Monday, June 8, 2009

More about Detective Sergeant Manning... - 3 Comments

In 1929 Arthur Upfield, Australia's premier crime writer, plotted the perfect murder for his novel The Sands of Windee.  Meanwhile, one of his friends, stockman Snowy Rowles, put the scheme into deadly effect, even before the book was published.  The result was one of Australia's most sensational murder trials of the 1930's.  Although the inspiration for the ‘perfect murder' was an idea for a work of fiction, it would take a real life detective with patience and cunning to solve it.

Henry John Manning was born in Victoria in 1872. He travelled to Perth with his brother and joined the West Australian Police Force as a Probationary Constable in 1897, working his way up to achieve the rank of 1st Class Detective Sergeant in 1932.

His professionalism was often noted, as witnessed in this letter written to the Commissioner for Police in 1930,"I would like to place on record the kind and considerate attention afforded us by your capable Assistant, Detective Sergeant Manning... throughout the whole sorrowful ordeal his attitude was that of a gentleman coupled with a quiet and genuine consideration of our feelings..."

Early in his career there was an occasion when his attention to detail was not so appreciated. Manning received complaints from the Burtville Station community that he was too strict and the locals petitioned to have him removed. He had been breaking up gambling in schools and the local hospital.

In 1926, Manning was called back to Kalgoorlie, where he had spent nine years working on the Gold-stealing Detection Squad, to investigate the disappearances of Inspector Walsh and Sergeant Pitman. Two headless, dismembered corpses had been found down an abandoned mine shaft wrapped in a pair of distinctively tailored trousers and covered with discarded orange peel. Manning started on the trail of two illicit gold dealers, whose frantic efforts to conceal the crime were no match for the Detective's thorough methods.

Manning's success in Kalgoorlie and his experience of working in the bush, may have been why he was chosen to lead the investigation into the disappearance of Louis Carron, last seen driving, with Snowy Rowles, out past the Rabbit-proof Fence in the Murchison. Manning soon discovered that two other men, also last seen with Rowles, were now also missing. Unfortunately for Rowles, when Manning caught up with him, he immediately recognised him as John Smith, who had previously escaped from legal custody at Dalwallinu where he was up on burglary charges. Manning made this report on arresting Rowles, ‘When he got into the car I said "How long have you been known as Rowles?" He said "You know f**king well who I am and if I had known who you were you would not have got me so easy."
 
Manning and his team set about to solve the ‘perfect murder'. The ashes and burnt, broken bones had been dormant for 10 months. The police took to the site with a sieve in search of any trace of evidence that could lead to a conviction. It was only carelessness on the part of the murderer that allowed for a few bits of metal and some pieces of discarded skull that gave the police an advantage. The fact that Rowles was now in custody for his previous offences, gave Manning time to prepare the case. Witnesses were brought out from New Zealand. Pieces of bone, false teeth, clothing, Carron's wedding ring and metal packaging fragments were analysed. Even Arthur Upfield was brought in for questioning.

In March 1932, after two hours deliberation, the Jury found Rowles guilty of the murder of Carron.  Due to a substantial lack of evidence, the case of the missing persons Lloyd and Ryan could not be pursued.  For all his tireless work on the case, Manning was left with an unwanted legacy. On the first day of the trial, he slipped on the mat at the entrance of the Supreme Court Building in Perth and sprained his knee. Fortunately he had accrued 5 months long service leave in which to recover. 

Photo: Detective Sergeant Harry Manning. Courtesy Battye Library 0119494d 

Find more amazing stories of WA police history at Western Australia Police Historical Society Inc.

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