William

DETAILS OF DEATH

At about 8:00pm on the 2 July 1895 Senior Constable Conroy of Thursday Island arrested a man called “Tinyana” for stabbing his wife. During the arrest Conroy struggled with Tinyana to the roadway at the front of the house. Constable Clines arrived and Conroy collapsed on the roadway exhausted and saturated with blood saying “My God is that you take this fellow I must lie down he has killed me”. Conroy was carried to the Torres Straits Hospital by stretcher. Two Doctors examined him before he died and found seven incised wounds on different parts of his body one such wound was to the femoral artery which was severed causing fatal loss of blood. Tinyana was convicted of murder and executed on 4 November 1895 in Brisbane Bogga Road jail. Senior Constable Conroy’s conduct was heroic though bleeding and disabled from seven wounds he stuck to his prisoner. Senior Constable Conroy’s grave and a monument is situated in the Thursday Island cemetery. Local police officers today still maintain his grave and the monument and ensure that it remains in pristine condition.