Farmer Harold Smith was clearing scrub on his farm at West Wubin, Western Australia, when, for no reason that anyone could afterwards think of, his hired hand, Clifford Hulme, 29, crept up behind him and shot him dead.
Hulme next went to the farmhouse where he confronted Mrs. Smith. Theres been a terrible accident, he blurted out. Your husband fell off the tractor and hes dead.
Weeping, Mrs. Smith sent the farmhand to summon help from their nearest neighbour. Hulme was soon back to report that no one was in. He tried to comfort the farmers wife, then in a sudden change of tactic, ripped off all her clothes and repeatedly whipped and raped her before she passed out.
Hulme fled West Wubin but later gave himself up. He was hanged on Monday, September 3rd, 1928, at Fremantle Prison.