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Yan Yan Gurt has survived, and is still occupied to this day.
The rest of Caleb's property was given to his only surviving son, Edmund, and to his daughter,
Mabel, who married James Yeats Wilson, in 1909 when she was 35.
Caleb's other surviving daughter, Emma, the first child to be baptised in the new Wesleyan
Church at Highton in 1868, had married a Methodist minister,
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so cold. I knew she was dead. I then looked at my Cousin & found she also was dead... I then
informed my sister and cousin [Emma and Florence].'
The Co/ac Herald reported: 'When the lifeless forms of the cousins were discovered, the grief of
the family, as well may be imagined, was intense.'
Dr Reid, of Birregurra, was sent for. The messenger, on horseback, reached him about 9.00
am. An hour later he arrived at Yan Yan Gurt.
In his statement he said: 'I found that life was extinct in both cases & had been so for some time
(at least four or five hours) as rigor mortis had set in in both cases. I found both of the bodies in
bed, side by side, both having been undressed lying in perfectly natural positions of repose, with
the bedclothes quite undisturbed. The bedroom in which they were lying was a fairly large room
without fireplace or chimney, but being well-ventilated in the roof & two of the walls. Nothing in
the room seemed to have been in any way disturbed. Standing at the foot of the bed, on
entering, I noticed an old tin can, set on top of another smaller can & on examining this I found
that the upper tin can contained a small shovel-full of charcoal, the remains of a recent fire. I
also noticed that the fire had seemingly been partly put out by pouring water on it, as the coals
were partly wet & the water had also run down over the under tin can. I noticed no peculiar or
disagreeable odor in the room, the window having been raised some time previously. The fire in
the tin can when I examined it was quite extinguished & must have been so for some time, as the
tin cases were both quite cold.'
Mabel also told the coroner: 'The nail can was standing on a flat piece of iron & I saw that
water was on it as though it had been thrown on the fire to extinguish it. The fire was not alight.'
Who threw the water on the fire?
Was it a servant, unknown to us, who entered the room before Mabel, opened the window to
rid the room of the fumes and poured a jug of water (brought for the girl's morning ablutions or
already standing in a bowl on a table) over the charcoal? Then why did this servant not provide
a statement? Especially if she, not Mabel, was the first person to find the bodies?
What seems odd, apart from this, is that the tin cans were still wet three hours after Mabel saw
them - that is, when the doctor arrived. Perhaps they were dowsed twice, first by a servant and
then again not long before Dr Reid's arrival.
On the other hand, there is no reason to suppose the existence of a servant. Caleb and Louisa
had three daughters, Emma, Mabel and Annie, who would have helped their mother with the
cooking and cleaning. Is it possible that Annie awoke and extinguished the charcoal fire? But
according to Dr Reid they were dead by about 5.0 am. Would not any water thrown on the fire
have evaporated or dried up within five hours? But even at 10.0 am 'the coals were partly wet.'
We know nothing more, apart from what Dr Reid concluded after describing the appearances
of the dead girls - 'Faces pale & placid - tongues slightly protruding... eyelids slightly apart,
pupils dilated'- etc. Then: 'lam
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