Prosecution of Dr Samuel Peacock, Eastbourne House 1911

An article in the Melbourne Truth newspaper dated 24 April 1976 describing the events of 1911 when Dr Samuel Peacock was prosecuted for the murder of Mary Margaret Davies. Her remains were never found but it appears that she died following an abortion at Dr Peacock's premises in Eastbourne House on the corner of Wellington Parade and Simpson Street.

The Truth reported that, "Newspapers, more concerned for giving their readers what they wanted than observing legal niceties, engaged in an orgy of speculation between the arrest and committal." The Truth, on the other hand, was able to impart to its readers: "There is only one conclusion that can be logically arrived at and that is that her remains must have been dissected, boiled down and treated with chemicals with a view to disposing of every particle of flesh and bone . . . Attached to Dr. Peacock's kitchen there is a room containing a large copper, an enamelled trough and a sink. Medical men assert that, within 48 hours, a body could be disintegrated and, with the aid of potent chemicals such as a medical man would have no difficulty in procuring or using, could be reduced to a mass of liquefaction and poured down the Board of Works sewers. Such an expert operation leaves no trace."