Henry (Harry) Slater, 55, described by the police as a "stand-over" man and one-time underworld leader in Victoria, was murdered as he walked along a street to catch a tram at Yarra Bay junction this afternoon.
Slater was shot dead less than a quarter of a mile from the shack where he lived with his wife in Yarra Bay Rd. He had left her only a few minutes earlier.
An unknown man, with a bicycle, who had been waiting at an intersection where the shacks and small homes are widely scattered, fired two shots at Slater. One bullet entered his left ear, and Slater slumped on the road and died almost immediately. Tonight police were hunting for the murderer over the sandhills from La Perouse to Daceyville.
The police are trying to ascertain what happened immediately before the shooting. Two .22 cartridge shells were found near where the murderer's bicycle had been standing, and blood stains were discovered on the other side of the road. How these blood stains got there is a mystery, since the murderer, so far as the police know, was not injured.
Detectives are also trying to discover a motive for the murder. Slater was on relief work and until last Tuesday was working near the Long Bay gaol.
Police suspect, however, that someone might have had a grudge against him over starting price transactions, possibly because he was a "stand-over" man in the illegal betting business.
For 20 years Slater had not been in the hands of the police, but before that he was regarded as a dangerous criminal. Many of his convictions were in Victoria, where he was born.
Over 20 years ago Slater was shot three times in the abdomen by "Squizzy" Taylor during a feud with that notorious criminal. Taylor himself met his death in a gun duel in which he killed a man named "Snowy" Cutmore in a house at Carlton.
Slater was later arrested in Adelaide on a charge of murdering Thomas Peter Monaghan in Sydney in June, 1921. Another man arrested on the same charge was found guilty, but the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was recently released from gaol. Slater stood his trial three times, but each jury disagreed. The Crown then dropped the charge, and Slater was released.
Slater had lived at Yarra Bay for more than 10 years, and the police had received no complaints concerning him.
- Argus (Melbourne), 26 October 1940, p 1
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Detectives investigating the murder of Henry Slater at Yarra Bay on Friday night are inclined to believe that the shooting was the sequel to an underworld feud of long standing.
Detectives have ascertained that a man on a bicycle waited for Slater and fired one shot at him, probably from a sawn-off rifle. The bullet struck him on the arm and then the chest and when Slater fell the man walked up to him and fired another shot into his head, standing over him to make sure he was dead. Associates of the dead man are maintaining close silence.
Henry Slater was the last of a coterie of Australian gunmen whose exploits made unpleasant news for Melbourne 20 years ago.
An associate of the notorious "Squizzy" Taylor, he quarrelled with him over the proceeds of a jewel robbery in 1920, and the quarrel led to the most sensational period of gang warfare in Melbourne history.
Slater was 55 when a gunman's bullet killed him on Friday. If "Squizzy" Taylor had lived, it is doubtful whether he would have reached so ripe an age. "Squizzy" nearly got him in 1921, when he caught him in Little Collins street and put three revolver bullets into his stomach.
Surviving the bullets, Slater decided that Melbourne was too hot for him, and made Sydney his headquarters. With him, among other henchmen, went "Snowy" Cutmore.
With 600 miles separating the rival gang leaders, there was no more shooting for a while. In 1927, however, Slater's pal Cutmore returned to Melbourne, and "Squizzy" inevitably heard of it. On the evening of October 27, 1927—13 years ago yesterday—"Squizzy" and two companions hailed a taxi, and found Cutmore in a back bedroom of a lodging house in Barkley street, Carlton, run by his mother. He was in bed suffering from influenza, but he had a revolver under his pillow. A few words were exchanged—none lived to tell what they were—and there was a fusillade of shots. "Snowy" Cutmore's mother ran to the room to see what was happening, in time to receive a bullet in her shoulder and to see Taylor reeling out.
The taxi driver who had brought him took "Squizzy" to St Vincent's Hospital, but he lived only 20 minutes after he was admitted. Cutmore was already dead.
If Slater was ever tempted to assume the mantle of "Squizzy" Taylor, now that "Squizzy" was dead he never yielded to the temptation. He "went quiet." Perhaps he even "went relatively straight," for he was on relief work when he died —two days before the 13th anniversary of the death of "Squizzy."
- Argus (Melbourne), 28 October 1940, p 3
Slater was shot dead less than a quarter of a mile from the shack where he lived with his wife in Yarra Bay Rd. He had left her only a few minutes earlier.
An unknown man, with a bicycle, who had been waiting at an intersection where the shacks and small homes are widely scattered, fired two shots at Slater. One bullet entered his left ear, and Slater slumped on the road and died almost immediately. Tonight police were hunting for the murderer over the sandhills from La Perouse to Daceyville.
The police are trying to ascertain what happened immediately before the shooting. Two .22 cartridge shells were found near where the murderer's bicycle had been standing, and blood stains were discovered on the other side of the road. How these blood stains got there is a mystery, since the murderer, so far as the police know, was not injured.
Detectives are also trying to discover a motive for the murder. Slater was on relief work and until last Tuesday was working near the Long Bay gaol.
Police suspect, however, that someone might have had a grudge against him over starting price transactions, possibly because he was a "stand-over" man in the illegal betting business.
For 20 years Slater had not been in the hands of the police, but before that he was regarded as a dangerous criminal. Many of his convictions were in Victoria, where he was born.
Over 20 years ago Slater was shot three times in the abdomen by "Squizzy" Taylor during a feud with that notorious criminal. Taylor himself met his death in a gun duel in which he killed a man named "Snowy" Cutmore in a house at Carlton.
Slater was later arrested in Adelaide on a charge of murdering Thomas Peter Monaghan in Sydney in June, 1921. Another man arrested on the same charge was found guilty, but the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was recently released from gaol. Slater stood his trial three times, but each jury disagreed. The Crown then dropped the charge, and Slater was released.
Slater had lived at Yarra Bay for more than 10 years, and the police had received no complaints concerning him.
- Argus (Melbourne), 26 October 1940, p 1
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Detectives investigating the murder of Henry Slater at Yarra Bay on Friday night are inclined to believe that the shooting was the sequel to an underworld feud of long standing.
Detectives have ascertained that a man on a bicycle waited for Slater and fired one shot at him, probably from a sawn-off rifle. The bullet struck him on the arm and then the chest and when Slater fell the man walked up to him and fired another shot into his head, standing over him to make sure he was dead. Associates of the dead man are maintaining close silence.
Henry Slater was the last of a coterie of Australian gunmen whose exploits made unpleasant news for Melbourne 20 years ago.
An associate of the notorious "Squizzy" Taylor, he quarrelled with him over the proceeds of a jewel robbery in 1920, and the quarrel led to the most sensational period of gang warfare in Melbourne history.
Slater was 55 when a gunman's bullet killed him on Friday. If "Squizzy" Taylor had lived, it is doubtful whether he would have reached so ripe an age. "Squizzy" nearly got him in 1921, when he caught him in Little Collins street and put three revolver bullets into his stomach.
Surviving the bullets, Slater decided that Melbourne was too hot for him, and made Sydney his headquarters. With him, among other henchmen, went "Snowy" Cutmore.
With 600 miles separating the rival gang leaders, there was no more shooting for a while. In 1927, however, Slater's pal Cutmore returned to Melbourne, and "Squizzy" inevitably heard of it. On the evening of October 27, 1927—13 years ago yesterday—"Squizzy" and two companions hailed a taxi, and found Cutmore in a back bedroom of a lodging house in Barkley street, Carlton, run by his mother. He was in bed suffering from influenza, but he had a revolver under his pillow. A few words were exchanged—none lived to tell what they were—and there was a fusillade of shots. "Snowy" Cutmore's mother ran to the room to see what was happening, in time to receive a bullet in her shoulder and to see Taylor reeling out.
The taxi driver who had brought him took "Squizzy" to St Vincent's Hospital, but he lived only 20 minutes after he was admitted. Cutmore was already dead.
If Slater was ever tempted to assume the mantle of "Squizzy" Taylor, now that "Squizzy" was dead he never yielded to the temptation. He "went quiet." Perhaps he even "went relatively straight," for he was on relief work when he died —two days before the 13th anniversary of the death of "Squizzy."
- Argus (Melbourne), 28 October 1940, p 3
Henry (Harry) Slater, 55, described by the police as a "stand-over" man and one-time underworld leader in Victoria, was murdered as he walked along a street to catch a tram at Yarra Bay junction this afternoon.
Slater was shot dead less than a quarter of a mile from the shack where he lived with his wife in Yarra Bay Rd. He had left her only a few minutes earlier.
An unknown man, with a bicycle, who had been waiting at an intersection where the shacks and small homes are widely scattered, fired two shots at Slater. One bullet entered his left ear, and Slater slumped on the road and died almost immediately. Tonight police were hunting for the murderer over the sandhills from La Perouse to Daceyville.
The police are trying to ascertain what happened immediately before the shooting. Two .22 cartridge shells were found near where the murderer's bicycle had been standing, and blood stains were discovered on the other side of the road. How these blood stains got there is a mystery, since the murderer, so far as the police know, was not injured.
Detectives are also trying to discover a motive for the murder. Slater was on relief work and until last Tuesday was working near the Long Bay gaol.
Police suspect, however, that someone might have had a grudge against him over starting price transactions, possibly because he was a "stand-over" man in the illegal betting business.
For 20 years Slater had not been in the hands of the police, but before that he was regarded as a dangerous criminal. Many of his convictions were in Victoria, where he was born.
Over 20 years ago Slater was shot three times in the abdomen by "Squizzy" Taylor during a feud with that notorious criminal. Taylor himself met his death in a gun duel in which he killed a man named "Snowy" Cutmore in a house at Carlton.
Slater was later arrested in Adelaide on a charge of murdering Thomas Peter Monaghan in Sydney in June, 1921. Another man arrested on the same charge was found guilty, but the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was recently released from gaol. Slater stood his trial three times, but each jury disagreed. The Crown then dropped the charge, and Slater was released.
Slater had lived at Yarra Bay for more than 10 years, and the police had received no complaints concerning him.
- Argus (Melbourne), 26 October 1940, p 1
-----
Detectives investigating the murder of Henry Slater at Yarra Bay on Friday night are inclined to believe that the shooting was the sequel to an underworld feud of long standing.
Detectives have ascertained that a man on a bicycle waited for Slater and fired one shot at him, probably from a sawn-off rifle. The bullet struck him on the arm and then the chest and when Slater fell the man walked up to him and fired another shot into his head, standing over him to make sure he was dead. Associates of the dead man are maintaining close silence.
Henry Slater was the last of a coterie of Australian gunmen whose exploits made unpleasant news for Melbourne 20 years ago.
An associate of the notorious "Squizzy" Taylor, he quarrelled with him over the proceeds of a jewel robbery in 1920, and the quarrel led to the most sensational period of gang warfare in Melbourne history.
Slater was 55 when a gunman's bullet killed him on Friday. If "Squizzy" Taylor had lived, it is doubtful whether he would have reached so ripe an age. "Squizzy" nearly got him in 1921, when he caught him in Little Collins street and put three revolver bullets into his stomach.
Surviving the bullets, Slater decided that Melbourne was too hot for him, and made Sydney his headquarters. With him, among other henchmen, went "Snowy" Cutmore.
With 600 miles separating the rival gang leaders, there was no more shooting for a while. In 1927, however, Slater's pal Cutmore returned to Melbourne, and "Squizzy" inevitably heard of it. On the evening of October 27, 1927—13 years ago yesterday—"Squizzy" and two companions hailed a taxi, and found Cutmore in a back bedroom of a lodging house in Barkley street, Carlton, run by his mother. He was in bed suffering from influenza, but he had a revolver under his pillow. A few words were exchanged—none lived to tell what they were—and there was a fusillade of shots. "Snowy" Cutmore's mother ran to the room to see what was happening, in time to receive a bullet in her shoulder and to see Taylor reeling out.
The taxi driver who had brought him took "Squizzy" to St Vincent's Hospital, but he lived only 20 minutes after he was admitted. Cutmore was already dead.
If Slater was ever tempted to assume the mantle of "Squizzy" Taylor, now that "Squizzy" was dead he never yielded to the temptation. He "went quiet." Perhaps he even "went relatively straight," for he was on relief work when he died —two days before the 13th anniversary of the death of "Squizzy."
- Argus (Melbourne), 28 October 1940, p 3
Slater was shot dead less than a quarter of a mile from the shack where he lived with his wife in Yarra Bay Rd. He had left her only a few minutes earlier.
An unknown man, with a bicycle, who had been waiting at an intersection where the shacks and small homes are widely scattered, fired two shots at Slater. One bullet entered his left ear, and Slater slumped on the road and died almost immediately. Tonight police were hunting for the murderer over the sandhills from La Perouse to Daceyville.
The police are trying to ascertain what happened immediately before the shooting. Two .22 cartridge shells were found near where the murderer's bicycle had been standing, and blood stains were discovered on the other side of the road. How these blood stains got there is a mystery, since the murderer, so far as the police know, was not injured.
Detectives are also trying to discover a motive for the murder. Slater was on relief work and until last Tuesday was working near the Long Bay gaol.
Police suspect, however, that someone might have had a grudge against him over starting price transactions, possibly because he was a "stand-over" man in the illegal betting business.
For 20 years Slater had not been in the hands of the police, but before that he was regarded as a dangerous criminal. Many of his convictions were in Victoria, where he was born.
Over 20 years ago Slater was shot three times in the abdomen by "Squizzy" Taylor during a feud with that notorious criminal. Taylor himself met his death in a gun duel in which he killed a man named "Snowy" Cutmore in a house at Carlton.
Slater was later arrested in Adelaide on a charge of murdering Thomas Peter Monaghan in Sydney in June, 1921. Another man arrested on the same charge was found guilty, but the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was recently released from gaol. Slater stood his trial three times, but each jury disagreed. The Crown then dropped the charge, and Slater was released.
Slater had lived at Yarra Bay for more than 10 years, and the police had received no complaints concerning him.
- Argus (Melbourne), 26 October 1940, p 1
-----
Detectives investigating the murder of Henry Slater at Yarra Bay on Friday night are inclined to believe that the shooting was the sequel to an underworld feud of long standing.
Detectives have ascertained that a man on a bicycle waited for Slater and fired one shot at him, probably from a sawn-off rifle. The bullet struck him on the arm and then the chest and when Slater fell the man walked up to him and fired another shot into his head, standing over him to make sure he was dead. Associates of the dead man are maintaining close silence.
Henry Slater was the last of a coterie of Australian gunmen whose exploits made unpleasant news for Melbourne 20 years ago.
An associate of the notorious "Squizzy" Taylor, he quarrelled with him over the proceeds of a jewel robbery in 1920, and the quarrel led to the most sensational period of gang warfare in Melbourne history.
Slater was 55 when a gunman's bullet killed him on Friday. If "Squizzy" Taylor had lived, it is doubtful whether he would have reached so ripe an age. "Squizzy" nearly got him in 1921, when he caught him in Little Collins street and put three revolver bullets into his stomach.
Surviving the bullets, Slater decided that Melbourne was too hot for him, and made Sydney his headquarters. With him, among other henchmen, went "Snowy" Cutmore.
With 600 miles separating the rival gang leaders, there was no more shooting for a while. In 1927, however, Slater's pal Cutmore returned to Melbourne, and "Squizzy" inevitably heard of it. On the evening of October 27, 1927—13 years ago yesterday—"Squizzy" and two companions hailed a taxi, and found Cutmore in a back bedroom of a lodging house in Barkley street, Carlton, run by his mother. He was in bed suffering from influenza, but he had a revolver under his pillow. A few words were exchanged—none lived to tell what they were—and there was a fusillade of shots. "Snowy" Cutmore's mother ran to the room to see what was happening, in time to receive a bullet in her shoulder and to see Taylor reeling out.
The taxi driver who had brought him took "Squizzy" to St Vincent's Hospital, but he lived only 20 minutes after he was admitted. Cutmore was already dead.
If Slater was ever tempted to assume the mantle of "Squizzy" Taylor, now that "Squizzy" was dead he never yielded to the temptation. He "went quiet." Perhaps he even "went relatively straight," for he was on relief work when he died —two days before the 13th anniversary of the death of "Squizzy."
- Argus (Melbourne), 28 October 1940, p 3
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