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Daniel Cooper NZ Truth photo 19th May 1923 |
His story is where it all started for me. I’d never come across
anything like it at the time and the fact that it happened in the Wellington
region of New Zealand where I live, was even more mind blowing. Daniel Cooper
is where my fascination with morbid history began. This is a long story so feel
free to read as much (or as little) as you wish. Please note that some of the
dates can be different from what you may read from other pages online.
Sometimes they can be different from just one or two days other times it can be
different from around a month or two. I have decided to go mainly with the
dates in the coroners report but there is definitely room for margins of error
even there.
Daniel
Richard Cooper was born in Otago on the 18th of October 1881 His
father was George James Cooper and his mother Jessie Elizabeth Ure Cooper. Daniel was the fourth child out
of seven but he also had 4 older half siblings from his mothers previous
marriage.
In 1902 when
he was 20 he ran into a bit of trouble and was convicted on theft charges at
Oamaru and then again in 1905 in Palmerston North. He travelled around a lot in
his youth. Daniel now aged 26 married his first wife Mirriam Burns in Awamangu
on the 18th of December 1907 and they had their first child named
Hannah Bertha Cooper in 1909 followed by another daughter in 1915 who they
named Violet. The family moved around a lot before moving to New Plymouth where Daniel
continued work as a carpenter but also a book agent. He and Mirriam also joined
the Seventh-day Adventist church. In 1916 they shifted to Gore and Daniel
started travelling around the area selling his book ‘Practical guide to good health’
Sadly on
the 18th of July 1917 Mirriam who was eight months pregnant passed
away. The coroners report said that the cause of death was pericarditis
(swelling and irritation of the thin, saclike tissue surrounding the heart) She
had gone to bed around 8pm and then shortly before 11pm had gotten up for some
hot water in order to relieve pain (Daniel said that she had not been in robust
health for some months) She had been gone for only a minute or two when Daniel
heard the sound of a fall. He rushed to her assistance and called for aid from
a neighbour. Unfortunately she passed away after just a few minutes. Later on
it was revealed by neighbours and Mirriams family that the marriage had not
been a happy one and they had seen no signs of ill health. It was also revealed
a few years later that Daniel had been giving her mercuric iodine (mercury iodide) which he claimed was to treat her
goitre. Other people believed that in high doses this is what caused Mirriams
death. If that was on purpose or not I’ll let you decide. Love letters between
Daniel and another woman Martha Elizabeth Stewart were also discovered dated
only 8 days after Mirriams death.
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| Martha Cooper NZ Truth 19th May 1923 |
Martha and
Daniel met supposedly when Daniel was selling his book in Gore a few months
before Mirriams death. Daniel and Martha were married on the 2nd of
January in 1918 in Invercargill. They then moved to Dunedin where they set up a
health specialist business but in 1919 Daniel and Martha and Daniels two
daughters relocated to Wellington. They lived for a time in Island Bay with one
of Daniels brothers while Daniel built a house.
While
living in Island Bay Beatrice Irene Beadle moved in with them. She had met the
Coopers roughly four years earlier while living in Dunedin. Beatrice already
had a son who was born in 1919 but he was being raised by a foster family in
Timaru. While living in Island Bay with Daniel and Martha, Beatrice started
having sex with Daniel. Martha knew about this and supposedly had no objections
because in Marthas words ‘She was not well’
The Coopers
purchased land in Newlands and set up their health specialist business again in
Lambton Quay. They also set up their Newlands property as an unofficial rest,
care home for mothers. They had their house where Daniel and Martha and Daniels
two daughters lived but they also had a smaller dwelling, slightly north of
their main residence. This was able to accommodate any pregnant or new mothers.
They called it the “crib”
Daniel and
Beatrice continued with their affair with Marthas permission and Beatrice
became pregnant. Daniel took Beatrice away to Lyttelton for her confinement.
Daniel took her there as he did not want anybody to know that she was pregnant.
While there, they went under the name of Mr and Mrs Reed. Beatrice checked into
the home of Mrs Olson in May 1920 On June 10th 1920 she gave birth
to a healthy baby boy. They left the baby in the care of a woman in
Christchurch after she responded to an advert that Daniel had placed in the
paper looking for a kind person to take the baby. Daniel and Beatrice returned
to Wellington. Beatrice at the time understood that the baby would be left
there permanently however not long after their return to Wellington a letter
was received saying the baby was not well so Daniel went back down and returned
with the baby. The baby and Beatrice stayed at the Coopers Island Bay property
for two or three days before Daniel told Beatrice that ‘some lady’ was coming
to adopt the baby. Beatrice was greatly upset and left the house for the
afternoon. Upon returning the baby was gone. Beatrice was led to believe the
baby had been adopted. Later on Beatrice would sign a formal demand for the
babys return however Daniel failed to produce the child. Daniel later said that
‘he advised her to go into a home at Timaru (which he says she did) and the
child was now under the care of the state’
Beatrice
continued to live with the Coopers at Newlands and discovered that in March
1921 she was pregnant again with Daniels child.
Sometime in
April 1921 Daniel was approached by a single woman who was pregnant. She had
heard that Daniel was able to help woman in her ‘condition’ He gave her a liquid
medicine which was supposed to bring about a miscarriage. It did not work so
she went back another 2 or 3 times with the last visit being an abortion Daniel
carried out on her at his Lambton Quay office.
In October
1921 a fire destroyed the house at Newlands. The cause of the fire was unknown
and no one was hurt. They were unable to fight the flames so the house and
contents were destroyed. Daniel was insured but it was said he still sustained
heavy losses.
Beatrice
who was now heavily pregnant and nearing her time was told by Daniel that he
had made arrangements for her confinement with another lady who would take care
of her. The very next day Beatrice went to live in a house on cuba street with
Mrs King for her confinement. Daniel also told Beatrice that the child would be
adopted by a well off couple in Palmerston North. On the 27th of
November 1921 Beatrice gave birth to a healthy female child.
On the 10th
of December Daniel arrived at Mrs Kings house in the evening with another woman
Miss Effie Adams, to take Beatrice and her baby back to his Newlands property.
Beatrice dressed the baby and the three of them left for Newlands. Daniel was
saying on the journey to Newlands that he did not want Beatrice and Effie to go
over the hill with him (over the hill from Johnsonville train station to
Newlands where the Coopers lived) He said that he did not want them to go over
as the people who would be adopting the baby would be waiting at his property
in a car. Beatrice and Effie returned to Wellington. That was the last Beatrice
saw of her second child. Martha Cooper was aware of Beatrices second pregnancy
with Daniel but she had gone to Dunedin while Beatrice was in confinement and
for a time after the childs birth.
After this
Beatrice never lived with the Coopers again but she continued to work for them
as a canvasser (door to door salesperson) until May 1922 where she then went
into domestic employment. She did however engage in sexual intercourse with
Daniel again but only for a month or so afterwards.
January 6th
1922 a married woman goes to Daniel at his Lambton Quay office to discuss her
pregnancy. She went back three days later where he attempted an abortion. It
did not produce the desired result so she went back again two days later. This
time the abortion worked.
In February
1922 Daniel Cooper was also approached by Margaret Mary McLeod at his Lambton
Quay office. He confirmed for her that she was pregnant however he did not
think the child would ever be born alive as she was in such poor health. He
advised her to obtain financial assistance from the person who was responsible
for her pregnancy (Meaning the father, who was William James Walsh) He also
mentioned in another examination with her that he knew of a woman who would
adopt it if it did survive and the expenses would amount to 50 pounds (Roughly
$107NZD back in the 1920s)
Meanwhile
during February/March of 1922 Lily Lister became pregnant with Hugo Lupis
child. They met around Christmas in 1921 while working in a restaurant in
Dunedin. In April of 1922 Hugo came back up to Wellington to be with his wife
and two children. In June Lily came up to Wellington to see Hugo. Hugo had not
known that she was pregnant until she arrived in Wellington. Hugo immediately
told Daniel Cooper (who he had known previously in Island Bay as they completed
some building work together) Daniel suggested that Lily should stay at his
place in Newlands where she would be out of sight and he would make all
arrangements for the confinement and adoption. Daniel mentioned to Hugo the
cost would be30-40 pounds to cover the adoption but then there would be other
expenses such as board for Lily hinting between 50-60 pounds.
Lily
arrived at the Coopers property in August or September of 1922 but was later
transferred by Daniel to another woman named Mrs King (the same Mrs King who
had helped Beatrice in 1921) who would help her during her confinement. Lily
Lester went under the name Smith while staying with Mrs King. I’m assuming this
was to help hide her identity. Mrs King knew Lily as Mrs Smith.
On the 12th
of October 1922 Margaret gives birth to a healthy female child. She had been staying
with the Coopers at Newlands in what they called the “crib”
The day
after Margaret gave birth on October 13th a working girl (prostitute) passed
away in Wellington Hospital due to complications of an abortion. The cause of
her death was cardiac failure following acute septicaemia caused by a septic
perforation of the uterus. On her death bed she refused to name the person who
had given her the abortion. I mention this only to give you something to think
about later on when things get more complicated for Daniel.
Sometime
between the 12th and 20th of October a doctor was called
to examine Margaret at the Coopers property. The doctor also made a casual
examination of the baby which cried and appeared to be healthy. The doctor must
have had ideas on what was happening at the Coopers Newlands property as he
warned Martha concerning the regulation with regards to nursing homes. This
same doctor had previously seen a heavily pregnant Lily at the crib. A few days
later he also saw Daniel in Johnsonville and told him that he had heard Daniel
was performing abortions. Daniel denied doing this as he spoke to the doctor.
20th
October 1922 Eight days after Margaret gave birth, Martha came to the crib and
spoke to Margaret telling her that the people had come for it (meaning the
child) It had already been mentioned to Margaret that some people were taking
her child away to adopt it. She was told that a man and a nurse had come from
Palmerston North. They had brought their own clothes for the child so they did
not want the clothing it had been wearing. This was the last ever seen of this
child alive.
Lily who
had also briefly met Margaret at the crib gave birth to a healthy baby boy on
the 13th of November 1922
Daniel
claimed that he had arranged to meet Hugo on November 23rd to hand
Lily’s baby over to him since he was the father. Hugo denied this ever being
arranged or ever happening. Hugo had never even seen the child. Hugo said on
the day in question he had been working on the roof of a house. His co-workers
were able to confirm this. Hugo also claimed that he had not paid Daniel any
money in connection with Lily.
This is
also when Lily decides that she wants the baby back and asks Daniel for it. It
wasn’t clear if she just wanted to see it or keep it but I’m assuming from what
happens in the days ahead she wants to keep it. Daniel however could not
produce it or explain why it could not be handed back nor in whose keeping it
currently was.
18th
of December 1922 a Mr Harold French was walking on the beach with his wife at
Lyall Bay when his attention was drawn to a dog scratching in the sand at what
he thought was a piece of seaweed, but on closer examination proved to be the
body of an infant. He immediately informed the custodian of the beach (this is
a person or persons who were responsible for caring for the land) who then
reported it to the Lyall Bay police station. The constable who attended the
beach saw the legs of a child protruding from the sand. The infant was wrapped
in brown paper. The infant was carefully dug up and taken for a post mortem
examination. It was deemed to be a female child and apparently newly born. It
bore no marks of injury or disease and had been buried for approximately a
fortnight. A note was also found in the area a day or two later. On it was
written ‘Looks like Daniel Cooper has been up to his old tricks’
Investigations
begun.
On the 30th
of December 1922 Daniel Richard Cooper was arrested and charged with
Lily Lister
NZ Truth
19th May 1923
abortion.
The police had also been informed of Hugo Lupi and Lily Listers missing child
(which Daniel was still unable to produce or satisfactorily explain anything to
Lily) The police questioned Daniel a lot in regards to the whereabouts of this
child. The very next day Lily gave a statement to the police and Daniel was
given a formal notice for the production of the child. A similar request was
given to Martha who at this stage was still living in Newlands with Daniels two
daughters Hannah and Violet. Things started to move quite quickly in the next
few days.
1st
of January 1923 Martha is arrested and Hannah and Violet are taken away and
placed in a home.
2nd
of January 1923 Daniel and Martha are officially charged with attempting on or
about the 23rd of November of detaining the 10 day old infant male
child of Hugo Lupi and Lily Lister with the intent to deprive its parents of
the possession of such child.
3rd
of January 1923 The ‘Newlands Sensation’ begins. Police had been searching
Daniels Lambton Quay office and his property at Newlands where they discovered buried
in the ground the body of a female infant around 1-2 months old. It was not
very decomposed and later determined to be the child of Margaret Mary McLeod. A
doctor was called to remove the infant from the ground. It was the same doctor
who had warned Daniel and Martha earlier back in October about their activities
and the rumours he had heard.
The finding
of this female infant was even more of a scandal because the child they were
originally looking for (Hugo and Lilys child) was male. Who was this female
child they found on Daniels property?
After
police investigations on the 17th of January it became known that
the police were now aware of four illegitimate children being placed in the
possession of Daniel and Martha Cooper but they both failed to give an account
of three of these children and made contradictory statements concerning the
fourth. At this stage no further charges were being laid, aside from unlawfully
detaining a child (Hugo and Lilys) and supplying a woman with a noxious thing
knowing that it was to be used for an illegal purpose (abortion which was
illegal at this time)
It wasn’t
until the 31st of January 1923 that the crown announced it intended
to bring a murder charge against Daniel and Martha (although the murder charge
wasn’t official until the 7th of February) The following charges
were currently being laid against them both. Four charges of unlawfully
detaining infant children and then the following charges were only being laid
against Daniel. Seven charges of illegally using an instrument on certain women
with intent to procure a miscarriage, two of attempting to supply women with
certain noxious things and one of doing a certain act with intent to procure a miscarriage.
Several female witnesses were called to give evidence in court. This included
the two woman I had mentioned earlier. One who had approached Daniel in April
1921 and the other who approached Daniel in January 1922 One produced a letter
which had ‘Please burn this’ written in the corner in Daniels handwriting. Another
letter had also been found in Daniels office which was from the working girl that
had passed away from complications of an abortion. The letter was dated a few
days prior to her passing and in it had said ‘When can I see you?’
Most of the
witnesses said that their appointments were held at Daniels office on Lambton
Quay. This included abortions. Daniel was pleading not guilty to all charges.
From this
point on I am mainly going to focus on Daniel and the murder charge. There was so much
information regarding the other charges I will only blog about the ones I think
could be interesting or relevant.
On the 7th
of February 1923 Daniel is officially charged with murdering the infant child
of Margaret Mary McLeod and William James Welsh on the 20th of
December 1922 It was a
Margaret McLeod
NZ Truth
19th May 1923
busy time for the courts and things were moving a little
slow now with the charges against Daniel as there was also another serious case
happening. John Tuhi was also being charged with murder at the supreme court.
Murder was classed as a hanging offence so taken very seriously. There had so
far been 4-5 remands of Daniel and Marthas trial due to John Tuhi and his
trial. The crown prosecutor Mr P.S.K. Macassey was busy dealing with both
cases.
13th
of March 1923 and the preliminary hearing of murder against Daniel and Martha
at the Magistrates court was concluded an
d they were both then committed to the
Supreme Court for the murder and unlawful detention. Marthas lawyer Mr P.W.
Jackson argued strongly against the charges for her. He was saying that she had
only gained possession of the children by fraud. It didn’t go into further
detail on this but I’m assuming from this that he was suggesting Martha only
took the children thinking that they were going to be adopted and that her
husband was telling the truth.
Things take
another turn for the worse for Daniel and Martha with a second child found
buried on their property in Newlands on the 27th of March 1923 and
then a third found also buried on the 3rd of April. The police who
were combing Daniels property also commented on finding what they believed to
be a lot of empty graves. Whether this was pre dug graves for future infants or
possibly someone setting Daniel up or it was even suggested that when Daniel was
arrested someone may have started digging up the infant’s bodies and disposing
of them elsewhere to cover their tracks. Keep in mind Martha was arrested a few
days after Daniel. Could she have started digging some up and then run out of
time so wasn’t able to get them all? Could the police have been setting Daniel
up?
The trial
for the murder of infant and illegitimate child of Margaret Mary McLeod and
William James Welsh began at the Supreme Court on the 8th of May
1923 On the 22nd of May 1923 Daniel Richard Cooper was found guilty
of the murder while his wife Martha was acquitted. Daniel was sentenced to
death.
Two of
Daniels brothers Wheeler and John had come to Wellington to try and plead his
case and to point out what they saw as many faults with the evidence. This
included Wheeler visiting and contacting some witnesses including Effie Adams
and Beatrice Beadle asking them to sign a paper which said that their statements
were forced and what they said in court was not true. Beatrice also later said
that Wheeler had said to her ‘We could easily make it up to say that Effie
Adams had handed the baby over to a Mrs Richardson On Lambton Quay’ This was
something that Daniel had said happened in one of his many statements. Daniel
made a lot of statements but each time the story would change. I read a lot of
these and each statement would have subtle differences. In one of his
statements he claimed that both of the babies that Beatrice had given birth to
were not fathered by him. He later changed and said the second one was fathered
by him but not the first and then he changed again to say yes indeed they both
were fathered by him.
Wheeler wrote
a letter to the editor of The Dominion newspaper and Daniels mother Jessie
wrote a letter to the minister of justice pleading for them to give him a
hearing. She said that he suffered sometimes with an abscess in the head which
causes him to be stupid and forgetful. Wheeler had been visiting Daniel at The
Terrace Gaol and even wrote a letter to the minister of justice who passed it
on to the governor general. It was a letter pleading Daniels innocence,
sighting a head injury as a child and that the empty graves on the property,
while Daniel was in custody, suggests someone else involved. Wheeler was also saying
that Daniel had told him some of the witnesses had given false evidence and had
withheld certain evidence which could have been given in his favour. With
regards to the suggestions that Daniel could be ‘forgetful’ and ‘stupid’ Daniel
had in fact already been interviewed by an Inspector-General of Mental
Hospitals and reported that there was no substance in the suggestion that
Daniel was not of sound mind.
Despite
Wheeler doing all this, it was decided on the 11th of June that
there was no reason to interfere to prevent the law from taking its course on
Daniel so the sentence of death by hanging was given a date for the 16th
of June 1923 at 8am
Wheeler
wasn’t giving up easily though. On the 14th of June he and his
brother John had an interview with the Minister of Justice again citing Daniels
head injury. They said he was struck on the head at age 12 with a stone and had
been queer ever since (queer had a completely different meaning back in 1923)
The brothers believed that as Daniel was convicted on what they thought to be
merely circumstantial evidence, that he should’ve been given a reprieve.
Wheeler went on to say
‘There is a plot of ground, and when the
police came to examine it they found two graves, one two inches below the clay
level and the other about six inches below the clay level. It was thought that
two bodies had been lifted and disposted of – this was whilst our brother was
in custody; that showed that someone else had done it, meaning that someone
else was in it’
‘The police seem to think that these two holes
were graves at one time. While he was in the police station graves had been dug
up and the holes filled in – that goes to prove that some other party was in it’
The
minister of justice passed Wheelers statements onto the Governor General but it
doesn’t appear that anything was actually done about it as Daniels sentence
wasn’t changed.
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| Daniels finals statements 15th and 16th June 1923 Archives NZ |
At 8am on
the 16th of June 1923 Daniel Richard Cooper is hanged by the neck
until his body was dead. He was hanged at the Terrace Gaol in a small unused tailor’s
room. Nine people attended his execution and he was the final person to be
hanged at The Terrace Gaol. The medical practitioner and surgeon of the Terrace
Gaol was one of the people who attended the execution and examined the body
afterwards and declared that death was instantaneous and caused by dislocation
of the neck.
Martha had
been acquitted of all charges and moved back south to Gore and changed her
surname back to Stewart (her maiden name) She later married again but never had
any children of her own, from Daniel or her second marriage. She passed away in
1975 and is buried at Gore Cemetery.
Hannah and
Violet went south to live with Daniels mother but she passed away three years
later. Hannah was now 15 years old and Violet was 11 years old. I’m not
entirely sure what happened to them after Daniels mother died but I believe
they both spent some time in Auckland with Daniels brother, Wheeler. Hannah
never married or had any children of her own but she did change her name. She
passed away in 1995 Violet married in 1937 but also never had any children of
her own. Violet passed away in 2002 and both she and Hannah are buried with
their mother, Mirriam at Gore Cemetery.
I’ve heard
several things about the Newlands property and what happened to it. A lot of
things I’ve read say the house was demolished but dates on when it was
demolished vary hugely (some saying it was demolished in the 80s or 90s while
others say it was demolished in the early 70s) I also read that the property
was abandoned and fell into disrepair until someone brought the property and
redeveloped it. I tend to believe this version. Historic aerials for the area
go back as far as 1944 and you can clearly see a house with two small dwellings
just north of it. On the police map that was drawn of the property while they
were investigating, the locations of all buildings match and even the outline
of the house is very similar. The property (which was actually quite large)
had been subdivided and the area that had Daniel and Marthas house on it was
part of a subdivision in 1960 and a certificate of title for the house was
given in 1962 The house was given some renovations in the 1970s and I’m
guessing this is why people think the house was demolished. Maybe it was but
the aerial view shape of the house has never changed and to this day it still
stands in exactly the same place.
Three babies (infants) were found on the Coopers property. The first was believed to be the child of Margaret Mary McLeod and William James Walsh. The second that was found was never identified (they couldn’t even tell what gender it was due to the condition it was found in) and the third was later believed to be the second child of Beatrice Beadle and Daniel Cooper. The first was buried at Karori Cemetery and after visiting the plot I found someone had kindly placed a white cross. The other two were kept by the police (I think for training purposes) and in 2015 the remains were cremated and buried at Makara Cemetery.
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| The two infants found on Daniels property were laid to rest here |
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| Baby Annie McLeod Infant of Margaret McLeod and William Walsh |
Daniel Cooper lies buried in an unmarked grave in Karori Cemetery.
Daniel Coopers plot at Karori Cemetery
Daniel
Richard Cooper was born on the 18th of October 1881 I am posting
this story on the 18th of October 1924 Which means today is Daniel
Coopers 143rd Birthday.
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