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The Gatton Murder Mystery


Lilith Immaculate

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In 1898 in my little hometown of Gatton Queensland Australia there was a horrific murder of a brother and his two sisters. the murder remains unsolved to this day. Here's a link where you can get the gist of the story,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatton_murders

but one thing they leave out is that Michael Murphy was not only shot, he was choked to death first by a leather strap/belt from the horses reigns, this was later discovered after his body was exhumed after finding out the gun shot was not the cause of death.

This link will show you a picture of Michael Murphy

http://enc.slq.qld.gov.au/logicrouter/serv...mp;num_result=0

Just a little bit of my home town history.

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I've heard about this previously but haven't researched it, thanks for reminding me. :D

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That's was a rather interesting read, thanks for that.

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  • 1 year later...

I know this topic is pretty old, but I stumbled across it while looking for info on the murders.

According to a family member of mine, there was a priest in Gatton who went mad after these murders occured. The rumour was that someone admitted to the killings during confessional. Since anything said in confessional can never be mentioned by the priest to anyone, the burden played on his mind and sent him insane.

Cheers.

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This is very interesting. For some reason I couldn't open the picture of Michael Murphy but I guess it's not necessary anyways. Hopefully that's the only reason the priest killed himself. Maybe he was insane before that? Has anyone thought about that? Maybe the priest did it. Scarey thought isn't it? But then there are a lot of priests that have done some pretty unsavory things that have come to light lately...It's not completely impossible.

Hey maybe I just solved a mystery!

Edited by conspiracybeliever
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  • 1 month later...
This is very interesting. For some reason I couldn't open the picture of Michael Murphy but I guess it's not necessary anyways. Hopefully that's the only reason the priest killed himself. Maybe he was insane before that? Has anyone thought about that? Maybe the priest did it. Scarey thought isn't it? But then there are a lot of priests that have done some pretty unsavory things that have come to light lately...It's not completely impossible.

Hey maybe I just solved a mystery!

Old topic, but was reserching on the internet and this came up, I am very close to this subject, very close to my heart.

If you look int he book 'the gatton murders' the photos int he center of the house? I learned to ride horses at that place, i spent countless nights in that house and my trainer, Pat Murphy(Jnr), was the son of Pat murphy in the story, He was michaels, Ellens, and Norahs nephew. The subject of these murders held a massive burden over his life, his whole life. and we used to look at him in wonder. His life came to an end when his 40 year old daughter commited suicide in that house, and Pat Murphys old, frail mind and body could no longer withstand life. His horses were sold, and he was moved onto a retirement village, where he spent his last days. that house, with all of that history, was knocked down and made into crops. this broke Pats heart. but it happened, its too late now.

Before pat passed, he was telling me all about the gatton murders. He also told me that he knows who did it, and why. he said that he never told anyone, nor will he tell anyone, as he does not want it out in the open as he is deeply ashamed. I have an inkling, but no one will ever know for sure because he was the last person alive to know for sure what happened that day.

I lvoed Pat Murphy Jnr, he was my trainer, my mentor and my life for a very long tiem, and it wasnt until the end that i realised what his life actually involved, from something that happened 10 years before he was born, and was a burden on his shoudlers his entire life.

R.I.P Pat

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Old topic, but was reserching on the internet and this came up, I am very close to this subject, very close to my heart.

If you look int he book 'the gatton murders' the photos int he center of the house? I learned to ride horses at that place, i spent countless nights in that house and my trainer, Pat Murphy(Jnr), was the son of Pat murphy in the story, He was michaels, Ellens, and Norahs nephew. The subject of these murders held a massive burden over his life, his whole life. and we used to look at him in wonder. His life came to an end when his 40 year old daughter commited suicide in that house, and Pat Murphys old, frail mind and body could no longer withstand life. His horses were sold, and he was moved onto a retirement village, where he spent his last days. that house, with all of that history, was knocked down and made into crops. this broke Pats heart. but it happened, its too late now.

Before pat passed, he was telling me all about the gatton murders. He also told me that he knows who did it, and why. he said that he never told anyone, nor will he tell anyone, as he does not want it out in the open as he is deeply ashamed. I have an inkling, but no one will ever know for sure because he was the last person alive to know for sure what happened that day.

I lvoed Pat Murphy Jnr, he was my trainer, my mentor and my life for a very long tiem, and it wasnt until the end that i realised what his life actually involved, from something that happened 10 years before he was born, and was a burden on his shoudlers his entire life.

R.I.P Pat

This story is so sad. Now I have to find that book. I'll check Amazon. So Pat was the last of the family? They're all gone now? It's so sad.

Wow that is an expensive book. They have 2 on Amazon, both used. One is 29.01 and the other is 47.11. I wonder how much they are new. It must be a good book.

Edited by conspiracybeliever
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This story is so sad. Now I have to find that book. I'll check Amazon. So Pat was the last of the family? They're all gone now? It's so sad.

Wow that is an expensive book. They have 2 on Amazon, both used. One is 29.01 and the other is 47.11. I wonder how much they are new. It must be a good book.

Pats wife is living the last of her days now, and they also have a daughter in her 40's and although she is married she doesnt have children as she is wheelchair bound from being paralysed. Much like Polly in the story actually...! the Eldest daughter becoming paralysed. She will be the last of the Murphys unfortunately.

I am actually reading the book again now, very occasionally, usually around the time we lost Pat Murphy, i bring the book out and read it and look at those photos in detail and try to connect parts of the story up with what Pat had told me, but thats that, we will never know! :(

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I have to get this book now. It'll be cold enough to start lighting my fireplace. I have to have a good book to read in front of my fireplace in the winter. And this sounds like the perfect book.

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Its interesting, after i read the book and the intricite descriptions of the house and the bedroom placements and the fine details when explaining people leaving through a window etc, and then of course i woudl go back to that house to spend a weekend training horses, walk into the spare room and it woudl hit me that i am going through as described in the books.

The place always looked so last century that i could PICTURE the family occupying the house, and the feed yards and barns spoken about in the book still stood until the place was turned to crops, so you could picture the horses described, wandering around on that land, and where in the book there was spoken about a fire that had been started purposefully on the big crop of Murphy land? well one night we woke up to the fire: started in the exact same place. AND burning the same area too, and started around the same time of night, but 100 years later. It was very scary as all i coudl think about was the book, the fire was put under control and all i can asssume is that a local idiot had read the book and thought it would be hilarious to remind the family of there terrible history, and it worked.

i do feel privelaged to be so close to the subject but i sure do hold a large element of sadness for my trainer, and still trip out about memories of staying int hat house and looking around, remembering. A story really comes to life when you have seen the settings in the flesh.

I have also seen the area where norah ellen and michael were found dead, and in teh book they speak of the McNiels farm?? well it still exists today, and its still called the mcNiels farm. Its all a very interested peice of history, with much of it still standing today

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And you said your trainer knew who did it but wouldn't say because he was ashamed so that probably eliminates the priest as the killer. It sounds like it was a family member if he was ashamed. It's so strange that the family would keep the sectret all their lives, passing it from generation to generation.

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And you said your trainer knew who did it but wouldn't say because he was ashamed so that probably eliminates the priest as the killer. It sounds like it was a family member if he was ashamed. It's so strange that the family would keep the sectret all their lives, passing it from generation to generation.

That's what I thought was implied as well.

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That's what I thought was implied as well.

My assumption is that it was pat murphy senior, there ARE clues that point to him after all, perhaps not that he was the killer (as why woudl he want to rape his own sisters) but that he conspired it for some reason.

and perhaps the whole family didnt know about it, just pat murphy senior, who let spill to his son at some point?? who knows!!

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My youngest daughter and I do research on unsolved crimes as interests. Usually it is "Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Bordan of Fall River MA, etc, but this one really peeks my interest. I'm going into Amazon and try and find that book too. If she is lucky she'll get it for Christmas. :yes:

Did your mentor ever imply a family member may had done it? Or did you have a gut feeling about who did it?

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he implied that it was a family member... and his level of shame is what makes me assume his father was involved.

I'll have to try to get the book too. If it wasn't his father, than maybe some other member of the family did the crime.

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I'll have to try to get the book too. If it wasn't his father, than maybe some other member of the family did the crime.

the odd thing about it though is the young boy killed a month prior, with completely different set of suspects, in Oxley, about an hour (by car) from gatton, but not found till after the murphies, shot in the same spot as Michael Muphy(behind the ear), with the same .380 cartdridge foudn near by and his horse was shot the same way the murphies horse was too, difference is with that there was seemingly no motive, where as with the murphies, there was so many posible motives it wasnt funny, including an in memorium found at the crime scene (murphies crime scene) regrding a friend of theres who died two years ago to the day that the murphies were killed, she died givng birth to a child said to be Michael Murphies.

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In 1898 in my little hometown of Gatton Queensland Australia there was a horrific murder of a brother and his two sisters. the murder remains unsolved to this day. Here's a link where you can get the gist of the story,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatton_murders

but one thing they leave out is that Michael Murphy was not only shot, he was choked to death first by a leather strap/belt from the horses reigns, this was later discovered after his body was exhumed after finding out the gun shot was not the cause of death.

This link will show you a picture of Michael Murphy

http://enc.slq.qld.gov.au/logicrouter/serv...mp;num_result=0

Just a little bit of my home town history.

That's interesting. Especially that no one's ever solved their murders and that no one's ever been charged for or have paid for the crimes.

I watched a Bill Kurtis special yesterday morning on "Cold Case Files" on the "Black Dahlia" murder in Los Angeles. Same thing. It's still unsolved and no one was ever charged or paid for the crime.

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That's interesting. Especially that no one's ever solved their murders and that no one's ever been charged for or have paid for the crimes.

I watched a Bill Kurtis special yesterday morning on "Cold Case Files" on the "Black Dahlia" murder in Los Angeles. Same thing. It's still unsolved and no one was ever charged or paid for the crime.

The Cold Case Files episode was a repeat from the original airing in 2006. Retired Chief of Detectives Dalley has evidence it was his own father who commited the killing of Elizabeth Short, as well as the similar murder of a Los Angeles area woman who was a contempereary of Ameilia Earheart. The LA aviatrix' body was found about 4 months after Elizabeth was found in the same general area. Too the lady flyer had a grotesec smile marked on her face, this time with lipstick, as well as numerous obscenities on her torso.

Det. Dalley also believes that his father was responsible for the Torso Killings in Illinois.

The LAPD refuses to even discuss the case with the retired detective sighting the detective "Has a hidden agenda." and is out to "defame the good names" of officers and detectives who handled the case.

Yeah this one didn't make any sinse to me either.

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  • 8 months later...
In 1898 in my little hometown of Gatton Queensland Australia there was a horrific murder of a brother and his two sisters. the murder remains unsolved to this day. Here's a link where you can get the gist of the story,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatton_murders

but one thing they leave out is that Michael Murphy was not only shot, he was choked to death first by a leather strap/belt from the horses reigns, this was later discovered after his body was exhumed after finding out the gun shot was not the cause of death.

This link will show you a picture of Michael Murphy

http://enc.slq.qld.gov.au/logicrouter/serv...mp;num_result=0

Just a little bit of my home town history.

Appreciate the information - my understanding though, it that Norah in fact had the strap around her neck (which wasn't actually discovered until after the bodies had been removed from the scene). Michael was thought to have been bashed to death (like his sisters), however, his body was exhumed a few days after the initial burial and that's when they found he had in fact been shot. Whilst it is a great mystery as to what happened to the three, from what evidence there is, it seems there's a reasonable chance that Thomas Day, who lived in Gatton for only about 4 weeks - at the time of the murders, and who resided next door, is a strong suspect.

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  • 7 months later...

If anyone wants to know more about The "Gatton Murders" also known as the "Gatton Tragedy" the "Gatton Mystery" and the "Murphy Mystery" you should visit http://www.gattonmurders.com/ it is the most comprehensive site on the net or maybe anywhere regarding this crime.

You may even be able to help solve this crime.

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  • 3 months later...

can't understand the "mystery" tag here. everyone but those with an i.q. smaller than their boot size knows who was responsible. the police performed like their usual lazy selves & the main culprit simply meandered away - he didn't even need to hurry....the only mystery is how Urquhart & cohorts weren't charged with criminal negligence. by continually calling this a mystery, the only folk being hurt are family descendants. they still grieve. please leave them alone. those who perpetuate the theories that Murphy family members were somehow involved are, in my opinion, as sick as the men who carried out this atrocious act. but some obviously gain some sort of satisfaction spewing up outrageous theories with no basis in fact. the workings of the mind of those "ghouls" is the only mystery surrounding the Gatton tragedy.

Edited by paintedfinch
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<!--quoteo(post=1737138:date=Jun 22 2007, 01:41 AM:name=darrkmoonbride)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (darrkmoonbride @ Jun 22 2007, 01:41 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1737138"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->In 1898 in my little hometown of Gatton Queensland Australia there was a horrific murder of a brother and his two sisters. the murder remains unsolved to this day. Here's a link where you can get the gist of the story,

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatton_murders" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatton_murders</a>

but one thing they leave out is that Michael Murphy was not only shot, he was choked to death first by a leather strap/belt from the horses reigns, this was later discovered after his body was exhumed after finding out the gun shot was not the cause of death.

This link will show you a picture of Michael Murphy

<a href="http://enc.slq.qld.gov.au/logicrouter/servlet/LogicRouter?PAGE=object&OUTPUTXSL=object_enc36ui.xslt&pm_RC=PICTQLD&pm_OI=33159&api_1=GET_OBJECT_XML&num_result=0" target="_blank">http://enc.slq.qld.gov.au/logicrouter/serv...mp;num_result=0</a>

Just a little bit of my home town history.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

That's interesting. Especially that no one's ever solved their murders and that no one's ever been charged for or have paid for the crimes.

I watched a Bill Kurtis special yesterday morning on "Cold Case Files" on the "Black Dahlia" murder in Los Angeles. Same thing. It's still unsolved and no one was ever charged or paid for the crime.

An interesting book which may have the murders in it is Open Files,by Jay Robert Nash,McGraw-Hill Publishers,1983.

It has all sorts of unsolved murders in it ,not only in America but England,Scotland,etc. It even has the theft of the crown jewels of Ireland. There is of course the Black Dahlia, Zodiac, The Toledo Clubber, The Cleveland Torso Murders, Jack the Ripper and many more.

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