Frances Knorr
Minnie Thwaites | |
|---|---|
| Status | Executed by hanging |
| Other names | Frances Knorr |
| Children | 2 |
| Conviction(s) | Murder |
Frances Lydia Alice Knorr was known as the baby farming Murderess. She was found guilty of strangling two infants and hanged on Monday 15 January 1894.
Frances Knorr had been born Minnie Thwaites in London in 1868 and emigrated to Sydney, Australia in 1887. Initially she worked as a domestic servant and married Randolph Knorr who was German. She had an affair with Edward Thompson and soon afterwards moved to Melbourne. The short lived affair was not successful and Minnie had to find a means to support herself and her daughter.
Baby Farming
She decided to set up business as a child minder and moved around Melbourne frequently using both her maiden and married names. Frances Knorr had strangled some of the babies she could not place elsewhere or sell on to childless couples. While she was living in Moreland Road Melbourne she had buried two of her victims in the garden. Knorr then moved back to Sydney and was back living with her husband.
Bodies Found
The new tenant in Moreland road uncovered the body of a baby girl while preparing a garden bed. Police dug up the rest of the garden and discovered a boy's body as well.
Arrest
The police soon traced them however and when they arrested her she was about to give birth to her second child. She told the arresting officer, Detective Keating "I know what you have come for". While awaiting trial she wrote a letter to her former lover, Edward Thompson, asking him to manufacture some evidence for her defence. She came to trial on April 11 1893, charged with the murder of the little girl only. The letter to Thompson was presented by the Crown, having been handed to the police by his mother, and was a damning piece of evidence. It also tried to implicate Thompson in the murders and seems to have been pure fabrication.
Trial
She gave a statement herself from the witness box and admitted that she had buried the babies in Moreland Road but claiming that they had died of natural causes. The Crown however demonstrated that they had been strangled with a tape and that the neck of the little boy had been compressed to less than half its normal size. The trial lasted five days and resulted in a guilty verdict. As the death sentence was mandatory and as Judge Holroyd passed it, she sobbed "God help my poor mother! God help my poor babies!". She was taken back to the Old Melbourne Gaol to await execution.
Condemned Cell
She was a model and penitent prisoner in the condemned cell and spent her time singing hymns and praying. She also made a written confession on her last day. "Placed as I am now within a few hours of my death, I express a strong desire that this statement be made public, with the hope that my fall will not only be a warning to others, but also act as a deterrent to those who are perhaps carrying on the same practice". "I now desire to state that upon the charges known in evidence as Number 1 & 2 babies, I confess to be guilty".
Execution date
Her execution was at 10.00 a.m. on Monday 15 January 1894. The trap released, and she dropped 7 ft 6 ins. Death was recorded as being "instantaneous". Her death mask is on display at the Old Melbourne Gaol. Later that year Martha Needle was also executed.
Last Words
"Yes, the Lord is with me! I do not fear what men may do to me, for I have peace, perfect peace!"