The Mirror 8 October 1938, page 1
Facing a Murder Charge
Soon after the death of a girl of 19 in the Kalgoorlie Hospital, on Wednesday. Det Sgt Findlay, Det Cannon and P.C. Gamble arrested Lillian Pearson, a married woman and boarding housekeeper, 41 years, of Kalgoorlie, who was charged with having murdered Margaret Ellen Walsh, at Kalgoorlie. The accused appeared before the Assistant Resident Magistrate, Mr T. H. Hannah, in the Kalgoorlie Police Court on Thursday, and was represented by Mr Ross Abbott, of O’Dea and O’Dea. On the application of the police, the accused was remanded for 8 days.
The Murder Victim – Margaret Ellen WALSH
The Mirror 15 October 1938, page 15
The Tears Streamed Down Her Cheeks
Sent For Trial On Murder Charge
Sequel to Death in Kalgoorlie of
‘The Girl ‘From the Bush’
Dr Morris O’Connell Gorman, popular Goldfields medico, and with many friends in the City, first saw the girl when he was phoned to go to Mrs Pearson’s house in Hannan Street after 8 p.m. on September 27. There he was told that a young woman had had a miscarriage with complications, and the doctor regarded her condition as consistent with an abortion by force.
To him the girl gave the name of Margaret Johnson, address — ‘from the bush’— the doctor told the Coroner (Mr. T. H Hannah) and said she had taken pills and had used a syringe on herself. She was ordered to hospital and next day, when Dr. Gorman saw her he told her quite frankly that he did not believe her story about using the syringe. ‘I asked her if Mrs. Pearson did it,’ the doctor went on, ‘but she insisted that she used it herself. I told her that her story was incredible and that I didn’t believe it.’ When Dr. Gorman went to see the girl on his daily visit on October 3, he found her crying bitterly and it was then that she told him (his evidence continued) that Mrs. Pearson had used a syringe on her for a certain purpose.
The next morning the doctor was called to the hospital and found the girl so seriously ill that he went to the police to arrange for her dying deposition to be taken.
Dr Gorman
he returned to the hospital, but she died soon after. It was Dr. H. J. DAVIS, acting D.M.O., who performed the post mortem, his finding being that there had been a miscarriage, with subsequent infection, peritonitis — and death. In the morgue her body was identified as Margaret Ellen Walsh by her brother, Nicholas Edward WALSH. She had worked at a boarding house in Rawlinna, on the Trans-line. However, when the girl was admitted on September 28 to Kalgoorlie Hospital— to where she was accompanied by Mrs. Pearson — she gave to Sister Emma GUGERI the name of Margaret Johnson and her age as 19 and her address Hannan street, Kalgoorlie. She also said that she had no relatives.
Out at Rawlinna, a young fireman and cleaner for the Commonwealth Railways had been keeping company with the girl, but he told the Coroner he had been told nothing about her condition, and while he was away relieving, she came to Kalgoorlie on September 25— two days before Dr Gorman was called in—the fireman arrived in Kalgoorlie on his annual leave, but did not see the girl. The first he knew was when he read of her death in the paper.
‘Have you had Dr Gorman visit a woman in your house in the past two weeks’
Detective Jack CANNON fired that question at Mrs. Pearson when he, with Detective Sergeant Findlay and P. C. Gamble saw her at her home on October 5th — the morning of the girl’s death. His suspicions had been aroused, he informed the Coroner, by her manner and her denial of having any relatives or friends in the Kalgoorlie Hospital and he said ‘I have reason to believe that Dr. Gorman treated a woman here and ordered her to hospital and that the woman was aborted by you’.
In tears, Mrs. Pearson then allegedly made a statement that she had taken pity on the girl, and had used a syringe on her. For this she had received no money. Mr. Ross Abbott (of O’Dea and O’Dea) said that Mrs. Pearson did not desire to give evidence at this stage and the Coroner then gave his verdict that death was caused by peritonitis, brought about by the unlawful use of an instrument used by Mrs. Lillian Pearson (41) and Mrs Pearson was committed for trial on a charge of murder. Her trial will take place at the next Criminal Sessions in, Perth.
The Verdict
Kalgoorlie Miner 9 November 1938, page 4
TWO YEARS FOR MRS. PEARSON
GUILTY OF MANSLAUGHTER
After a retirement of four hours, the jury returned the verdict that Mrs. Lillian Pearson (41), who had been charged with the murder of Margaret Ellen Walsh (19), who died at Kalgoorlie on October 5, was guilty of manslaughter. The Crown contended that Mrs. Pearson; had performed an illegal operation on the girl. When Mr. Justice Draper sentenced the woman to two years imprisonment, she broke into screams.
Mr. V. R. Abbott said that the woman had never been in trouble before, and had received no money for her action. Mr. Justice Draper, in sentencing her, said she had not been accused before of such an offence, but the matter was a serious one — serious in its effect on the public, which was the principal consideration in sentencing a prisoner. The maximum penalty was imprisonment for life, but he had decided that he should sentence her to two years imprisonment. He hoped that when this sentence expired, she would discontinue the practice, which it appeared from evidence she may have been carrying out. The Crown Prosecutor, Mr. S. H. Good, said that Mrs. Pearson had been in custody since October 5, and his Honour instructed that the sentence should commence from that date.
Family History: Margaret Ellen Walsh was born in South Australia in 1919 to John ‘Jack’ Walsh and Jessie Muriel nee Reid. Show was the oldest of four children, sisters, Catherine Evelyn born 1920 and Sheila Jean born 1923, also a brother, Nicholas Edward born 1921. Here parents and sisters remained in South Australia but her brother was in Kalgoorlie at the time of her death.
Moya Sharp
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