Why don’t you look after mother. You take it very cool, you do.
She then let fly about all the injustices she felt:
we have been here six weeks for nothing. They charged us with killing Murray’s child, and I told them I did not know anything about it. And yet Florrie and I have to sit here and listen to the lies told by that girl who has just been in the box. I was taken away from my work, and have got no decent clothes. I have to come here in these rags, all through you. Why should they keep us here. We have told enough lies to screen you . . . and it’s through telling these lies that we are here. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You’re no father.
Blanche then ‘completely broke down’. John’s reaction was a revelation. Rather than the jocular story-teller, the reassuring adoptive father or the impassive, silent figure in court, his face, ‘as he listened to the violent denunciation of his daughter, was the picture of rage’ and it even appeared at one stage as if he would strike Blanche as he met her accusations ‘with defiant jeers’: ‘Shut your mouth, girl, shut your mouth!’.
But Blanche was not finished as she accused her father, ‘This is all through Mother Robinson putting you up to it. If you had not known her we would not have been put to all this trouble and wouldn’t be here’. With a few more jibes she gradually calmed down as the constables intervened. Sarah ‘cried and groaned in a dreadful fashion’, appealing to heaven to witness the lies told by Clarice, while Florence ‘buried her face in her pocket-handkerchief’. Mrs Makin, who had grown much thinner during her time in gaol and was very weak, had to be assisted out of the courtroom by her daughters.
Blanche’s denunciations suggest that John was the ringleader of the baby-farming business, exploiting and relying on Sarah’s mothering skills as well as those of his daughters to give the appearance of a suitable home for unwanted babies. But who Mother Robinson was and why she would put John ‘up to it’ is an intriguing mystery. Did he owe her money? Another newspaper reported that Blanche accused Clarice of ‘having been “put up to this by Mother Robinson”’. Had Mother Robinson persuaded Clarice to give evidence as a form of payback? For some reason, John did not want this information revealed in public. Perhaps he was involved in other shady activities which he did not want his Wollongong family to know about.
The landlord and the rent collector
After lunch, Mr Jacob Fischer, the landlord of 109 George Street, told the court the Makins had leased his house on 21 May in the name of Mason and paid two weeks’ rent. When the Makins moved into 109 George Street on the night of 23 May, they did not have far to go, since they were living at 16 East Street, Redfern, one block away, where they had resided for only three weeks. Mysteriously, they were on the move again.
Jacob Fischer testified that by 15 June the Makins were already in arrears with the rent so he sent his son to collect the outstanding amount. When that was unsuccessful, he visited the premises himself. Mr Fischer claimed there was no answer when he knocked on the door. It is easy to imagine the Makins waiting, still and silent, for the rap, rap, rap on the front door to cease before they could creep out of hiding. But they had not been quiet enough. When he heard whispering inside, Mr Fischer walked in through the open door. It was then that John Makin appeared and asked him out onto the verandah, perhaps concocting the first excuse that came into his head with his crafty, story-telling ways.
The landlord’s son, Herman Fischer, was the rent collector who testified that five weeks after the Makins moved in, he arrived to collect the rent but found the house open and empty. His evidence supported the Makins’ story that they had left George Street because of unpaid rent. What Herman did not know were the other, more urgent reasons for the Makins’ sudden departure which had been planned some days before. Paying Mr Fischer his unpaid rent would have been a waste of the Makins’ tight resources.
Clara Risby’s ‘delicate’ child
The first mother to give evidence in the George Street inquests was Miss Clara Risby, an 18-year-old domestic servant living in Woolloomooloo who had given birth to a baby girl, Elizabeth May, on 16 April 1892 at the Benevolent Asylum.7 While she was recovering in the Asylum, her step-sisters placed an advertisement in The Evening News on 4 May which offered a generous premium for her ‘delicate’ baby:
Will kind person adopt baby girl for life; premium £5. A.B., Macdonaldtown Post Office.
Miss Risby told the court she had received a reply from a Mrs S J McLoughlin of 16 East Street, Redfern, who wrote a reassuring letter the same day:
Dear Madam,
In reply to your advertisement in the EVENING NEWS of this date . . . it is my husband’s wish that I should apply for it, as we have no small children of our own. I should give it all a mother’s love and care. It is not for the premium we write for, as the £5 we should spend [o]n an outfit for the baby. As we are going to live out of town we should very much like to take a baby with us, so you can be sure it will have a good home and attention and care. If this will suit you I can give you any references you require. I can call on you if you send your address, and any instructions you send will be attended to. This is genuine—no baby farm. I can explain matters to you personally better than in writing.
I remain yours faithfully,
S. J. McLoughlin.
Clara’s two step-sisters, Mrs Adams and Mrs Sargent, travelled to 16 East Street to see ‘what sort of people’ the McLoughlins were. Even then, a little subterfuge was evident upon their arrival. When Mrs Sargent asked a girl inside the house at 16 East Street whether Mrs McLoughlin lived there, the girl replied, ‘No’. But John quickly appeared, reassuring his daughter, Daisy, and spoke to Mrs Sargent about Clara’s three-week-old baby.
The final arrangements for the adoption were made by Clara and Mrs Sargent on 16 May when they arrived in East Street with the one-month-old baby. John met them at the corner of the street and escorted them into number 16, where they met Sarah, Blanche and Clarice. Mrs Makin ‘promised she would look after the child’ after Mrs Sargent said she hoped they would care for it since she did not ‘want to give it to anyone who will put it on the doorstep’. John reassured her that his daughters were very fond of children. After handing over her baby and various babies’ clothes, Clara paid the £5 premium and was given a receipt signed by John McLoughlin.
True to form, John spun Clara a marvellous tale about how he had inherited a fortune and bought a poultry farm at Rockdale. Clara was told she could visit the child anytime and he would send the Rockdale address to her soon, reassuring her that her child ‘would be comfortable’.
However, Clara was still very attached to her child. She visited East Street on 18 May and was told by Sarah that her daughter ‘had been very cross’. A few days later, on 22 May, she visited again, although this time John looked over the fence and told her that Mrs McLoughlin ‘was out with the child’. By this date, it is more than likely that Clara’s baby had been disposed of. The Makins had their £5. There was no point in keeping Clara’s baby alive, especially since they had signed an agreement the day before with Mr Fischer for the lease of 109 George Street. On 24 May, Clara visited 16 East Street one more time but the house was empty. She did not suspect anything because she thought John was ‘a respectable man’. So she waited for a letter with his Rockdale address and his arrival in a cart, since he had promised to drive down to collect her for a visit. When asked to identify some babies’ clothing, Clara recognised the garments that had been worn by her child when the Makins adopted her.
Clara Risby’s ongoing interest in her child explains why the Makins only stayed in East Street for three short weeks. Not only did they have to deal with Clara, but they were also visited by Clara’s step-sister, Mrs Adams, the day after the baby was adopted, because she was suspicious of the Makins’ motives. Sooner or later they would run out of stories.
At the end of day one, Sarah and John were taken to the Central Criminal Court where they appeared at their first hearing into the charge of manslaught
er of the child of Minnie Davies. They both pleaded not guilty, although a journalist reported they were ‘impressed with the gravity of their position’. How many more charges would they face?
Day two of a ‘very trying ordeal’
On day two, Sarah turned up to court ‘deeply veiled . . . very much distressed and . . . suffering a very trying ordeal’, although for the first time she held her head up and watched from behind her veil as the witnesses gave evidence.8 With the courtroom crowded with ‘sightseers’, Sarah had gone into the only form of hiding available to her.
Clara Risby’s step-sister, Mrs Adams, gave evidence on day two. She confirmed that Clara’s baby was ‘delicate’ but not ill. About three or four weeks after the adoption, John had called at Mrs Adams’ house in Buckland Street, Waterloo. He had been to his farm, he said, and dropped by with the baby, obviously to reassure her. She noticed it was ‘not so stout’ as when she had last seen it.
Makin told her he was very fond of the child and ‘would not give it up for fifty pounds’ although the pragmatic Mrs Adams replied that she ‘wouldn’t give 50 pence for it’. When she asked John for his new address, he put her off with various excuses. Mrs Adams ran into John again a few months later in Botany Street when he was coming out of a grocer’s store. She was unsure of the date. Most likely it was the end of August 1892 when the Makins had relocated to Botany Street after leaving Burren Street. Mrs Adams tried to overtake John to find out ‘how the child was getting on’, but the artful dodger was too quick for her. He sped up and she was unable to catch him. She saw him enter a house but when she visited a day or so later, the house was empty. This event would explain the short stay of the Makins in 55 Botany Street, since they only spent ten days there before moving to 6 Wells Street where Constable Joyce found them.
The final piece of evidence implicating the Makins in the disappearance of Clara’s baby was given by a local pawnbroker, Joseph Lopez, who had received a parcel of babies’ clothes from Daisy Makin on 8 August. Clara’s step-sister, Mrs Sargent, later testified that some of the clothing pawned by Daisy in the name of Mrs Wilson had been worn by Clara’s baby.
Was Clara’s one-month-old baby one of the infants found buried in George Street? Because of the evidence discussed below, it is unlikely she was. Where her child was buried, Clara would never know.
Miss Stacey’s fretful search for Mr and Mrs Ray
The next witness at the inquest was Miss Mary Stacey, a domestic servant living in Petersham who had given birth to a girl, Daisy Pearl, on 17 April 1892 at the home of Mrs Bentley, a midwife in Neville Street, Marrickville.
After ‘lying-in’ for nine weeks, Mary advertised on page one of The Evening News on 18–21 June for a kind lady to adopt her baby using an unusual alias:
WANTED, Kind Lady to adopt little girl 2 months’ old, or to care for. Iran, Petersham post office.
The Makins would have been busy writing during the week of 18–24 June, with The Evening News giving us a picture of what a Sydney baby farmer could expect each week.9 Many enterprising baby farmers also advertised that week, showing us that the Makins were in competition with other ‘kind motherly’ persons for the children on offer:
WANTED, by kind Motherly Person, Baby to Care.
7 Little Cleveland-st, off Chelsea-st, Moore Park.
WANTED, kind Person to Adopt Baby Boy few days
Old, £10 premium. Elsie, G.P.O.
WANTED, Lady Adopt at once Baby Girl, 10 days old
Premium £3. Mrs. Williams, G.P.O. Sydney.
WANTED, a person to Adopt Boy, 3 years old, allowance
for clothes. X.I., General Post Office.
WANTED, Adopt baby Boy, at once, small pre. required.
5 Victoria-st, Paddington.
RESPECTABLE Married Couple would Adopt healthy
Baby; premium required; reference. M.C., 140 George-st,
Waterloo.
WANTED, by kind motherly person, Baby to care,
good refs, terms mod. 20 Regent-st, Paddington.
WANTED, kind Person to Adopt Baby Boy, 9 days
Old, must be Catholic, no premium given. B.C.,
Post Office, Surry Hills.
WANTED, kind motherly person adopt fair Baby Boy,
3 weeks, small premium. A.L., Oxford-st P.O.
Miss Stacey received a number of replies to her advertisement, including a quick response from Mr Ray who lived at 109 George Street:
Dear Iran,
I will take your little baby for life at a small sum of £3 or £3 10s, or whatever terms we may come to. It is not just for the sake of the money, but just to give the child an outfit. You need never trouble about your baby’s welfare. She will have every attention and the love of a kind mother. We are on the eve of going to the suburbs on a poultry farm to a fine healthy part, so if you will come down we will explain things and make arrangements.
Yours faithfully,
Mr Ray
109 George-street, Redfern, up the steps.
Perhaps attracted by Mr Ray’s tidbit that his family was moving to a farm in a healthy suburb, Mary considered his letter ‘the best’ and took her baby girl to George Street on 21 June. When Clarice answered the door, Mary asked for Mrs Ray. Unfazed, Clarice went to fetch her.
In the front room, Mary Stacey met the Makins. The family certainly had some winning ways, with Sarah taking the baby in her arms straight away. A little bargaining took place because Miss Stacey said she could only afford £2, to which Sarah agreed. But Mary was not in a hurry, since she refused to make a decision there and then, saying she would write and let them know if she would place her child in their care. She was reassured by the family’s bona fides when Sarah and Clarice ‘professed to take a great fancy to the baby, and kissed it affectionately’ as she was leaving, with Sarah remarking, ‘Oh, it might be ours yet’.
Miss Stacey later wrote to inform the Makins she had chosen them to take her child, and would deliver her in a few days. But the Makins were in a hurry to collect Baby Daisy. Sarah sent Clarice and Blanche to Marrickville on Thursday 23 June to collect the baby with a letter:
Dear Miss Stacey,
We will be so busy packing and cleaning out on Friday and Saturday, and my girls are over anxious for the child, so they have come out to-day for her. I hope you will let them have it.
Yours faithfully
Mrs Ray
Received the sum of £2 for adoption of baby girl for life.
With the money, the baby and a promise to return for a visit, the girls left with some extra clothing which Miss Stacey was able to identify in the courtroom. This clothing, all handmade by Miss Stacey, had been discovered by Constable Joyce at Mrs Leonard’s pawnshop in Botany Road, Redfern. Joyce produced a number of pawn tickets as well as the receipt for the clothes of Miss Stacey’s child that he had found at the home of Minnie Helbi, Sarah’s eldest daughter, suggesting that Minnie was also involved in her parents’ baby-farming business.
It seems things then followed a bit of a pattern. John and Blanche visited Miss Stacey on Monday 27 June with the baby to reassure her, although she testified that her child, strong and healthy when she was adopted, ‘looked very bad and was very restless’, ‘crying and twisting as though something was the matter with it’. When Mary changed her, ‘she seemed quite hollow and empty and thin . . . as if [no] food had been given to the child’. The Makins had only had Baby Daisy for four short days, yet Mary’s account, along with the evidence about how Baby Mignonette Davies died, shows us how the Makins were ‘caring’ for the babies they adopted.
When Miss Stacey went to warm a cold bottle of milk John had brought for her child, she found ‘it was nothing but milk and water, or “slops”’. As she told her heartrending tale, she ‘was completely overcome with emotion’ and had to sit in the witness box until she calmed down.
John told Mary he and his family were moving to Hurstville but he would call again when he came to town to buy a cow. When Makin did not keep his p
romise to return, Mary ‘began to fret for her baby’. After she discovered an empty house at 109 George Street, she and her midwife, Mrs Bentley, spent two days searching Hurstville for a family called Ray. Although Miss Stacey made a report to the police that a couple had disappeared with her child, the Makins’ alias protected them. Miss Stacey never saw her baby again.
But for the chance discoveries in Burren Street, Mary would have been left confused and grieving. Mary’s story also suggests she was one of the reasons for the Makins’ hasty exit from 109 George Street, a young woman who had a deep attachment to her baby. The Makins would have known the signs.
An ‘enraged’ John Makin, Constable Joyce and the juryman
After the damaging evidence from Mary Stacey, Clarice was recalled to explain her involvement in the adoption of Mary’s baby.10 She admitted that she and Blanche had travelled to Marrickville to collect Baby Daisy and had given a false surname under instructions from her father. Clarice sometimes nursed and fed Baby Daisy, although the last time she saw her was in George Street, lying on the sofa. She did not know what became of her but Clarice was positive that Daisy was not taken to Burren Street when the Makins moved on the rainy night of 29 June.
Daisy could not have been Baby C or Baby D discovered during the George Street digs since both were male, but Baby B was female and when Dr Milford told the court about his examination of the female child, Baby B, he produced the thigh bones in court. Their length of 3¼ inches indicated that Baby B was less than a year old, although the most precise he could be was to say that she was two to ten weeks of age when she died. Miss Stacey’s baby was nine weeks old when adopted by the Makins.
The Baby Farmers Page 18