How did Squizzy Taylor
influence the Melbourne
underworld?
Ronald Gu
Introduction
• Joseph Leslie Theodore Taylor (29 June 1888 – 27 October
1927)
• Australian Melbourne-based gangster
• 'Squizzy Taylor' became a household name in 1920s
Melbourne for his criminal exploits making newspaper
headlines
• Taylor was fatally wounded in a gunfight with long-time rival
gangster, John Daniel 'Snowy' Cutmore, in October 1927
• Pickpocketing, assault and shop breaking to armed robbery
and murder
• Tell on other criminals just to get him out of trouble
Earlier life
• Joseph Leslie Theodore Taylor
• Born in Brighton, Victoria, on 29
June 1888, Taylor was the second
youngest child of Benjamin Isaiah
Taylor
• In 1901, Taylor began working in the
stables of a horse trainer and then
as a jockey on Melbourne's innercity pony circuit.
• Start getting in trouble with the
police for insulting behaviour.
• Known as Squizzy
Pickpocketing & minor offences (1907-1912)
• Taylor became part of a larrikin gang0 that roamed the streets
looking for trouble. His early convictions included theft, assault,
inciting to resist arrest, offensive language.
• Under the alias 'Michael McGee', he was convicted and
sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment for pickpocketing the
watch and chain of an unsuspecting punter at the Ballarat
races in January 1908
• Taylor married Charlotte Haines, as known as 'Dolly Gray', at
Fitzroy, Victoria, on 17 January 1912. She is believed to have
played an active role in some of Taylor's crimes, such as his
schemes to decoy and extort money from married men.
• Pickpocketing & minor offences (1907-1912)
• Arthur Trotter, a commercial traveller from
MacRobertson’s confectioners, was robbed of £200 and
murdered in front of his wife and five-year-old son at his
home in Fitzroy, Victoria, in January 1913
• Glenferrie robbery & murder of Thomas Berriman (1923)
• Thomas Berriman, the manager of the Hawthorn branch
of the Commercial Bank, was robbed of £1,851 and
fatally wounded outside Glenferrie Station, Hawthorn, in
October 1923. While on his way to Glenferrie station with
a small suitcase of bank money, Berriman was
approached by two suspicious men, one of whom
offered to carry his suitcase. When Berriman refused to
hand over the suitcase, one of the men drew a revolver
and shot him in the chest.
• Taylor was a central figure in the 'Fitzroy Vendetta',
a violent feud between rival criminal gangs that
lasted for several months in 1919. One gang, from
Richmond, was headed by Taylor and the 'two-up
king' Henry Stokes
• Murder of William Haines (1916)
• In 1916 Taylor and John Williamson were tried and
acquitted of the murder of William Haines, a young
chauffeur employed by the Globe Motor & Taxi
Company. In March 1916, a man had telephoned
the taxi company to order a car to take him to
Eltham, Victoria.
• The police believed that Taylor and Williamson had
intended to rob a bank manager who was taking
bank money from one branch to another.
Death
• Taylor was wounded in
a gunfight with rival
gangster, John Daniel
"Snowy" Cutmore, at a
house in Barkly Street,
Carlton, and died at St
Vincent's Hospital,
Fitzroy, on 27 October
1927. Cutmore, a
standover man
associated with the
Razor Gang of Sydney,
was also fatally
wounded.
John 'Snowy' Cutmore
Bibiography
• Websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squizzy_Taylor
• Primary Resources: Historical Society