station. Unfortunately he managed to swallow what turned out to be arsenic and he later died.

Coburg Leader 11 May 1895

All of the newspaper reports comment on Bessie Phelan's skill in recognising the wanted man, especially because he had dyed his hair, moustache and eyebrows. Apparently Bessie noted Dooley's thick upper lip and missing tooth.

Coburg Leader 11 May 1895

The Coburg newspaper waxed lyrical and called Miss Phelan a heroine. The journalist suggested that there should be some Government reward for her "quick-witted observation and action". 

Coburg Leader 11 May 1895

As I was researching this story I read a number of articles published in newspapers all over the country but they all called our heroine 'Miss Phelan'. As there were five Phelan sisters I didn't know which one was working in the bakery. Then I read the Bendigo Advertiser and it gave her name as Bessie, who was the second daughter. And just this week I was looking at the New Zealand equivalent to Trove - Papers Past- and I found Bessie named in an article published in an Auckland paper. So the lesson to learn from this is to widen your search to interstate papers and beyond.

The other thing I found out from the reports was that Bessie was working in a bakery. I had no idea that she was working.

Sepia Saturday: The Phelan family's home

The theme photo for this week's Sepia Saturday blog is a house.

Serendipity. I was browsing through the Picture Victoria's photo collection, randomly putting in key words as you do, and was absolutely astonished when this one popped up on my screen.

Phelan home, Sydney Rd, Coburg (Pentridge), c1870 [Picture Victoria ID 16437]

The original photo is held by the Coburg Historical Society and shows the home that the Phelan family lived in for almost 100 years. I was pretty excited because I had never seen a photo of it before.

When Daniel Phelan arrived from Ireland in 1856 he was employed by the Penal Department as a warder and worked at Pentridge Prison north of the city of Melbourne. He retired as Chief Warder in 1892. The village that grew around the prison was also called Pentridge but in 1869 that was changed to Coburg because of the stigma. 

In the 1850s the Governer of the prison and the fifty warders lived on site, with about 400 prisoners housed  in dormitories that were clean and well-ventilated but crowded. The prisoners worked as carpenters, tailors, shoemakers, coopers, tinsmiths, painters, stonecutters and labourers. For several decades the warders (mostly Irish) formed the majority of the district's adult population and they socialised together outside work as well because of their shift work hours of up to fifteen hours! 

In 1863 the rule about living on site was changed to a requirement that the warders must live within 400 yards of the prison in case of trouble so Daniel and Jane Phelan with their growing family were able to move from the prison into their own house on Sydney Road. An article in the Coburg Historical Society's Newsletter (September 1993) shows that in 1881 there were 74 warders and other staff were living in the local community, concentrated in a few streets near the prison. One in fifteen persons in Coburg was a prison officer.

An old sewerage map shows the Phelan home and Pentridge Prison

The house was only small but Daniel and Jane had nine children. Only two married and several died young but after the parents died three sisters (later four when a sister was widowed and returned home) and a brother stayed on in the house. I've heard a number of stories about 'the aunts' - they grew more eccentric as they got older and I think there may have been a 'pecking order' as in a chicken pen. Poor old Daniel, the brother, didn't hold much power. And the house never changed. I'm told they lived as if in the 1800s still.

In 1909 a brother, Jack, died and I found a newspaper item that amused me. Apparently the body had been lying in the coffin in the front room for a few days and after the funeral the sisters decided to fumigate the room by burning sulphur. And ended up nearly burning the house down!

A fire in the front room. The Argus, 1 Apr 1909

The street number of the Phelan's home was 401 Sydney Rd, directly opposite the Holy Trinity Church. (It was later changed to 543.) It remained the family home until the last sibling, Daniel, died in 1959. All the houses in that area were demolished by the Metropolitan Board of Works for road alterations but nothing was done to the road and there is still no house on the site.

Street view (from the same position as the original house photo), Google Maps (October 2013)

I suggest you wander over to Sepia Saturday to see the houses that the other participants blog about. I'm off to do the same.