Stanley Graham

Eric Stanley George Graham (12 November 1900 – 21 October 1941) was a New Zealander who killed seven people.

Early life Graham was born and raised in Kokatahi, New Zealand and, as a child, worked at the Longford Hotel, built in 1902, ten miles from Hokitika, whose proprietor was his father, John Graham. Graham met his wife, Dorothy McCoy, when she moved from Rakaia in the late 1920s to work at the hotel.

They married in Christchurch on 22 December 1930, living there for six months before moving to run a small dairy farm at Kowhitirangi on the West Coast. They were to have a son and a daughter.

Through the late 1930s, Graham maintained reasonably good relations with his neighbours,

On 8 October, Graham confronted Madsen with a rifle. Later that morning, Best attempted to discuss the matter with Graham but backed off after Graham pointed two rifles out of a window at him. Best retreated to Hokitika for back-up and returned to the farm with Sergeant William Cooper, 43; and Constables Frederick William Jordan, 26, and Percy Campbell Tulloch, 35. After a short conversation inside his house, Graham shot and wounded Cooper and Best after the former apparently reached to disarm Graham. He then fired at Jordan and Tulloch as they ran into the house, killing them both instantly with one bullet. When the badly wounded Cooper attempted to leave to obtain help, Graham shot him dead on the path in front of the house. Best was shot once more after allegedly attempting to plead with him and died three days later. Graham also fatally wounded a field instructor for the Canterbury education board named George Ridley, who had entered Graham's property to assist any wounded. Ridley was accompanied by an armed local, whom Graham threatened and disarmed.

Graham then fled his house, armed with both of his Winchester rifles, his 7mm Mauser Rifle, the .303 rifle taken from the local who had accompanied George Ridley into Graham's property, and a .32 ACP Colt Revolver stolen from Sergeant Cooper's body.

Manhunt and death Returning the next evening to discover three members of the Home Guard in his house, Graham opened fire and killed home guardsmen Richard "Maxie" Coulson and Gregory Hutchison in a gunfight. He was buried at Hokitika Cemetery. Constable Quirke reported that Graham told him he was intending to give up that night.

Later that month, the Graham property was burnt to the ground and Mrs Graham and her children left the area.

In popular culture There have been several biographical accounts of his life and the murders published since the tragedies occurred.

In 1968, the Australian drama series Homicide based episode 180, "Dead or Alive", on the case, with the Graham character being played by Brian Wenzel. Unlike real life, the Graham character is captured alive, with the detectives wondering at the end of the episode whether he would be found insane or sentenced to death.

In 1974, Nightwood Films produced a 26-minute documentary concerning the manhunt. This film is the only audio-visual record of many of the participants' recollections. It was also the first time the large cache of photographs taken during the manhunt by Home Guardsman Dave Stevenson were made public.

A 1981 British-New Zealand film, Bad Blood, was made about Stanley Graham and his chain of killings, as well as the dimensions of historical context and social injustice involved. Australian actor Jack Thompson played Graham.