Lilydale teens’ 1920s romance led to William Bent’s killing by his love interest’s brother-in-law
In 1925, Lilydale local William Bent was boy of upstanding morals who was found with a bullet in his skull. And that was only the tragic tale’s beginning.
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At just 17 years of age, William Bent was the crossword puzzle champion of Lilydale.
It was all the time he spent on the train that kept him in practice.
The young railway clerk rode the line every day between his home town and Spencer St.
When he wasn’t chatting with the other teens who took the same route, he was scribbling away at the puzzles.
It was March 1925, and the bright William, a keen violinist and boy of upstanding morals, was about to become something of a puzzle himself.
One cold Saturday morning he was found near the railway line in Lilydale with a bullet in his skull.
Still breathing, he was taken to hospital where he died.
The young man who everybody liked, appeared to have been murdered.
And the investigation that followed, as one newspaper report observed, was so unusual, it could have flowed straight from a novelist’s pen.
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
One of the youths on William Bent’s train route was Lilydale local Vera Chandler, aged 15.
The two had been at school together and now they were close friends, and sometimes went on walks together around the town.
There were plenty of people in Lilydale who thought they would get married when the time was right.
In one strange incident, Bent’s parents were approached by a local man who thought that their son and Vera Chandler were such a nice match, he offered a pound for William to take her to the Williamstown picnic.
The money was refused, but William took her to the picnic anyway.
William’s mother was wary of Vera, and when William brought up the possibility he might be married before the age of 21, with Vera in mind, his mother discouraged it and suggested it would be against the law.
On the Friday night he was shot, nothing seemed unusual in William Bent’s life.
He was seen at a local billiard saloon in the evening, then walked outside and chatted with a neighbour for a few minutes, then disappeared.
Vera Chandler was very quiet about what might have happened, and speculation flourished around the town.
When whispers spread that police were pursuing a theory that William’s death was a crime of jealousy, all eyes were on Vera.
Two bloodied handkerchiefs were found at the scene, one of which carried a few spots of paint.
Police had spoken to Vera’s brother-in-law, a 40-year-old painter by the name of Howard Vernon, but released him.
When they tried to find him again for additional information, he was gone.
STRANGER AND STRANGER
Vernon became the prime suspect and a citywide manhunt underway.
It emerged that Vernon sometimes did a convincing impression of a woman at local fairs, dressing up in ladies’ clothing, and that he might have been using it as a disguise.
In the following days, sightings of Vernon sprang up around Melbourne, including from a credible witness who saw him on Chapel St, Prahran.
Eventually the law caught up with him.
Vernon was found sitting on a park bench in Middle Park and was arrested, a few days after the shooting.
His confession in custody was extraordinary.
Yes, he had been watching William Bent closely and resented that he was close to his young sister-in-law, of whom he was very protective, he claimed.
He had seen them on walks together around Lilydale and had witnessed them embracing in a way he didn’t think was decent.
He’d even approached Bent to warn him off.
And that Friday night, he knew where Bent was going after he left the billiard saloon.
He was going to Meet with Vera.
And meet with Vera he did. The pair walked down Nelson Rd near the railway line and sat together in a peaceful spot.
That was when Vernon jumped out of the scrub with the rifle.
It was discharged, and Bent hit the dirt.
The frantic Vera tried to wake him up, but Vernon told her to go home. He would deal with Bent.
The unconscious teen was dragged down the road and left near the tracks, Vernon leaving behind the bloodied handkerchiefs.
When police approached Vera with this version of events, she conceded it was true.
But the horrific details of the shooting were just part of the disturbing picture of Vernon’s controlling relationship with his sister-in-law that emerged in court.
Far from being protective, Vernon had been sexually intimate with the teenager for at least a year, while married to her sister, who was in her 30s.
He was viciously jealous of Bent, and any other boy who consorted with Vera.
But strangely, Vernon had also been the man who called on young William’s family, and offered them a pound for the teenager to take Vera to the Williamstown picnic.
He also claimed to have visited his victim’s grave site at midnight while he was on the run, distressed and anxious about the shooting.
After a coronial inquiry found the death was wilful murder, Vernon was committed to trial.
No friends came to visit him in jail.
Eventually he was found guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter, after telling the court he had only meant to shoot above Bent’s head to scare him off.
He was sentenced to 12 years’ jail.
Soon after his imprisonment he was divorced by his wife, whose sister, Vera Chandler, suffered for the rest of her life for the crimes of an evil man.
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