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On this week in... 1914

Farmer's filicide

On 12 August 1914, 45-year-old farmer Frederick James Smith was tried at the Perth Supreme Court for the murder of his 20-year-old son, Frederick Elderson Smith. Smith claimed he had shot his son in self-defence after an argument about the ownership of their land and stock became heated and the younger man threatened him with violence. He claimed he had been aiming for the son’s leg. Following the crime Smith had immediately gone to his neighbor, Lena Schmidke, and told her what he’d done. He had subsequently also confessed to police. Smith was found guilty and sentenced to death.

This trial report is from The Daily News

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