[Faline]

Albert Stewart Warnkin and Adolf Gustave Beutler, 18 October 1920

Albert Stewart Warnkin is listed in the NSW Police Gazette of 10 November 1920, as charged with attempting to carnally know a girl eight years old. No entry is found for Beutler, whose picture is inscribed ‘wilful and obscene exposure’.

Thomas Craig, Raymond Neil (aka “Gaffney the Gunman”), William Thompson and FW Wilson, January 25, 1928

This photograph was apparently taken in the aftermath of a raid led by Chief Bill Mackay – later to be Commissioner of Police – on a house at 74 Riley Street, ‘lower Darlinghurst’. Numerous charges were heard against the 15 men and women arrested. It was a house frequented by ‘reputed thieves’.

Eugenia Falleni, alias Harry Crawford, 1920

When ‘Harry Leon Crawford’, hotel cleaner of Stanmore was arrested and charged with wife murder he was revealed to be in fact Eugeni Falleni, a woman and mother, who had been passing as a man since 1899. In 1914, as ‘Harry Crawford’, Falleni had married the widow Annie Birkett. Three years later, shortly after she announced to a relative that she had found out ‘something amazing about Harry’, Birkett disappeared.

Ah Low – May 31, 1928


Joseph Messenger – February 15, 1922

Joseph Messenger and Valerie Lowe were arrested in 1921 for breaking into an army warehouse and stealing boots and overcoats to the value of 29 pounds 3 shillings. The following year, when this photograph was taken, they were charged with breaking and entering a dwelling. Those charges were eventually dropped but they were arrested again later that year for stealing a saddle and bridle from Rosebery Racecourse. As an adult Messenger was active in inner-Sydney underworld through the 1920s, and he appears in the NSW Criminal Register (16 July 1930 entry no 171) as a seasoned criminal and gang affiliate.

De Gracy (sic) and Edward Dalton circa 1920


Frank Murray alias Harry Williams – February 4, 1929

Harry Williams was sentenced to 12 months hard labour on March 1929 for breaking, entering and stealing. Although he ‘consorts with prostitutes’ and ‘frequents hotels and wine bars in the vicinity of the Haymarket’, he is described as being of ‘quiet disposition’.

Gilbert Burleigh and Joseph Delaney – August 27, 1920

Gilbert Burleigh on the left is identified as a ‘hotel barber’, and Delaney’s picture is labelled ‘false pretences & conspiracy’. A companion photograph makes it clear that in fact Delaney was the hotel barber – meaning one who books into a hotel, boarding house or residential and robs (or ‘snips’) fellow patrons, usually in the dead of night.

William Cahill – July 30, 1923


Sydney Skukerman, or Skukarman – September 25, 1924

An entry in the Supplement to the NSW Police Gazette Sydney for Skukerman, (alias Kukarman, alias Cecil Landan) is captioned ‘obtains goods from warehousemen by falsely representing that he is in business’.

“Silent Tom” Richards and T Ross, alias Walton – April 12, 1920


George Whitehall – February 24, 1922

George Whitehall, carpenter, handed himself into Newtown police after hacking to death his common-law wife, Ida Parker on Thursday afternoon 21 February 1922, at their home in Pleasant Avenue, Erskineville. This photo was apparently taken the following morning at Newtown Police Station.

Guiseppe Fiori, alias Permontto – August 5, 1924

No entry for Fiori/Permontto is found in the NSW Police Gazette for 1924, although this photo appears in a later photo supplement, in which Fiori is described as a safebreaker.

John Walter Ford and Oswald Clive Nash – June 1921


Kong Lee – November 27, 1922

Kong Lee makes numerous appearances in the NSW Police Gazette as a ‘safe blower’ and ‘thief’, and is noted in the issue of February 1929 as having recently been seen riding trains ‘in the company of card sharpers and spielers’.

Ernest Joseph Coffey – June 2, 1922

[mgala]

We've come a long way since..

[kellyhound]

When ‘Harry Leon Crawford’, hotel cleaner of Stanmore was arrested and charged with wife murder he was revealed to be in fact Eugeni Falleni, a woman and mother, who had been passing as a man since 1899.

[nbabie]

Very awesome

[Pyramid_Head]

Great pictures.

[tecumseh35]

Good stuff.

[fattubbashit]

Some very dapper crims. Photo 7 looks like Kramers grandpa.

[Jeffinny]

Excellent post. Thanks

[William May]

Can't believe these dudes are all dressed in suits with vests. A lot more class than the modern crooks have.

[diannegrow1]

Amazing!