Edward Cornelius (c. 1910 – 22 June 1936) was an Australian convicted murderer and petty criminal. His criminal record began in his mid-teenage years and he served his first prison sentence three years later. He was convicted of killing Rev. H. Laceby Cecil during a robbery of a vicarage in the inner Melbourne suburb of Collingwood. Cornelius was executed at Pentridge Prison in June 1936, the third of eleven people to be hanged there after the closure of Melbourne Gaol in 1924.
Biography
Early life
Edward Cornelius was born in about 1910 in Longford, Tasmania. He attended the Longford State School, receiving his Qualifying Certificate in January 1925, aged 13 years, for admission to a State High School.Longford State School, Examiner (Launceston), 13 April 1925, page 10.Results of Qualifying Examinations, The News (Hobart), 14 January 1925, page 5.
On 24 February 1925 Cornelius, a school-student from Longford, was involved in what was described as a "schoolboy scuffle" or "skylarking" on the Launceston railway station, prior to the departure of the Deloraine train. His hand was in the jamb of a carriage doorway when it was slammed shut by one of his companions, resulting in the fingers of his left hand being badly crushed. Cornelius was taken to the Launceston Public Hospital and admitted for treatment.Fingers Crushed, Examiner (Launceston), 25 February 1925, page 4.Crushed Fingers, Advocate (Burnie), 25 February 1925, page 5.
As a child Cornelius was committed to the care of the State Department for Neglected Children as an uncontrollable child.Theft From Garage: Launceston Burglary, Examiner (Launceston), 14 July 1928, page 9.
Criminal activities
On 30 July 1925 Cornelius was convicted of "wilful damage to property" in the Launceston Police Office, and ordered to pay costs of 8 shillings and damages of 21 shillings.Police Gazette Tasmania, Vol. LXIV, No. 3444, 7 August 1925, page 148.
On 9 September 1926 in the Launceston Police Office Cornelius was convicted of larceny, and ordered to pay a fine of 10 shillings.Police Gazette Tasmania, Vol. LXV, No. 3504, 17 September 1926, page 191.
When he reached the age of 18, Cornelius was apprenticed to Messrs. Hodges and Bond, garage proprietors at 71 York Street, Launceston. Cornelius had been absent from work for a few days due to illness when, in the early afternoon of 5 July 1928, in company with another young man, he went to the York-street garage of his employer. While his companion waited outside, Cornelius went inside to enquire "if there were any letters for him". The office door was closed but the key was in the lock. Cornelius entered the office and stole an envelope containing cheques and three £1 notes. He and his companion then went to Prince's Park where Cornelius opened the envelope, divided the cash amongst themselves and flushed the cheques down a toilet. Cornelius was apprehended the next day and pleaded guilty before the Launceston Police Magistrate. On July 14 he was sentenced in the Hobart Supreme Court to six months' imprisonment. The Chief Justice, Herbert Nicholls, said that unfortunately he was unable to deal with the prisoner under the First Offenders' Act, as he had a previous conviction of larceny.Criminal Court: Breaking and Entering, The Mercury (Hobart), 14 July 1928, page 11.
Cornelius was released from prison on 5 November 1928. The reference to his release in the Tasmanian Police Gazette included the following description: "motor mechanic, age 19 years, height 5 feet 8 inches, fair complexion, fair hair, dark-blue eyes, thick nose, native of Tasmania; scar first joint of right finger, first three fingers of left hand have been crushed at tips".Police Gazette Tasmania, Vol. LXVII, No. 3619, 30 November 1928, page 237.
At about 8 o'clock in the evening of 16 January 1929 Cornelius and another younger man stole a Hupmobile motor-car belonging to Father T. J. O'Donnell, parked outside the Roman Catholic Presbytery at Latrobe, in northern Tasmania. They drove the car south-east towards Deloraine, but ran out of petrol three miles short of the township and the vehicle was abandoned. The next morning a passing motorist reported seeing the abandoned car near Deloraine.Theft of Motor Car, Examiner (Launceston), 18 January 1929, page 8. Later that morning the Deloraine police spoke to two strangers in town (Cornelius and his companion) and questioned them regarding their movements the previous night. With Cornelius' answers "not being deemed satisfactory", he was taken to the station where he eventually admitted to having taken the vehicle.Father O'Donnell's Motor-car, The Mercury (Hobart), 18 January 1929, page 8. Cornelius told police he had been out of work for some time and wanted to get to Launceston. He had been looking for work along the coast, but ran short of money and had started to walk to Launceston when he saw the car at Latrobe.Latrobe Car Theft, Advocate (Burnie), 19 January 1929, page 2. While Cornelius was being questioned his companion absconded. In the Latrobe Police Court on 18 January 1929, Cornelius was sentenced to three months' imprisonment in Hobart Gaol for having unlawfully used a motor car without the consent of the owner. Cornelius' companion was later detained at Launceston and was "dealt with" in the Latrobe Children's Court.
The Ulverstone robbery
Cornelius was released from his second period of incarceration on 17 April 1929, aged about 19 years.Police Gazette Tasmania, Vol. LXVIII, No. 3638, 12 April 1929, page 73.
In early July 1929 Edward Cornelius and two other young men, Alfred Miles and Stanley Robinson, walked the from Launceston to Ulverstone seeking employment, arriving at their destination on July 4. On the night of their arrival in Ulverstone the three young men were observed in the vicinity of a motor garage belonging to Motors Pty. Ltd., in which a new Chevrolet car was parked. Later that night they broke into the garage and stole the car, as well as a cash-box containing money and cheques, a clock and a gold-mounted fountain pen. Cornelius, Miles and Robinson drove the Chevrolet back to Launceston, along the way throwing away the emptied cash-box and some of the cheques. On July 6, the three men travelled from Launceston to Melbourne aboard the Loongana passenger vessel, but were arrested by Victorian detectives on arrival. Cash of about £30 each was found in the possession of Miles and Robinson, but Cornelius had thrown his share of the stolen money (about £40) into the Yarra River when he saw the detectives approaching."Criminal Court: The Ulverstone Robbery", The Mercury (Hobart), 19 July 1929, page 3. On July 8, the three young men were remanded for a week in the Melbourne City Court on charges of vagrancy, pending the arrival of a police escort and warrant from Tasmania."Remanded to Tasmania", Examiner (Launceston), 9 July 1929, page 6.
On July 18, Cornelius, Miles and Robinson were brought before the Hobart Criminal Court, where they pleaded guilty to the charges. The prisoners were sentenced on the following day. Cornelius, with previous convictions, was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment. Robinson, who also had previous convictions, received a 12 months' sentence and Miles, with no criminal record, was placed on a bond."Criminal Court: Ulverstone Robbery", The Mercury (Hobart), 20 July 1929, page 3.
Cornelius was released from prison on 4 October 1930 "by remission".Police Gazette Tasmania, Vol. LXIX, No. 3715, 10 October 1930, page 231.
Housebreaking
In March 1932, in the Sydney Quarter Sessions, Cornelius (under the name Thomas Shaw) received a six months' sentence for breaking and entering.
On 29 September 1932 a hairdresser named John Kennedy (charged under the name John Davis) and Cornelius (under the name Frank Lane), motor mechanic, both of Napier Street, Fitzroy, were charged at the Preston Court with having broken into and stolen articles valued at £120 from five separate dwellings in the Melbourne suburbs of Preston, Brunswick and Thornbury. Both men pleaded guilty to the charges of housebreaking and theft. On October 17 Kennedy (Davis) and Cornelius (Lane) were each sentenced to four years' imprisonment with hard labour.Two Men Committed for Trial, The Argus (Melbourne), 30 September 1932, page 5.Housebreakers Punished: Heavy Sentences Imposed, The Argus (Melbourne), 18 October 1932, page 3.Cornelius to Hang, Advocate (Burnie), 10 June 1936, page 7. On October 22 Cornelius was transferred to Pentridge Prison.
Cornelius was released from Pentridge Prison on 21 October 1935 and found accommodation in a flat at 128 Gipps Street, East Melbourne.
The murder of Rev. Cecil
On the morning of Thursday, 12 December 1935, Cornelius called at the vicarage of St. Saviour's Anglican church in Collingwood, after having heard "a rumor that there was a considerable amount of money" there.Details from Cornelius' confession: quoted in the article, Churchmen Tell of Tragic Night at Vicarage, The Herald (Melbourne), 27 February 1936, page 3. At that time of the year the church had been receiving money to assist a Christmas appeal.Formerly Stationed at Mur-bah, Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah), 14 December 1935, page 6. The vicarage was located at 25 Smith Street, a block away from the church on the corner of Mason and Oxford streets. When Rev. H. Laceby Cecil opened the door, Cornelius pretended to be there "to make arrangements about a marriage" and was invited inside. They entered the study where the vicar asked him questions about the impending marriage, which he wrote on a form. The form was handed to Cornelius, who also signed a 'Notice of Marriage' card under an assumed name of Francis Edward Layne (or Loyne). Cornelius then left and walked down Smith Street to Victoria Parade, before turning and walking back to the vicarage. He entered the open front door and crept into the study. Cornelius had been carrying tools wrapped in brown paper (a wheel-spanner, a crescent-spanner, a screwdriver and a rule), which he placed on the desk while he began to rifle through the drawers looking for money. As he did so, Rev. Cecil entered the room, saying "What are you after?" Cornelius grabbed the wheel-spanner and struck Cecil several times on the head, who then fell against the couch. Cornelius went to close the front door and when he turned, Cecil was in the passage, bleeding from his wounds. Cornelius hit him several more times with the spanner, and the vicar fell onto the floor of the passage-way. Cornelius searched Cecil's pockets and found about £8 in notes. He also grabbed a watch-chain and two watches, one gold and one silver. Cornelius washed blood from his face and hands using a jug from the dining room. As he left by the back door, by Cornelius' later confession, Rev. Cecil "seemed to be unconscious and was moaning". As he left, he threw the spanner into "a crevice between two buildings".Vicarage Murder: Grim Evidence at Inquest, The Age (Melbourne), 23 January 1936, page 12.
Rev. Cecil's body was discovered on the evening after his murder when six parishioners arrived at the vicarage for a scheduled vestry meeting. After knocking at the front door and waiting, they tried the back door. Finding it unlocked they entered and found the vicar's body in the hallway with his head battered. In the kitchen the vestrymen found a meal had been in preparation; the gas was still burning beneath a kettle, the bottom of which was burnt out. After a squad of detectives arrived at the scene, "news of the tragedy spread quickly in the district and large crowds stood outside the house until a late hour". The following morning detectives found a blood-stained and rusty iron wheel-spanner in a crevice between a chimney and a toilet outhouse at the vicarage, with a piece of brown paper adhering to one end.Murder in Vicarage, The Argus (Melbourne), 13 December 1935, page 9.