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Trove Tuesday - The Man who Hanged his Wife


An article titled The Man Who Hanged his Wife was not a story where I expected to find some information about an ancestor. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find a mention of Dr William Lee Dawson.

Last week as a whole barge full of mourners at the late Dr Dawson's funeral were returning from Franklin to Iron Stone Creek, on their way homewards, the attention of one of the many Hobart Town visitors was called by a Huon passenger to a figure sitting with head bent, and thoughtfully, as it smoked a black pipe in the bows of the boat. "That's the man who hanged his wife".

Dr Dawson's wife's family lived in Hobart Town so I wonder now which ones came to his funeral. A whole barge full of mourners - I wonder how many that was?

You might like to read the rest of the story. It's not what it seems!

The Mercury, Wednesday 5th July 1871, p. 2

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