Legendary hatred of police drove gangster William Buck, enforcer of ‘Little Lon’
He would run the length of a city block to attack a police officer when he saw one and was the feared enforcer of Melbourne’s ‘Little Lon’ red-light district. HEAR THE PODCAST
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William Buck was perhaps the most violent criminal to ever roam the streets of Melbourne. He was a former prize fighter and an almost constant source of danger to law enforcers in the 1890s.
To Buck, the sight of a police uniform was like a red rag to a bull, and he would run the length of the block to attack when he saw one.
It was said that the first thing Buck did after arriving from London in 1886, was to walk over to a uniformed police officer and knock him out with a punch to the jaw; and that his first hours in the colony of Victoria were spent in the Port Melbourne lockup.
Buck had been brought to Australia by a syndicate of bookmakers for a prize fight against the NSW amateur champion, George Seale. The prize was £200: enough to buy you a house in those days.
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He trained hard for the much-publicised event, but Seale pulled out of the fight at the last minute because of a boil on his arm. The syndicate of bookmakers were unimpressed. They’d invested a lot of money into Buck’s travel, accommodation and training. Their chances of recouping their investment began to look slim as Buck became fat by partying hard, training little, and “making himself exceedingly popular in racing circles”.
The following year, one of the investors confronted Buck about their frustrations. It proved to be a mistake. Buck beat the investor mercilessly and left him in an unconscious state. He then packed his bag and caught a train to Williamstown, intimidating and terrifying his fellow passengers along the way.
At Williamstown he boarded a ship to Sydney. During the journey he clashed with two of Victoria’s most burly police officers, trying to tip one of them headfirst into the ship’s weighing scales.
They’d never encountered anything quite like him, saying he fought like a tiger. Buck was reprimanded, fined, and released onto the streets of Sydney.
Within a month he was arrested for assaulting a man in Sydney’s CBD. It was at 7.30am, after an all- night bender, and he’d taken over a vehicle at an intersection before attempting to drive off with it.
Another driver made the mistake of interfering and Buck punched him to the ground and kicked him while he lay there. Buck said in court that it was all meant to be a great lark. The judge didn’t see it that way and fined him £20 or 6 months in prison.
Buck continued to try and make it in the fight game, but his fitness levels were not adequate.
The Sportsman newspaper in October 1889 reported that “Buck was thickset, and a long remove from being fit, having pounds of superfluous flesh”. This was the typical newspaper description of Buck’s physical condition for all of his recognised fights in Australia. He only won once in six encounters.
By the 1890s, Buck’s star had fallen to a point where he was earning his living as muscle for hire in Melbourne’s inner-city brothel district: ‘Little Lon’. He was paid by Madams to deal with misbehaving customers, grievances with rivals, and whatever else needed sorting.
The ‘Little Lon’ district was close to Russell Street Police Headquarters and received a lot of police attention. This meant there was not much chance of a day passing without Buck being incensed by the sight of another uniform. He once attacked a pawnbroker because he mistook his pith helmet for a police helmet.
As his court appearances for assaulting police mounted, so did his reputation as an enforcer in ‘Little Lon’. In some ways, beating cops was good for business.
The thing that bewildered both the cops and the magistrates, though, was why Buck had taken this path. His father was an Anglican Clergyman, his Grandfather lived in a County Manor, he’d been educated at Eton and had all the mannerisms of an English gentleman. When sober he was generally quite amiable.
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By the late 1890s Buck had 27 convictions, mostly for assaulting police. On one occasion he saw a police constable getting a lecture from his sergeant. Deciding to stick up for the constable, he took the baton from him and beat the sergeant about the head with it.
Buck’s main partner in crime was Percy “the Policeman Puncher” Ramage.
In 1899, Buck was struggling with a policeman, when Ramage smashed a bottle over the constable’s head. A fragment of glass went into Buck’s eye, blinding it permanently.
Buck’s final demise came in 1906 when he mistimed an attempt to cross Swanston Street and was hit in the abdomen by a shifting load on the back of a lorry. He died from internal haemorrhage.
Though convicted numerous times, his longest sentence had been 18 months.
He left behind a wife, 3 children, and a very relieved police force.
Michael Shelford is a Melbourne writer, researcher, and creator and guide for Melbourne Historical Crime Tours.