Alexander Pitman – The Man Behind the Legend!

I am sure that most people who are interested in the history of the Goldfields of Western Australia will have heard the story of the two gold stealing officers were cruelly murdered and their bodies dismembered and thrown down a mine shaft just outside of town at Millers Find.  A great deal has been written on this crime both at the time and since. Two men were convicted in a sensational trial in Kalgoorlie and both were sentenced to death by hanging in Fremantle Gaol.

The two men, both then married with children, were all that remained of the once six-man Kalgoorlie Gold Stealing Detection Branch squad, which was set up to curtail illegal gold trafficking in the Goldfields.  Left to patrol the entire area, the two officers surprised two gold thieves at a secret gold treatment plant on April 28, 1926.

The pair shot and killed both officers and, with the help of the local publican from the Cornwall Hotel, used a carving knife and handsaw to dismember the officers’ bodies and burn their remains in a furnace.
The charred body parts were thrown down a disused mine shaft at Miller’s Find, almost 10 kilometres south-west of Kalgoorlie.
They were eventually discovered on May 12 and three local men – Phillip Treffene, William Coulter and Evan Clarke – were eventually arrested.
The publican, Evan Clarke, turned in evidence against the other two men, who were found guilty of murder and hanged.

I recently attended a memorial service on the Norton Gold Mining lease to commemorate the lives of these two men who gave their lives while in the police service. Fittingly it was held on Police Remembrance Day and as you will see an impressive memorial was erected. Members of the public are now allowed to go onto the lease to view the memorial by following the sign on the Kalgoorlie to Coolgardie Road. Norton Gold funded the entire project.

Pitman and Walsh Memorial at Millers Find.

Although a good deal has been written about Gold Stealing Detective Walsh there is not a lot written about Alexander Pitman.

He was a man who spent most of his police career in the Western Australian Goldfields. Indeed if you do a search of the name ‘Pitman’ in the WA Newspaper on TROVE you will see a great number of entries where he was the arresting officer or part of a case.

He was born in Victoria on the 2^nd October 1872. He was recorded as being ft 11 inches with brown hair and eyes and he was described as ‘of ordinary appearance’.  He was a married man and before joining the police force was a labourer. His first wife, Mary Atkins, died in child birth. Mary Angela Fitzgerald was his second wife, they married in Mt Sir Samuel, WA in 1901. They had three children, Frank (Francis Alexander born Lennonville 1905), Aimee E, born Boulder 1912, Peggy, (Mary Bridget born Lennonville 1904). The family lived at 73 Moran Street, Boulder in 1920 but before his death his wife and children had moved to Perth and he gave his address as the Police Station in Piesse Street, Boulder.

Gold Stealers by Brian Purdue

If you would like to read the full story I can recommend the above publication which was written by Brian Purdue, a relative of one of the officers investigating the case. It can be purchased from Hesperian Press @ www.hesperianpress.com

Walsh’s and Pitman’s funeral in Perth on 17 May 1926 was a procession watched by thousands, and attended by a large number of police officers. The memorial to the two policemen was originally of low interest, however, in the year of the states centenary it was unveiled by the Governor .

Funeral of Alexander Pitman 17.5.1926

The memorial was originally erected outside the police building in Adelaide Tce , East Perth, moved for a time to the WA Police Headquarters, and is now located in the WA Police Academy at Joondalup.

Pitman and Walsh Memorial at Joondalup Acadamy.

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Moya Sharp

Owner at Outback Family History

My name is Moya Sharp, I live in Kalgoorlie Western Australia and have worked most of my adult life in the history/museum industry. I have been passionate about history for as long as I can remember and in particular the history of my adopted home the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Through my website I am committed to providing as many records and photographs free to any one who is interested in the family and local history of the region.

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