At a time when having a child out of wedlock was frowned upon, a time when abortion wasn’t an option. A time when contraception was either non-existent or difficult to come by. In the late 1800’s in New Zealand, this was a problem for many women. Fortunately, there was a woman willing and able to step up, step in, and help out. Introducing Minnie Dean, the Baby Farmer.
Winifred “Minnie” McCulloch was born in Greenock, in western Scotland on September 2, 1844. She was one of seven children, all girls. Her father was a railway engineer, and her mother died of cancer in 1857. While the exact date is unknown, in the 1860’s, Minnie moved to Invercargill, with two young girls. Her explanation? She was the widow of a Tasmanian doctor, which left some curious, as she maintained her maiden name, McCulloch. There was no evidence of her husband’s death, or even the marriage. Regardless, in 1872, she married an innkeeper named Charles Dean.
Minnie and Charles lived in Etal Creek, and a short 8 years later, Minnie’s two daughters had married and moved on. Missing the sound of children in the house, Minnie and Charles adopted a five year old girl named Margaret Cameron. The three moved to Winton, New Zealand, having purchased an old abandoned, two-story, seven room house, named “The Larches” on 22 acres of land. Unfortunately, the house burnt down shortly thereafter.
Charles built the family a two-room cottage with a leant-to on the site, and took on the task of raising pigs. They adopted another girl, Esther, and to bring in some extra income, Minnie began taking in unwanted babies for payment. The practice, called “baby farming,” was considered a necessary evil. While contraception was not readily available, abortion was dangerous, and unwed mothers were ostracised and had little to no provision for caring for the baby, Minnie was there to help them out.
She placed discreet ads in the newspaper:
Respectable Married Woman (comfortable home, country) Wants to Adopt an infant – Address, Childless, Times Office
Legal agreements were drawn up and signed for most of the babies he took in, and she earned 5s. to 8s. a week. Others, she adopted for a lump sum of £10 and £30. Minnie was known to take in as many as nine children at a time.
Infant mortality was a significant problem in New Zealand at this time for children of European descent where it is estimated that between 80 and 100 of every 1,000 live births did not survive. So, it wasn’t surprising when a baby under her care would die. In October 1889, a six month old baby died of convulsions after being ill for three days. In March 1891, a six week old infant died of inflammation of the heart valves and congestion of the lungs. The medical witness at the time reported that all the children living at The Larches were well cared for and received proper nourishment. However, the report also indicated that the premises were inadequate. The coroner exonerated Minnie of any wrongdoing, but recommended she reduce the number of children in her care, as well as improve conditions.
Minnie complied, but only partially. She slightly reduced the number of children she cared for, but made no effort to improve the conditions of her home.
News of the deaths spread, and the inquest itself left the community enraged. They began to see Minnie as a baby farmer, such as those in Britain and Australia, who had been convicted of murdering infants for financial gain.
No new deaths were reported, but that didn’t stop people from gossiping, and the subsequent rumors. Police took an interest, and kept her under surveillance. Their hands were tied, however, due to insufficient child welfare laws. Under these laws, police were not allowed to enter, or inspect, the Dean property, and Minnie was not required to keep records or answer any of their questions. This made proving any wrongdoing difficult. They could not even directly identify if a child in her possession had died.
Minnie didn’t help her case either. In 1893, The proprietor of a Christchurch boarding-house contacted the police. He reported that a woman had acquired a three-week old baby during her stay. The detective quickly removed the baby from her care. In his report he stated, “I believe this woman would have killed or abandoned this child before she got to Dunedin, if it had not been taken from her.” The woman was identified as Minnie Dean.
On May 2, 1895, the suspicions were confirmed. According to a railway guard, Minnie Dean boarded a train with a baby and a hatbox, the hatbox presumably empty as it weighed very little. When she departed the train, the baby was gone, and the hatbox was mysteriously heavy. A woman by the name of Jane Hornsby, came forward claiming that she had given Minnie her granddaughter, Eva, to Minnie that very day. Searching Minnie’s residence, clothes belonging to the girl were found, but the child herself was nowhere to be seen. A search along the railway turned up no sign of a child, but that didn’t matter. Minnie Dean was arrested and charged with murder.
Minnie’s garden was searched, still looking for the baby. It was there that they discovered the recently buried bodies of two baby girls, and the skeleton of a four year old boy.
Eva was confirmed to have died of suffocation, and the other, one year old Dorothy Edit Carter, had died from an overdose of laudanum (a drug used as a painkiller, and sedative in children). They were unable to determine the cause of death for the boy, however Minnie later admitted that he had drowned under her care the year prior.
At her trial, Minnie’s lawyer, Alfred Hanlon, argued that all the deaths had been accidental, and were only covered up to prevent the outrage she had previously experienced. Outside, hatboxes containing dolls were reportedly sold as souvenirs, and she was officially the most hated woman in New Zealand.
The trial lasted only four days. Her defense fell short, and on June 21, 1895, she was found guilty of Dorothy Carter’s murder and subsequently sentenced to death by hanging.
Between June and August 1895, Minnie Dean wrote down her own account. In this she claimed to have cared for twenty-eight children, five of which were in good health when her home was raided, six had died under her care, and one had been reclaimed by her parents. Aside from her two adopted daughters, that left fourteen children unaccounted for.
On August 12, 1895, Minnie Dean was executed by Tom Long at the Invercargill gaol, at the intersection of Spey and Leven streets, in what is now the Noel Leeming carpark. According to The Otago Daily Times, “She walked straight on without a halt to the drop-door, gave a scrutinising glance, first at the gallows and its belongings, then at the half dozen people standing below, a contemptuous, loathing look at the hangman, and placed herself in a position to facilitate his work as much as possible, and took a few long breaths while he was adjusting the rope and placing the white calico cap over her head and face.”
Her final words claimed her innocence, “I have nothing to say, except that I am innocent.” It is reported that as she fell through the trap door, she cried out, “Oh God, let me not suffer!”
Minnie Dean is the only woman to have been executed in New Zealand. Her body was interred in the Winton Cemetery, now accompanied by her husband, who died in a house fire in 1908.
The crimes committed led to the passage of new child welfare legislation – the infant Life Protection Act 1893 and the Infant Protection Act 1896.
Today, Minnie Dean exists in New Zealand folklore as the baby killer of the South Island. According to the local legend, she killed babies with a hatpin while dressed in all black. “Minnie was like the bogeyman of our town when I was a kid,” said singer-songwriter Helen Henderson, who grew up in Southland. “If you were giving cheek to your mum or being naughty, it was like, ‘You better watch out or I’ll send you off to Minnie Dean’s farm and you’ll never be heard of again.’”
It is reported that even today, no grass has ever grown on her grave.
Up Next: The Boy in the Box
