Murder on L’Estrange Street
Published on 09 April 2020
A history enquiry from a City of Burnside resident unearthed an almost hundred-year-old story from the suburb of Knoxville (now Glenunga).
On 23 July 1931, the body of Mary Katherine Edson was found underneath the cement floor of a shed at a house on L’Estrange Street in Knoxville. She was only twenty-two years old.
On the same day her body was found, her twenty-eight year old husband Lawrence Vincent Charles Edson committed suicide.
Lawrence Vincent Charles Edson
Photograph of Mr Lawrence Edson from Truth, 2 August 1931, page 13, Voice from the Grave in Terrible Love Tragedy
Lawrence Edson was a Torrensville tram conductor and a former police constable. According to the tabloid Truth, he was dismissed from his police position for his “…illicit association with women.” (i) Lawrence had a reputation as something of a philanderer.
In 1925, Lawrence married Dorothy May. They had a son together and moved into their home on L’Estrange Street in Knoxville. Dorothy divorced him in 1928. In an interview years later with The Telegraph, Dorothy admitted that while married Lawrence had been cruel to her. He would flare up in a minute and “work himself into a terrific rage over the most trifling things”. (ii)
After their divorce, Lawrence quickly found love again with a young Polish woman, Mary Katherine Malycha. They married in February 1929 and had a daughter, June, a year later. Lawrence’s dedication to Mary was brief. After one year of marriage, he was going out with other women and sometimes even brought them home. One in particular caught his eye, Phyllis Edwards of Torrensville.
Lawrence planned to marry Phyllis at Trinity Church in April 1931, but unfortunately for him, she had heard that Lawrence was already married. To disprove this claim, Lawrence told her that Mary was his housekeeper and even invited her to the house to see for herself. Phyllis was convinced.
How Mary responded to her husband’s behaviour is unknown.
Photograph of Mary Edson from Truth, 2 August 1931, page 13, Voice from the Grave in Terrible Love Tragedy
An incident with the neighbours
One day in March 1931, Mary ran screaming to the next-door neighbour’s house claiming that her husband was going to murder her. Lawrence arrived shortly after. Mr Lindsay, the neighbour, offered for Mary to come inside but Lawrence quickly grabbed her and said: “If any of you don’t stand back I’ll stick a bullet in you.” Mrs Lindsay asked him why he was so angry and Lawrence replied: “I will teach my wife to meddle in my affairs.” (iii)
Mr Lindsay requested Lawrence to leave the property or he would send for the police. After Lawrence had calmed down and promised to do Mary no harm, Mary returned home. The Lindsay family only saw Mary one more time after that.
Mary Edson disappears
On 18 May 1931, Lawrence let his family, friends and neighbours know that Mary had left him for another man in Melbourne. The next day, he began to move furniture out of the house and took baby June to his parents in Lyndoch.
In late June 1931, Mary’s sister Dorrie Malycha received a letter which stated that Mary had passed away in Melbourne. It was written by an H Wilson, the manager of Mary’s Melbourne lodging.
The letter read: “Dear Miss Malycha, I regret that I have to send you very unpleasant advice, but your sister has been staying here for some time. She was to have gone to Europe three weeks ago, but was taken ill, and could not go. The doctor wanted her to have an operation – but she refused and got worse, and died on June 19, a week after she should have sailed. She had been living here under the name of Mrs. May Matthews. She had a room here and the Mr Matthews – whom I thought was her husband used to come and take her out before she was taken ill.…” (iv).
Also enclosed were Mary’s wedding ring and a brooch.
Although shocked and saddened by this event, most of the couple’s friends and family believed this news. However, one person who continued to hold doubts was their neighbour, Mrs Lindsay .
Lawrence is interviewed by police
Mrs Lindsay was watching all the movements at the Edson’s house. She did not believe that Mary had ever left and every time she spoke to Lawrence his story changed. Days after Mary’s disappearance, she saw Phyllis wearing Mary’s engagement ring.
In mid-July, Mrs Lindsay decided to report her concerns to the police.
Hearing her account, including all she had observed and the incident in March, the police invited Lawrence to the Angas Street Watchhouse for an interview.
Lawrence was calm and collected during the three-hour interview, but his story did not quite add up. The police were not satisfied and told him they were going to search his house and backyard.
Minutes after the interview, as the detectives and Lawrence were walking down the watchhouse hallway, Lawrence shot himself in the temple. He died in hospital a few hours later.
Searching the property
“Later that same afternoon Detective Dayman said, he and Detective Nicholls, Grow, and Herman and other police officers went to L’Estrange Street, Knoxville. They examined a shed at the rear of the garage on the south side of the yard at the rear of the house. The small shed had a lime and sand floor, and on top was a large quantity of vine cuttings and tree prunings.
The floor was broken, and about a foot down they found some bedding and a hearthrug, which appeared to be saturated with blood. There was a bar of iron about 18 inch long, which appeared to have blood and hair on it. They took up more ground. To a depth of another six inches and found the body of Mrs Edson. It was lying on its back. It was taken to the morgue.” (iii)
After examination, the Coroner claimed that the cause of Mary’s death was strangulation, as there was a pyjama coat wrapped around her neck. Her head had also been battered with an iron rod, which was found with the body.
Photograph from Murdered Wife's Body Buried Beneath Floor, Chronicle, 30 July 1931, page 42.
The truth surfaces
After seeing Lawrence’s photograph in the newspaper a fourteen year old schoolboy came forward and let the police know that Lawrence had approached him in Victoria Square and asked him to write the letter addressed to Dorrie Malycha that outlined Mary’s death. He did not write the entire letter, because he felt uncomfortable. The writer who completed the letter is unknown.
Further, on the day of his police interview Lawrence wrote a will, leaving his estate to his daughter, and his motorcycle and clothing to Phyllis. He also posted a letter to his parents in which he wrote:
“My darling parents, God bless you and give you strength to stand the blow. I was mad when I did what by the time you get this you know all about. This won’t be posted until I am dead. Try and forgive me. Oh, I’m so unhappy I’d give anything to get Mary back again… Pray for me and be brave and try and forget my insane act… I can’t bear to leave darling June, but better suicide than the other disgrace.” (v)
The twists and turns of this tragedy were followed across the country, as a story about a woman’s disappearance unfolded into something more sinister.
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References
(i) ‘Wife’s Corpse Under Cement Floor’, Truth, 26 July 1931, page 1
(ii) ‘Edson Tragedy – First Wife Story’, The Telegraph, 29 July 1931, page 9
(iii) ‘Edson’s last letter to his parents’, News, 29 July 1931, page 5
(iv) ‘Schoolboy gives Evidence’, News, 17 August 1931, page 5
(v) ‘Wife’s Corpse Under Cement Floor’, Truth, 26 July 1931, page 1
Recorder, 17 Aug 1931, page 1 “Edson Tragedy”
The Herald, 24 July 1931, page 7, The Watch-house shooting sensation.
Advertiser and Register, 18 Aug 1931, page 9, “Cause of Mrs Edson’s Death”
The West Australian, 29 July 1931, page 13, Knoxville Murder
The Telegraph, 17 August 1931, page 1, Edson Tragedy
News, 17 August 1931, page 5, Schoolboy gives Evidence
The Daily News, 24 July 1931, page 1, The Crippen Crime Recalled
Truth, 2 August 1931, page 13, Voice from the Grave in Terrible Love Tragedy