John and Sarah Makin

On 30 May 1892 eighteen-year-old Miss Amber Murray gave birth to a baby boy she named Horace Amber Murray. On 24 June she placed an advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald in search of a "motherly person" to adopt her baby boy, offering to pay "a small premium". On the day the advertisement appeared a letter was written by either John or Sarah Makin from 109 George Street, Redfern, expressing a willingness to adopt the child for a fee of about £2 10s or £3 and give him "a mother's love and attention". The letter, signed 'E. Hill', invited the advertiser to call at the address given if the proposal suited. When the Makins saw the child they told Miss Murray he was the kind they would like to have, "as they had lost a little boy of their own". Soon afterwards Amber Murray took the child to the Redfern address to hand him over, together with the payment of £3 and papers concerning the adoption of the child. Makin at first said he did not understand the papers, but then read through and signed them (first signed as 'John Leslie', which he then scratched out and signed his name as 'Hill'). As Miss Murray was leaving the child was brought out to see her, which was the last time she saw her son. Within a day or two the Makins had relocated to Burren Street in Macdonaldtown.[20][21]

The advertisement placed by Minnie Davis in the Sydney Morning Herald, 21 June 1892

On 10 June 1892 Miss Mignonette ('Minnie') Davis, a domestic servant living in Paddington, gave birth to a baby girl.[22] The child was named Mignonette (after her mother); the birth was registered in Newtown with the father's details included.[23] Minnie Davis placed an advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald on 21 June for a "kind person" to adopt her child. John Makin, using the surname 'Bert', answered the advertisement. Davis and the child's father, Horace Bothamley, went to the Makins' house at 109 George Street, Redfern the following day, where Makin agreed to take the baby for ten shillings a week, and told the parents they could see the baby whenever they liked. They then left the baby, with some infant's clothing, with the family. Two days later Miss Davis returned to see the child and took some more clothing. Sarah Makin was present on that occasion. When Davis and Bothamley next visited, the family had moved to Burren Street in Macdonaldtown. Bothamley found out their new address and he and Davis went there a week later, where they saw the child and paid ten shillings. The couple began to visit every Saturday to see the baby and pay the weekly stipend to the Makins. During one of the visits Davis and Bothamley discovered the Makins' real surname when they saw a printed card reading "Mrs. Makin, ladies' nurse and qualified midwife" (after which Sarah Makin admitted to deceiving them). On 23 July they were informed the infant had a cold. On the following Saturday the child "was very ill" and Makin told them he would take her to the doctor on Monday. A few days later Makin sent Bothamley a telegram to say the child had died.[22]

On Thursday, 4 August, Davis and Bothamley arrived at the Macdonaldtown residence with a bunch of flowers to view the baby's body. The deceased child was laid out on a board, "enshrouded in a long white gown". John Makin said to Davis: "Perhaps it's better that it did die". On being asked the cause of death, Makin replied: "It wasted away. I will have no bother in getting a certificate from the doctor". He claimed a coffin had been ordered and he would bury the infant for two pounds.[22]

On Tuesday, 11 October 1892, two men named James Mahoney and Frank Cooney were digging a trench in the backyard of 25 Burren Street, Macdonaldtown, in order to connect a service pipe from the house to the sewer, when Mahoney found "very much decomposed" remains buried under six inches of earth, that he thought was a cat. The following morning, Mahoney found the body of a female infant buried under about a foot of earth, about 30 yards (27 m) from the remains he had found the day before, which the men now concluded was also the body of an infant.[24][25] The bodies were described as being "very much decomposed, and had evidently been interred some months". The Newtown police were informed and the bodies were removed to the South Sydney Morgue.[26] The preliminary inquest at the morgue disclosed the remains to be a male and a female infant. Both had been buried with clothing on, and it was initially estimated the female had been buried for about six weeks and the male about three months.[24] It was revealed that the tenants of the house in Burren Street at the time of the discoveries had only occupied the house during the previous three weeks.[27][28]

On 14 October 1892, a few days after the discovery of the bodies in Macdonaldtown, the body of a decomposed male infant, estimated to be about 20 days old, was found in a vacant allotment in Zamia Street in Redfern. Senior-constable Joyce, on looking about the yard at Wells Street (where the Makins were living), "noticed some recently disturbed earth". When Joyce dug at the spot it was found to be empty, and the conclusion reached was that the body found in Zamia Street had been recently disinterred at the Wells Street house and relocated. The body was too decomposed to ascertain the cause of death, or even whether the child was born alive, and the inquest returned "an open verdict of found dead".[29][30]

The inquest was transferred to the Coroner's Court, Chancery Square, and resumed on 26 October 1892 before the coroner and a jury. Evidence was given by the two workmen who had discovered the bodies, the doctors who had carried out autopsies and the Government analyst, as well as Senior-constable Joyce and several of the neighbours.[25] The medical evidence determined that the female infant had been stillborn and the male baby was aged from five to eight months and had been dead from between three and six months.[28] On the final day of the inquest, 28 October, the Makins' daughters, Blanche (aged 17) and Florence (aged 14), testified, as well as John and Sarah Makin. Sarah Makin claimed, on the day after moving into the Macdonaldtown house in late June 1892, she 'took in' a female child, about two weeks old, to wet nurse, being paid ten shillings a week. She asserted that in mid-August "the mother took it away and said she was going to Melbourne". Makin also claimed that this child "was the first and only one" she had taken in. John Makin "corroborated the testimony of his wife in every particular". In summing up, the City Coroner, John Woore, told the jury this was a case "surrounded by suspicion, and there was no doubt that the bodies had been placed there secretly". After a few minutes deliberation the jury returned an open verdict, to the effect that the evidence did not enable a determination of how the infants had died.[31]

The Makin family had lived at 25 Burren Street in Macdonaldtown from 29 June 1892 to 16 August 1892, during which time Sarah Makin advertised her services as a midwife (which she denied at the inquest).[31] After that they moved to 6 Wells Street, Redfern, where they were visited by Senior-constable Joyce on 12 October after the discovery of the bodies.[32] The family soon afterwards removed to a house in Chippen Street in Chippendale.[33]

On 2 November Senior-constable James Joyce and Constable Alexander Brown, plain-clothes officers of the Newtown Police Station, went to the house in Burren Street and commenced digging in the yard, where they found an additional five babies' bodies.[34] On the afternoon of 3 November 1892 Joyce arrested John Makin and his daughters, Blanche and Florence, at their house at Chippendale and took them to Newtown Police Station. Sarah Makin was already at the station, having been previously arrested at Parramatta. During questioning Blanche disclosed that she recollected that her mother "had three infants to care for at one time". When asked why she had stated at the inquest that her mother had only looked after one child, Blanche said her parents "had told her to say she knew nothing about any other children having been in the house". John and Sarah Makin were charged "on suspicion, with causing the death of an illegitimate female child, the offspring of Horace Bothamley and Minnie Davis, on or about the end of July or the beginning of August last". Blanche and Florence Makin were also charged, "on suspicion, of being concerned in the death of the child in question".[33][34] The Makins' youngest child, two-year-old Cecil, was taken under the care of a neighbour.[7]

The police announced their intention to investigate the yards of the houses the family had occupied during the past three or four years, as this was the period Senior-constable Joyce was of the opinion the Makins had been "engaged in baby farming". By mid-November yards in Botany, East and Kettle streets had been searched, where no discoveries were made, with searches to be carried out in Bullanaming Street, St. Peters, and Howard Street.[7]

Between 12 October and 12 November the remains of fifteen infants were found by police buried on premises where the Makins had resided. Inquests were held and in several cases open verdicts were recorded.[35]

• 25 Burren Street, Macdonaldtown, occupied by the Makin family from 29 June to 16 August 1892 — the bodies of seven infants were recovered from the yard (two on 11 and 12 October 1892 and a further five in early November 1892): (No. 1) male infant, aged from five to eight months; buried from three to six months; (No. 2) female infant, stillborn; (No. 3) male infant, aged from two to three months, buried from four to six months (open verdict);[36] (No. 4) determined by the inquest jury to be the female child of Minnie Davis and Horace Bothamley;[37] (No. 5) female infant, estimated to be about 10 days old, buried for about three months (open verdict);[36] At the inquest into the bodies found at Burren Street at the Coroner's Court on 16 December 1892, Clarice Makin gave evidence that the family's relocation from George Street, Redfern to Burren Street, Macdonaldtown was carried out between seven and eight o'clock at night and they took with them six babies, two in a cradle, two in a perambulator, one carried by her mother and another carried by Daisy.[38] At the trial of her parents on 6 March 1893 Clarice claimed to have no recollection of saying she saw six babies being taken to Burren Street when the family moved there.[20]
• Zamia Street, Redfern (vacant allotment), one body found on 14 October 1892; "supposed to have been disinterred from the back yard of the Makins' house in Wells Street on their learning of the discovery in Macdonaldtown".[7]
• 109 George Street, Redfern, four infants' bodies found on 9 November 1892 (designated 'A', 'B', 'C' and 'D').[39] The body marked 'D' was subsequently identified as Horace Amber Murray, for whose murder the Makins were later charged.[40] The Makins rented 109 George Street, Redfern (using the surname 'Mason') for just over one month, from 21 May until 27 June 1892.[41]
• 11 Alderson Street, Redfern, one infant body found in the yard on 11 November 1892 (designated 'E'); buried at a depth of two feet, wrapped in black cloth; estimated age at death: two to six weeks; estimated period since burial: "from six to 12 months"; gender: "impossible to ascertain"; the house was rented by John Makin from 7 December 1891 to 28 January 1892; coronial inquiry held on 14 December 1892, open verdict arrived at ("no evidence as to the cause of death").[42][43]
• 28 Levey Street, Chippendale (next door to the Appin Hotel), the remains of two infants found by the police on 12 November 1892, in the yard "near the kitchen wall"; buried together ("little remained but the bones"); occupied by the Makins in about November 1891 for about six or seven weeks.[7]

As a result of the examinations by the City Coroner the Makins were charged with causing the death of the illegitimate male child of Amber Murray, on or about 27 June 1892, and committed for trial at the Central Criminal Court. They were also charged with causing the death of the illegitimate female child of Horace Bothamley and Minnie Davis about the end of July or the beginning of August 1892. John and Sarah Makin were found guilty of manslaughter by the Coroner's Court and committed for trial at the Central Criminal Court.[35]

The appeal against the conviction of John and Sarah Makin was heard on Thursday, 23 March, before the Full Bench of the Supreme Court consisting of Justice Windeyer, Justice Innes and Justice Foster. The Queen's Counsel, Sir Julian Salomons, led in support of the appeal, with Francis Rogers, Q.C., heading the team in support of the conviction. The grounds for the appeal were: (1) that Justice Stephen was wrong in admitting evidence of the finding of other bodies other than the child's body alleged to be Horace Murray; (2) that the judge was wrong in admitting the evidence of the mothers (apart from Amber Murray) who had given up their children to the Makins; (3) that there was no evidence to prove the body marked 'D' was that of Horace Murray; (4) that there was no evidence of the death or cause of death of Horace Murray, or that he had been murdered. After hearing the arguments the Full Bench advised that they would consider their decision.[40]

The appeal judges took a week to consider their decision. It was finally delivered in the Supreme Court on 30 March, dismissing the appeal and confirming the convictions.[21][46] The main judgment, 27 pages in length, was written by Justice Windeyer and agreed to by Justice Foster. Justice Innes dissented to the extent that he disagreed with Windeyer's reasoning for admitting the evidence of the deaths of the other babies. Nevertheless Innes concurred with his fellow judges that the convictions against the Makins should stand.[47]

On the same day of the appeal dismissal, John and Sarah Makin appeared in the Central Criminal Court for sentencing by Justice Stephen. John Makin stood up in the dock "in that semi-defiant attitude which he maintained to the last". Sarah Makin was assisted to her place and hid her face in a handkerchief the whole time she was in court. The Makins' solicitor intimated prior to sentencing that they planned to appeal to the British Privy Council. As he passed sentence upon the prisoners Justice Stephens recounted how they had taken money from the mother of Horace Murray and "beguiled her with promises which you never meant to perform, having already determined on the death of the child; you misled her by false statements as to your name; you deceived her as to your address". Comparing the burial of the child in their yard "as you would the carcase of a dog", Justice Stephen declared that the Makins were "engaged in baby-farming in its worst phase and its most hideous and revolting aspect", that the "ghastly evidence" from the yards in which they lived "testified… that you were carrying on this nefarious and hellish trade, destroying the lives of those infants for the sake of gain". At the conclusion of his address the judge sentenced both prisoners to execution by hanging. In the case of Sarah Makin he added that he would forward the recommendation of mercy to the Executive. Towards the end of the sentencing Sarah Makin collapsed and had to be carried from the court by two constables, crying out "Oh! my babies; oh! my babies".[48][49]

In order to appeal to the Privy Council in Britain, the consent of the New South Wales Government was required. A petition seeking consent was sent to the Executive Council on 11 April 1893. On the same day the Council commuted Sarah Makin's sentence of death to life imprisonment. On 21 April the Council delayed John Makin's execution for three months to allow for the appeal to the Privy Council.[50]

When the Makins' petition was received in London the seven Law Lords of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council reviewed the case. Their verdict was sent by cable to the New South Wales Government on 21 July, informing that the appeal was dismissed, but advising that the Judges had reserved their reasons for dismissal of the appeal until the following November.[51] The notification of the Privy Council's dismissal of the appeal allowed the New South Wales Attorney-General to resume the judicial process and fix the date of John Makin's execution.[52]

John Makin (from the Newcastle Morning Herald, 16 August 1893)

In early August 1893 Makin wrote to the Premier, Sir Henry Parkes, drawing attention to what he considered to be the weak points in the evidence and asking for a reprieve of the death sentence. The communication was forwarded to the Minister for Justice who determined that there was nothing in the letter likely to induce the Government to dispute the sentence. Nevertheless Parkes consented to a deputation from Makin's family in Wollongong.[53] On 11 August two of Makin's brothers, his sister-in-law and Archibald Campbell and John Nicholson, the members of parliament for Illawarra, met with the Colonial Secretary, Sir George Dibbs. They presented a petition "signed by a number of citizens of Wollongong". The Makin family deputation made no attempt to "go into the merits of the case", but "simply asked that, for the sake of his brothers and their families, and his own family, that… his punishment should be made the same as that inflicted on his wife". In the meeting the Makin family and their representatives argued that Makin had been "led to whatever he did by his wife", who was "the arch-aggressor, the arch-fiend in the matter". Sarah Makin was portrayed as "a terrible woman" who was "known to have a temper more like a fiend than a woman". Dibbs reminded the family that, unless further facts pertinent to the case were bought forward, the Government had no power to intervene in the legal process. He did, however, promise to call a meeting of the Executive Council on the following Monday to discuss the matter.[54] The Executive Council, as expected, was unconvinced by the petition to save Makin's life and decided "the law should take its course".[55]

John Makin was executed by hanging just after 9 a.m. on Tuesday, 15 August 1893, on the gallows within the precincts of Darlinghurst Gaol. It was reported that the condemned man "appeared resigned to his fate", having placed little hope upon the appeals for a reprieve. Makin had met with his wife on the previous Thursday, prior to her being taken to Bathurst Gaol. On the same day he was visited by his daughters Blanche and Florence, his brothers Daniel and Joseph, and his step-daughter Minnie Helbi. Makin left two written statements, one denying his guilt and the other addressed to his children (which was "couched in very affectionate terms"). The official report stated that the execution "was properly conducted".[56][57]

On 10 August 1893, five days prior to her husband's execution, Sarah Makin was transferred from Darlinghurst Gaol to Bathurst Gaol. In May 1895 she was transferred back to Darlinghurst Gaol and then returned to Bathurst in November 1898. During her second stint at Bathurst she was given a job of hospital attendant at the gaol. Makin's health deteriorated during her incarceration, occasionally suffering from intestinal haemorrhages.[58] By 1907 two of Sarah's daughters, Florence (by then a married woman with the surname Anderson) and Minnie Helbi, had sufficient concerns about their mother's health that they each wrote to the Attorney-General requesting her release from prison. Ultimately, however, the daughters' pleas were refused.[59]

In August 1909 Sarah Makin was transferred to the newly constructed State Reformatory for Women at Long Bay Gaol. In 1911, with a new Attorney-General in office, Makin and her family began another campaign for her release "so that she can spend her last days with her family". On this occasion the government, after considering her "advanced age and declining health", recommended her release. Sarah Makin was discharged "quietly and anonymously" from Long Bay Gaol on 29 April 1911, into the care of Florence Anderson and her husband.[60]

A few months after her release Sarah moved to Belgrave Street in Petersham to live with her eldest daughter, Minnie Helby (formerly spelled as Helbi), who was suffering from bowel cancer and died in February 1912.[61] Makin remained in the house at Petersham with her son-in-law, Carl Helby. As her health began to deteriorate, Florence and her husband moved in. Sarah Makin died on 13 September 1918, aged 72 years, from senile decay and heart failure (possibly due to tertiary syphilis). She was buried in Rookwood Cemetery.[62]