By A nd ré B abyn
In the late 19th century, rural Mulmur Township figured fleetingly in the criminal career of Andrew John Gibson, who left a trail of misdeeds and broken hearts across the United States and the British Empire. Some even claim that this charlatan may have been the infamous Jack the Ripper.
D
ufferin County was briefly home to Andrew John Gibson, an Australian who became one of the most well-known con men and bigamists of the 20th century. Gibson may have used as many as 40 aliases, but residents of Mulmur Township, where the swindler turned up in 1897, knew him as Dr. Henry Westwood Cooper. Gibson was born in Australia in 1868, but spent his youth in England, returning to Australia when he was 20. The young man used his time in England to good advantage, often claiming to be a member of the British aristocracy or attached to the royal family. An expert forger, Gibson was known for drafting false cheques, cables, family trees, credentials and official letters explaining he was due absurd sums of money. One ultimately unsuccessful attempt illustrates Gibson’s skill, as well as his audacity. In 1925 he was arrested after passing documents authorizing payment from the South Australian Treasury. The documents appeared to have been signed by South Australia’s minister for lands – and Gibson was caught only because he passed identical notes at two banks at once. The judge in the subsequent trial declared Gibson a forger “in the first rank.” There are also reports that while Gibson was in his 20s, he posed as a “Baron Chadwick” and duped a widow in Sydney of her savings, escaping conviction only on a technicality. In 1891 Gibson married Frances Mary Skally, then 21. The twoyear difference in their ages was the least of any of Gibson’s early marriages. He seemed to prefer much younger women – or perhaps
“Give me a shave and a clean shirt and I can win the affection of any woman in the world.”
he just found them easier to manipulate. What happened to Skally isn’t clear, because most reports refer to Helen Scott, the 15-yearold Gibson married in 1895, as his first wife. A year later the fraud artist married Bertha Young, 17, and the two set sail for England to pick up one of Gibson’s (presumably phantom) inheritances. The couple didn’t make it to England. Instead, they stopped in Canada and settled briefly in Toronto. There, posing as Dr. Henry Westwood Cooper, Gibson, who had no formal medical training, was introduced to Nellie Atkinson, who was being treated for consumption. When Nellie returned to her home in Stanton in February 1897, Gibson went with her, accompanied by Bertha. continued on next page
IN THE HILLS Summer 2014
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