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Deaths at Josephine's Gasworks Hotel - a Victorian investigation by David Coombe With permission from the author this project will create links to the characters that are included in the book. The characters are real pioneers of the State of South Australia, this is an investigation by the author and researcher David Coombe.
"Immerse yourself in Victorian intrigue and the world of publican Josephine. A story never before told. A suspicious death, a coroner's inquest, a Supreme Court verdict of fraud and a family cut out of a last minute will. Did Josephine kill this man and three others? Climb aboard the investigative journey... The author brings together, for the first time, the case that Josephine may have murdered four men at her Victorian era Gasworks Hotel - two of them husbands. This is a story highly evocative of the times - the language; the social norms. It is mostly a story about ordinary people, although some of the characters rose to great heights in South Australia as premier, police commissioner and city coroner. But the conclusion is anything but ordinary. This is the story of Josephine. From 1863 to 1874 she was the publican at the Gasworks Hotel in Brompton, an inner suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. Was she also a man killer?"
-- publisher description.
A list in surname order of the significant characters in the e-book, taken directly from the authors site Deaths at Josephine’s Gasworks Hotel.
- Jenny Allen - Marsson’s one-time housekeeper. Trial witness. Wife of Mark McAllen, tanner, Bowden.
- Paul Bonnin - John Downer’s legal clerk.
- Eliza Ball - See Eliza Thomas.
- Charlotte Bray - Daughter of Josiah Marsson and wife of Henry Basil Bray.
- Mrs (Mary) Jane Brown - Defendant in 1867 slander case against Josephine. Wife of Stephen Brown, brickmaker, Chief Street resident.
- Eliza Carter - See Eliza Thomas.
- Samuel Carter - First husband of Eliza Thomas, inquest into 1853 death.
- Mary Ann Church - Brompton resident and trial witness.
- Emma Clark - Chief Street, Brompton resident and trial witness.
- Josephine Coombe - See Josephine Rundle.
- Richard Coombe m- Brother of Thomas Coombe, Gibson Street, Bowden.
- Samuel Coombe - Brother of Thomas Coombe, East Street, Brompton, district constable, member of Hindmarsh Council. One of the founders of the Bowden Methodist Church. Not one to go to the hotel.
- Thomas Coombe - Josephine’s second husband and licensee of New Gasworks Hotel.
- Dr. Thomas Wilson Corbin - Performed post-mortem on Josiah Marsson.
- Sir John William Downer - Lawyer. Represented Rundles at 1874 inquest and under Samuel Way Q.C. at trial. Later Premier of South Australia and Senator in the Australian Parliament.
- Dr. John Forster, J.P. - Medical practitioner in Hindmarsh area and coroner for Josiah Marsson’s inquest.
- Josephine Guilfoyle - See Josephine Rundle.
- Bessie Ingham - Josephine’s eldest daughter.
- Josephine Ingham - See Josephine Rundle.
- Robert Laundy Ingham - Josephine’s first husband and licensee of Brickmakers’ Arms.
- James Knight - Wheelwright, carpenter and undertaker, East Street, Brompton. Brother of Samuel Coombe’s wife and Richard Coombe’s late wife.
- Dr. William Lane - Medical practitioner, Chairman of Hindmarsh Council
- Jane Lowe - Nursed Josiah Marsson just before his death. Occasional employee of Josephine.
- Elizabeth Marsson - Wife of Josiah Marsson, Chief Street, Brompton resident, died 1872.
- Frank Marsson - Son of Josiah Marsson. Grocer, Gawler.
- Josiah Marsson - Legal clerk, Chief Street, Brompton resident. Suspicious death as boarder at Gasworks Hotel in 1874.
- Josiah Marsson, junior - Son of Josiah Marsson.
- Jane McAllan - See Jenny Allen.
- Dr. Andrew McIntyre - Medical practitioner in Hindmarsh area. Attended Josiah Marsson.
- William John Peterswald - Police Inspector, conducted Marsson case. Later South Australian Commissioner of Police.
- Elisha Rundle - Josephine’s third husband and licensee of Gasworks Hotel.
- John Robins Rundle - Father of Elisha Rundle, Gibson Street, Bowden, butcher and Hindmarsh councillor. One of the founders of the Bowden Methodist Church.
- Josephine Rundle - Main character of the story. Publican of the Gasworks Hotel, 1863 to 1874.
- Mary Rundle - Mother of Elisha Rundle and wife of John Robins Rundle.
- Catherine (Kate) Ryles - Controversial trial witness.
- Daniel Thomas - Police constable stationed at Hindmarsh. Trial witness.
- Eliza Thomas - Licensee of Gasworks Hotel after the death of her husband William Thomas.
- William Thomas - Licensee of New Gasworks Hotel during Thomas Coombe’s illness. Second husband of Eliza Thomas.
- Sir Samuel James Way - Q.C. who, with John Downer, represented Rundles at Marsson trial. Later Chief Justice and Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia. His father, Rev James Way, was minister at the Bowden Methodist Church and close friend of Coombe and Rundle.
- Jesse Wheatley - Carpenter and undertaker, Chief Street, Brompton.
- Dr. Horatio Thomas Whittell - Doctor called by Charlotte Bray to visit Marsson. Later City Coroner.
- Dr. William Wyatt - Local chemist and trial witness, Port Road, Hindmarsh. Chairman of Hindmarsh Council.
Minor characters in “Deaths at Josephine’s Gasworks Hotel”: People (Surname order)
- Andrews & Bonnin, Josiah Marsson's solicitors
- Eliza Ball - see main character, Eliza Thomas
- Eliza Beard
- Detective Burchell
- Eliza Carter - see main character, Eliza Thomas
- Robert Carter, publican
- Samuel Carter
- Elizabeth Collins, mother of Joseph Collins
- Joseph Collins
- Reuben Collins, father of Joseph Collins
- Charles Cleve Collison
- Alice Coombe, Elisha Rundle's sister
- William Coussins, inquest into 1880 death
- (Alexander) George Downer, legal firm G. & J. Downer
- Peter Pomeroy Dungey
- Henry Ellis
- Isabella Grainger
- Frances Emily Guilfoyle
- John Guilfoyle
- Frances Emily Gunning
- Doctor Hawkins
- August Honig, inquest into 1866 death
- Charles Cameron Kingston
- John Matters
- John Moore
- John Odlum
- Matthew Pelham, butcher, Bowden
- Andrew James Pollock, inquest into 1864 death
- Doctor Rees
- Frederic Spicer
- Randolph Isham Stow, Q.C. defending Marssons
- Alfred Swaine Taylor, author of book "Medical Jurisprudence"
- Andrew Thomas, analytical chemist
- Leonard Mortimer Trimmer
- Bessie Trimmer, nee Ingham, Josephine's daughter
- Edmund Isaac Stevens Trimmer
- William Alfred Wearing, judge
- William Whichello
- Elizabeth Woolcock
- Thomas Woolcock
- Doctor Robert Tracey Wylde
"First published March 2013" Includes bibliographical references and indexes. book available from the authors direct link
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