John Daniel "Snowy" Cutmore (29 August 1895 – 27 October 1927), was an Australian criminal, well known in the criminal underworld of both Melbourne and Sydney during the inter-war years until his violent death in 1927. Cutmore was raised in inner-city Melbourne and was a prominent member of the Fitzroy Push, a lawless gang involved in prostitution, sly-grog and violence. Throughout his criminal career Cutmore displayed a willingness to relocate to another state to evade police attention, often travelling between Melbourne and Sydney (and occasionally Adelaide). For a short period from late 1926 he was a member of Norman Bruhn's criminal gang in Sydney, attributed as Australia's first razor gang at the beginning of a period of gang violence in Sydney in the late-1920s known as the 'razor gang wars'. Cutmore was shot and killed in his mother's home in Carlton in October 1927, in an underworld gunfight that also resulted in the death of his rival, Squizzy Taylor.
'Snowy' Cutmore's life and times were portrayed in the television series on the Nine television network in Australia, Underbelly: Razor and Underbelly: Squizzy. He also appears in the 1982 biopic Squizzy Taylor, where he was played by Steve Bisley.
Early life
Cutmore was born on 29 August 1895, at South Melbourne, the eldest of two children of John Samuel Cutmore and Bridget Delia (née McLaughlin). His younger brother James was born in 1899 at Collingwood.BDMVic search facility, 'Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria' website, State Government of Victoria; John Daniel Cutmore (birth record), registration no.: 22895/1895; James Francis Cutmore (birth record), registration no.: 25851/1899.
Cutmore's father worked as a cook and in 1914 the family was living in Princess Street, Fitzroy (though the father was possibly living in Western Australia by then). Cutmore senior enlisted in the First Australian Imperial Force in November 1914 at the Blackboy Hill military training camp in Western Australia and served overseas for virtually the entire duration of World War I returning to Australia only briefly in 1916. His next of kin as recorded on his enlistment papers was his wife, Delia Cutmore. Cutmore senior worked as a cook in the army and served at Gallipoli and the Middle East. He returned to Australia in August 1916 and disembarked at Fremantle. After a brief period Cutmore then returned overseas, arriving in England in December 1916 and serving in France until the end of the war. He spent periods in hospital in France and London (his record notated, "premature senility"). He eventually returned to Australia, disembarking at Melbourne in March 1919. John S. Cutmore returned to Western Australia at some point; he died in Perth in 1938.Death registration: John S. Cutmore, died in 1938; Perth; No.: 2086.
Criminal activities
On 1 September 1914, Cutmore (then aged 19) stole a number of items from a driver named Francis Davidson in the yard of the Tankerville Arms Hotel in Nicholson Street, Fitzroy. The items stolen were a gold chain, "a memorandum book, five tram tickets, a pair of spectacles" and five shillings worth of copper coins. Cutmore was arrested for the offence and granted bail to appear at the Fitzroy Court, but he subsequently absconded from bail and a warrant was issued for his arrest.Victoria Police Gazette, 19 November 1914, No. 47, page 617. In late September 1914 a warrant was issued for the arrest of two men, one of whom was "identical with one Snowy Cutmore", charged with "inciting a prisoner, William Harvey, to resist arrest" by Constable Malseed at Carlton on 14 September 1914.Victoria Police Gazette, 1 October 1914, No. 40, page 530.
In the early hours of 31 October 1914, Cutmore and Thomas Hillary, a sergeant in the Australian Expeditionary Force, assaulted two drunken sailors named Albert Florence and Frederick Akin in Bourke Street, Melbourne. Cutmore was seen to kick the sailors on the face and head and jump on one of them, in an attack described as "of a very savage character". Hillary struck the men with his fists. Cutmore and Hillary were chased by night porters (who had witnessed the assault) and several constables. Cutmore was found lying in a right-of-way, pretending to be drunk (but his heavy breathing indicated he had been running). Hillary hid in a partially constructed building in Little Bourke Street, but was found after a search. Both young men were charged with having assaulted the sailors. Cutmore gave his name as 'John Harris'. The sailors were treated at the Melbourne Hospital, Florence for cuts and abrasions and Akin for three broken ribs, a badly damaged eye and severe abrasions. On 5 November 'Harris' (Cutmore) and Hillary were tried in the City Court on the assault charges, which they denied on oath. Cutmore, who had used the most violence, was fined £10 (in default, two months' imprisonment) and Hillary £5 (in default, one month's imprisonment).A Cowardly Attack The Age 6 November 1914 page 11Assault on Two Sailors The Argus 6 November 1914 page 8
In February 1916, Cutmore (again under the name 'John Harris') was charged at Fitzroy police station with assault; he was subsequently convicted and fined 40 shillings (in default, seven days' imprisonment). Less than a week later he was charged at Carlton police station with "inciting", under the name 'John Watson'. On this occasion Cutmore was fined 20 shillings (in default, seven days' imprisonment). He was also arrested, on a warrant dating from 1914, for larceny from Francis Samuel Davidson.Victoria Police Gazette, 24 February 1916, No. 8, page 125 (referencing Victoria Police Gazette, 1914, page 617).
Enlistment and desertation
Cutmore enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 6 April 1916. At the time of enlistment he was recorded as salesman, living with his mother in Wellington Street, Collingwood. In his enlistment papers he declared he had never been "convicted by a Civil Power". Cutmore soon discovered he was unsuited to military discipline, finding "the authority of superior officers unbearable".Maloy (2020), page 114. On 5 July 1916 Private Cutmore was reported to be absent without leave from the Royal Park army camp, north of Melbourne city. He was apprehended on 25 July. On examination Cutmore was found to be suffering from a venereal disease "and was placed in isolation". He escaped from custody the following day. Cutmore was later apprehended and treated in November 1916 at Royal Park for gonorrhoea. On 22 December 1916 he was declared a deserter and discharged from the army.
The shooting of Cleary
After December 1916, Cutmore was sought by the police as a military deserter. Police believed Cutmore had been in Adelaide and Sydney, but returned to Melbourne in about April 1917. During this period he was keeping company with another Melbourne criminal, Henry Dunn (alias Slater), known as 'Long Harry'.
On Saturday evening, 2 June 1917, Cutmore and 'Long Harry' Dunn attended a party at a grog-shop in Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy, an establishment kept by Ettie Jones, described by police as "an old time brothel keeper". Also attending the party that night was a 29-year-old flyweight boxer and newspaper-vendor, Charlie Cleary, and Cleary's boarder, a convicted criminal named Walter 'Cull' Johnson. At about 2 a.m. an argument was heard in the street down from the grog-shop (near the corner with Brunswick-place). The angry voices were followed by the sound of five gunshots. A neighbour, woken by the noises, saw four men at the scene, two of whom departed soon afterwards. The taller man was heard to say to his companion, "It is no use, he is shot now, you had better walk away, the police will be here soon". When neighbours and others nearby attended the scene, Charlie Cleary was found lying on the footpath with a head wound, trying to pull himself into a sitting position. The wounded man was dazed and still conscious; he had been shot at close range, with a small-bore bullet wound above his ear. Cleary's companion, 'Cull' Johnson, ran down to Gertrude Street and hailed a hansom cab to take Cleary to hospital.Maloy (2020), page 115.Boxing, Sporting Judge (Melbourne), 9 June 1917, page 3.
When police at the Fitzroy station were alerted to the incident in the early hours of Sunday morning, they found Cleary and Johnson in the hansom cab near where the shooting had occurred, with Cleary bleeding profusely from his head. When asked who had shot him, the wounded man replied, "I am not shot, I only fell down". Cleary was initially taken to the Fitzroy watch-house and then to St Vincent's Hospital. When he was later interviewed in hospital, he told police he didn't remember where he had been or who shot him, adding, "You know I would be the last one to give any one away". Cleary's companion, 'Cull' Johnson, was equally reticent to provide details. An operation was performed on the wounded man and the bullet removed, after which his condition was reported to be "less serious".Peculiar Shooting Case, The Age (Melbourne), 4 June 1917, page 6. Cleary lingered for a fortnight in the hospital but died on 17 June.A Shooting Mystery The Age 20 June 1917 page 8
An inquiry into the death of Cleary was held on 24 July by the Coroner, Dr Robert Cole. Amongst those who testified were police witnesses who gave evidence about Cleary's persistent refusal to disclose any information about the shooting before he died. Medical testimony showed that Cleary's wound behind the ear was scorched, indicating that the bullet had been fired at close range. Two men, described as "allegedly material witnesses", were named as John ('Snowy') Cutmore and Henry Dunn, both of whom had "disappeared, and their whereabouts are unknown by the police". In consequent of the absence of these witnesses the inquiry was adjourned, and warrants were to be issued for the arrest of the two men.The Mystery of the Hansom Cab, Leader (Melbourne), 28 July 1917, page 38. On 25 July a notice was printed in the New South Wales Police Gazette & Weekly Record of Crime requesting "special inquiry" to trace John 'Snowy' Cutmore in connection with the shooting of Charles Cleary. The notice stated there were "good grounds for believing that evidence will be forthcoming to connect him with the death of Cleary".Miscellaneous Information, New South Wales Police Gazette & Weekly Record of Crime, 25 July 1917 (Issue No. 30), page 324. It was reported in August 1917 that "the police throughout the Commonwealth" were seeking the missing witness 'Snowy' Cutmore.The Hansom Cab Mystery, The Advertiser (Adelaide), 6 August 1917, page 6.
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