Louisa Collins (née Hall; formerly Andrews; 11 August 1847 – 8 January 1889) was an Australian convicted murderer. She lived in the Sydney suburb of Botany and married twice, with both husbands dying of arsenic poisoning under suspicious circumstances. Collins was tried for murder on four separate occasions, with the first three juries failing to reach a verdict. At the fourth trial the jury delivered a guilty verdict for the murder of her second husband and she was sentenced to death. Collins was hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol on the morning of 8 January 1889. She was the last woman to be executed in New South Wales.
Biography
Early life
Louisa Hall was born on 11 August 1847 at 'Belltrees' station on the Hunter River, near Scone in New South Wales.Overington, Chapter 1: 'The Early Years'. She was the fourth-born of nine children of Henry Hall and Catherine (née King).Family records, Ancestry.com. Louisa was baptised on 7 November 1847 in St. Luke's church in Scone.Australia, Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981, Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. Her father, Henry Hall, was an agricultural labourer, born in Birmingham, England, who had arrived in Australia in 1832 as a convict aboard the vessel Asia. Louisa's mother, Catherine King, was a native of Dublin, Ireland, who emigrated to Australia in 1841 aboard the Fairlie.State Records Authority of New South Wales: Persons on Bounty Ships (Agent's Immigrant Lists): Series: 5316; Reel: 2134; Item: [4/4788]. With four years of his sentence to complete, Hall obtained a ticket of leave and was granted permission to marry Catherine King; the couple were married at Scone in August 1842.State Records Authority of New South Wales: Registers of Convicts' Applications to Marry, 1826-1851, Series: 12212; Item: 4/4513; Page: 302.
Louisa's early teenage years were described in the following terms: "With good looks, attractive presence, and winning ways, she was no sooner in her 'teens' than she developed all the qualities of a country coquette, and earned for herself the reputation of being a heartless flirt". As a consequence of her vivacious demeanour she "had many suitors and youthful sweethearts".The Botany Murder Case: Life and History of Louisa Collins, Evening News (Sydney), 8 January 1889, page 3.
When Louisa Hall was aged about fourteen she found employment as a domestic servant for a solicitor at Merriwa, 30 miles (49 km) west of Scone.
Marriage to Andrews
In Merriwa Louisa met Charles Andrews, who was working as a butcher in the township. Andrews was 14 years older than Louisa and a widower (though he probably presented himself as a bachelor).The Botany Murder Case: Charles Andrews, Evening News (Sydney), 8 January 1889, page 3. Andrews began to court Louisa, in a match that was encouraged by her mother "who seemed to consider she had secured an excellent alliance for her daughter". Louisa's opinion of her suitor was much more tentative; she later stated, "I never liked, or cared for Andrews, although I didn't murder him". Louisa Hall and Charles Andrews were married at Merriwa in August 1865 (several weeks after Louisa's eighteenth birthday).Marriage registration: Charles Andrews & Louisa Hall; reg. no.: 1940/1865; reg. district: Cassilis.
Louisa Andrews had nine children from the marriage, born between June 1867 and May 1883, two of whom died as young children. After the birth of her first child at Merriwa in 1867, accounts of Louisa's life state that she "took to drink". Her intemperate habits, described as "secret drinking", became a factor in the domestic discord that developed in the Andrews household. By 1871 the family had relocated to Muswellbrook. In December 1876 Andrews was granted a license by the local bench of magistrates to slaughter animals in his own yard.Muswellbrook, Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 30 December 1876, page 9. By 1877 Andrews had accumulated unmanageable debts and in January 1878 insolvency proceedings were initiated against him.In Insolvency, New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney), 12 March 1878 (Issue No. 75), page 1026.
With Andrews in a precarious financial position, he relocated with his family to Sydney in order to find work.Overington, Chapter 2: 'A Dour and Boring Man: Louisa's First Husband'. The family's first place of residence was "in Berry's paddock", near Ricketty Street in St. Peters, where Andrews was employed by John Sugden Berry, a bone-dust manufacturer.The Botany Murder Case: Their Life at Botany, Evening News (Sydney), 8 January 1889, page 3. By May 1880, when Louisa's seventh child was baptised, the family were probably living near Moore Park and Charles was working as a carter.Baptism of Edwin Andrews (23 May 1880; No. 365), Baptisms in the Parish of Botany St. Matthew, Anglican Parish Registers 1814-2011, Sydney Diocesan Archives, Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney. By about 1882 Charles Andrews had found work as a driver of drays with the woolscouring and fellmongering establishments operated by the Geddes brothers (trading as Messrs. T. Geddes and Co.), based at Botany (in areas known as Springvale and Floodvale).The Story of the Murder, Australian Star (Sydney), 8 January 1889, pages 4 & 5.The Wool Season: Fellmongering Establishments of Geddes Brothers, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney), 3 December 1881, page 19. With Andrews working for the Geddes brothers, the family began living at No. 1 Pople's Terrace, in a swampy area of Botany known as 'Frog's Hollow'. They occupied one of two adjoining semi-detached cottages, in a row of similar four-roomed cottages running at right angles to Botany Road, separated from the Springvale woolwash by a small paddock and a creek. 'Frog Hollow' was a low-lying flat adjacent to the creek. Andrews was recognised as a hard worker and "a sober, honest, good-hearted, simple-minded man".
By about the mid-1880s Charles and Louisa Andrews began to take in boarders to ease their financial situation. In addition to themselves and the four children who remained in the household, there were often four or five boarders living in the small four-roomed cottage. From early in 1886, one of the boarders living in the house was Michael Peter Collins, known familiarly as 'Mick'. Collins was also employed by Messrs. T. Geddes and Co., primarily carting skins from the Glebe Island Abattoirs to the Botany tannery.The Alleged Murders at Botany: Louisa Collins at the Criminal Court: Case for the Defence Closed, Evening News (Sydney), 7 November 1888, page 3. Retrospective assessments of Louisa Andrews' character during this period emphasised the impropriety of her actions, stating she was prone to drinking to excess. The local police and neighbours reported "that she was seldom sober when at home". Louisa was "fond of dress and gaiety, and never dropped her habits of flirtation", with such behaviour often directed at her boarders. Many instances of arguments and domestic strife arose as a consequence of "Andrews remonstrating with his wife on her improper conduct" with Collins and other boarders.
A "great intimacy" developed between Louisa Andrews and Mick Collins and the pair were often seen together in surrounding bushland. Louisa was in the habit of meeting Collins on the tram, where they were witnessed kissing each other. With the relationship between the boarder and his wife becoming increasingly blatant, Andrews confronted and accused Louisa, who denied any wrongdoing. Despite the denials, Andrews eventually ordered Collins and the other boarders to leave the house, after which Collins found lodgings at a nearby boarding house. On 16 December 1886 Andrews returned home unexpectedly to find Collins sitting in his front room. Andrews flew into a rage and ejected Collins from the house and threatened to throw his wife into the street as well. Louisa took the matter to Constable George Jeffes, the watchhouse-keeper at Botany police station, who investigated what had happened but took no action, nor did any of the parties wish to instigate legal proceedings. As a result of this incident, Louisa "became enraged at her husband, and carried on her shameless doings with even greater energy".The Botany Mystery: Verdict of Wilful Murder Against Louisa Collins, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 August 1888, page 9.
Six weeks later Charles Andrews became gravely ill, with severe stomach pain and constant vomiting and diarrhoea. The patient was visited on several occasions by Dr. Thomas Martin, but the medicine he prescribed was to no avail. The doctor later testified that Louisa "seemed indifferent as to the fate" of her husband. Neighbours later commented that Louisa seemed certain her husband would die. During his illness she travelled to Sydney to have a will drawn up on behalf of her husband by a clerk in the insurance office; on the evening of 31 January the document was signed by Andrews and witnessed by two men from the neighbourhood. The will specified that all of Andrews' assets would go to his wife after his death. Apart from furniture and a small amount in a savings account, Andrews' assets consisted of a life insurance policy with the Mutual Life Association of Australasia, with a potential worth of two hundred pounds.The Botany Mystery, Sydney Morning Herald, 4 August 1888, page 8.
Charles Andrews died on the afternoon of 2 February 1887. Shortly after he expired, Louisa sent her daughter May to fetch a neighbour named Mary Law. Soon after Mrs. Law arrived, Louisa left the house to catch a tram to Sydney to "see the insurance people". Leaving her husband's body on a stretcher in the Pople's Terrace cottage, Louisa travelled to Sydney to inform the bank and the insurance company of his death. On her return she called at the house of Mrs. Ellen Price, to ask for her assistance to prepare her husband's body for burial. Louisa then sent her son Arthur to Dr. Martin to obtain a death certificate. The cause of Andrews' death was recorded as "acute gastritis".
Marriage to Collins
Charles Andrews was buried at Rookwood Cemetery on 5 February 1887. Three days later Louisa approached the savings bank in Sydney requesting withdrawal of the balance left to her in her late husband's will. About a week after the burial Mick Collins moved back into the Pople's Terrace cottage. The neighbour Mrs. Law later recalled seeing them arm-in-arm "as if already married". With the money from the bank, Louisa cleared Collins' gambling debts and bought him a new watch and chain and a suit of clothes, as well as new furniture for the house.Overington, Chapter 3: 'Dance All Night: Marriage to Michael Collins'. After her husband's death, Louisa moved with her family from Pople's Terrace to a cottage in Johnson's Lane in North Botany. However, within weeks of moving she "expressed an unaccountable burning desire to again occupy her old residence; even going so far as to offer a premium to the occupier if she would vacate the cottage in her favor". When this was unsuccessful, Louisa rented a cottage at the rear of her former home at 'Frog Hollow' (No. 5 Pople's Terrace).The Botany Poisoning Case: Mrs. Collins Committed for Murder, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 July 1888, page 4.
Louisa Andrews and Michael Collins were married on 9 April 1887 at St. Silas' Anglican church near the Waterloo tram terminus, just three months after Louisa's first husband's death. On the marriage registration Louisa was recorded as a widow, aged 28 years (though she was actually aged 39 at the time). Michael Collins' age was recorded as 26 years.Marriage registration: Michael P. Collins & Louisa Andrews, reg. no.: 3316/1887, reg. district: Waterloo. The couple took no witnesses to church with them and their wedding vows were witnessed by available members of the parsonage.The Botany Murder Case: The Deathbed Scene, Evening News (Sydney), 8 January 1889, page 3.