NEWLANDS. WELLINGTON. Hugo Lupi was born sometime in the late 1800s possibly in Cairo, Egypt, to an Italian family. Hugo immigrated to New Zealand in 1912 and eventually settled in the South Island city of Dunedin. While in the Land of the Long White Cloud, Hugo became a sailor, before giving up the sea life to become a pie-shop proprietor.

Hugo Lupi was married, it is unclear when exactly he ‘tied the knot’ but it is probable it was sometime after he arrived in New Zealand in 1912 as it would seem he had his first child to his wife in the late 1910s.

However, Hugo began employing a woman by the name of Lily Lister sometime around Christmas 1921. The twosome began an affair. 

In April 1922, Hugo Lupi left Dunedin and moved to the Wellington suburb of Island Bay with his wife and children, leaving his mistress behind.

It would seem that Hugo found employment as a fisherman in the new location but also did some carpentry work on the side. This is where he met a man who would become important to his life. Hugo had helped the man build a house in Island Bay sometime between April and June of 1922. Hugo received no payment for his help as it was understood that the man would help him build his own home at a later date as compensation. This is where Hugo got to know the man a little bit, including that he ran a specialist health business that ‘helped’ women ‘in the family way’.

In June 1922, Lily Lister joined Hugo in Wellington where he found her a job at a cafe on Willis Street in central Wellington. Although, Hugo was surprised to find out she was also approximately four months pregnant with his child.

This is when Hugo Lupi remembered the man he helped build the house with earlier in the year, the man with the specialist business in helping women ‘up the duff’, Daniel Richard Cooper.

Visit www.truecrimenz.com for more information on this case including sources and credits.

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Written and edited by Sirius Rust

Music sourced from:

“Day of Chaos” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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“Leaving Home” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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“Night Break” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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“Disquiet” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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The podcast version is the intended way to consume this story but we make a transcript available for those that would rather read instead. This can be found below

Case 32: The Newlands Baby Farmer (PART II)

—

DISCLAIMER:

This two-part series deals with violence against children.

—

HUGO LUPI

Hugo Lupi was born sometime in the late 1800s possibly in Cairo, Egypt, to an Italian family. Hugo immigrated to New Zealand in 1912 and eventually settled in the South Island city of Dunedin. While in the Land of the Long White Cloud, Hugo became a sailor, before giving up the sea life to become a pie-shop proprietor.

Hugo Lupi was married, it is unclear when exactly he ‘tied the knot’ but it is probable it was sometime after he arrived in New Zealand in 1912 as it would seem he had his first child to his wife in the late 1910s.

However, Hugo began employing a woman by the name of Lily Lister sometime around Christmas 1921. The twosome began an affair. 

In April 1922, Hugo Lupi left Dunedin and moved to the Wellington suburb of Island Bay with his wife and children, leaving his mistress behind.

It would seem that Hugo found employment as a fisherman in the new location but also did some carpentry work on the side. This is where he met a man who would become important to his life. Hugo had helped the man build a house in Island Bay sometime between April and June of 1922. Hugo received no payment for his help as it was understood that the man would help him build his own home at a later date as compensation. This is where Hugo got to know the man a little bit, including that he ran a specialist health business that ‘helped’ women ‘in the family way’.

In June 1922, Lily Lister joined Hugo in Wellington where he found her a job at a cafe on Willis Street in central Wellington. Although, Hugo was surprised to find out she was also approximately four months pregnant with his child.

This is when Hugo Lupi remembered the man he helped build the house with earlier in the year, the man with the specialist business in helping women ‘up the duff’, Daniel Richard Cooper.

LILY LISTER

A pregnant Lily Lister relocated to the Cooper’s rest care home for women and children in Newlands sometime in August or September of 1922, during the same time Mary Mcleod was at the property. 

Lily Lister then relocated to the property of Minnie King (a midwife) sometime in November 1922 under the pseudonym Lily Smith. Lily gave birth to a healthy baby boy on the 13th of November 1922. The birth was registered but under the name Smith.

On the 22nd of November, Minnie King took the baby to be photographed at Crown Studio. She was ultimately paid £8 ($920) for her service.

In the evening of the next day, the 23rd of November, Daniel Cooper, Effie Adams (a woman in Daniel’s employ) and Lily Lister took the infant and travelled to the Johnsonville train station. Effie and Lily travelled by train to the station while Daniel used his motor bicycle. 

Once at the station, Effie Adams gave the child to Daniel’s wife Martha Cooper before she caught the next train back to Wellington. Daniel then arrived on his motor bicycle.

What followed next is unclear, many different versions have been given. However, what is clear is that Lily Lister’s child was never seen alive again.

DEAD BABY FOUND

Sometime in late 1922, a body of an infant was found on the sand hills of Lyall Bay (a suburb in Wellington found approximately 4 km northeast of Island Bay).

Soon after the discovery of the dead baby, an anonymous letter came into the possession of the police. The letter read: “It looks as if Cooper has been up to his tricks”.

This prompted the police to look closer at Daniel Cooper’s health business found at 248 Lambton Quay. Although they could not tie the infant’s death to Daniel and ultimately came to the conclusion that he had nothing to do with the death, the investigation turned up some interesting findings.

The police found evidence that the health business had performed at least ten illegal abortions over the last twelve months. 

On the 30th of December 1922, Detective McLennan called into Daniel Cooper’s Lambton Quay office. Detective McLennan informed Daniel that they could not trace Lily Lister’s child after it came into his hands; Daniel replied he had, “Nothing to do with it”.

The Detective then asked if Daniel had taken Lily to the care home of Minnie King to which he replied, “I do not recollect having gone to Martin Street. I did not take Miss Lister to Martin Street. I did not arrange for her confinement”.

Detective McLennan then told Daniel that the police were very anxious to know where Lily Lister’s child was. Daniel then asked why he was being interviewed, “I suppose Mrs King has been making some complaint?”. The Detective told Daniel that the inquiry began with the discovery of the dead child at Lyall Bay, but they had determined that was not the child of Lily Lister.

The Detective then asked if Daniel had ever paid any money to Minnie King. Daniel replied no, he hadn’t. Adding that Minnie King was always calling on him, asking to borrow money and threatening him.

Daniel then produced a receipt that seemed to contradict his previous statement, a receipt from Minnie King. The receipt read, “December 19, 1922 – Received from D. R. Cooper the sum of £8 in full settlement of Lily Smith’s account.”

Detective McLennan asked who Lily Smith was, to which Daniel confirmed it was Lily Lister. Seemingly knowing he had been caught, Daniel asked, “Have you got a charge to put against me? If not, I’ll leave.”

The Detective ignored the question and asked if he had taken Lily Lister to the Johnsonville train station. Daniel confirmed he did on his motor bicycle, he added that they had left the baby with a lady he had never seen before in Wellington and from what he understood Minnie King arranged the adoption of the child and “she knew where the child was”.

After this, Daniel Cooper was arrested for performing an abortion, a crime with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment with hard labour.

Later that day, Detective McLennan called into the Cooper’s rest care home in Newlands to speak to Daniel’s wife Martha Cooper. The detective asked Martha if she knew the fate of Lily Lister’s child, to which she replied “I have nothing to say”.

McLennan then asked if she had met Lily Lister at the Johnsonville railway station, Martha repeated, “I have nothing to say”.

Martha asked where was her husband and she was informed that he was at the police station. McLennan asked if she was aware that Lily Lister had given birth, “I have nothing to say”.

However, the next day Martha Cooper volunteered to give a written statement to the police regarding the fate of Lily Lister’s child. This statement is detailed in the 17th of March 1923 edition of the NZ Truth newspaper, “It was to the effect that she had handed Miss Lister’s baby over to the occupants of a motor car which was waiting by the stone bridge near the railway station. She had understood from her husband that a car would be waiting there containing the people who were to adopt the baby. She handed it over and the car drove away immediately”. Although, the next day she retracted this statement.

The same day Martha made her statement, Daniel gave a statement to the police in the presence of his solicitor. The statement backed up much of what his wife had declared but added, as detailed in the same NZ Truth article, “that the man was an Italian, and when asked if it was Lupi (the father) [he] said he was not going to say, but would advise the police to keep an eye on Lupi. He also stated that if he had a few words with the person to whom he handed the baby it would clear the whole affair up.”

Hugo Lupi denied this entire statement, telling the police that Daniel must have dreamt the whole thing up.

On the 1st of January 1923, police charged Daniel Cooper with the crime of illegally detaining a child. His wife Martha was also arrested and charged with illegally detaining a child, a crime which, if found guilty, carries a seven-year prison sentence.

BODY FOUND AT NEWLANDS

On the 3rd of January 1923, two days after the Coopers were placed under arrest, police began searching their rest care property on Newlands Road. 

Detective Jarrold was searching the grounds of the property when he discovered a loose patch of dirt under a grouping of trees, it looked like something was buried. What came next is detailed in the 6th of January 1923 edition of the NZ Truth newspaper for the article A Gruesome Discovery, “Just before eleven o’clock a disturbance of the soil under a grove of stunted trees, thirty to forty yards from the back door of the cottage caught the eye of one of the constables. The shovels went at it again and at once it was evident that the disturbance of the soil went well below the surface. Spades and shovels were put to one side for the greatest care had to be exercised. At between two and three feet down the skin of an infant was seen and when the soil was further scraped and lifted away the naked body of a child was exposed, slightly decomposed”.

The corpse of an infant female was found lying face down in the grave. The body was exhumed and conveyed to the town’s morgue.

An additional charge of murder was added to the case against Daniel and Martha Cooper. Police knew that the infant’s corpse found on the property was not Lily Lister’s child as that baby was born male. However, there was a chance that this body was the child of William Welsh and Mary McLeod who gave birth to a baby girl on the 12th of October 1922. A child that disappeared and police could not trace after she went into the hands of Daniel Cooper.

Daniel and Martha Cooper were officially charged with:

On or about November 23, 1922, at Johnsonville, did unlawfully detain the infant male child of Hugo Lupi and Lily Lister, aged about ten days, with intent to deprive its parents, who then had lawful charge of such child of possession of it.

On or about December 20, 1922, at Wellington, did unlawfully detain the infant male child of one Beatrice Irene Beadle, aged about one month.

On or about August 20, 1922, at Newlands, did unlawfully detain the infant female child of William James Welch and Margaret Mary McLeod, aged about ten days.

On or about November 31, 1921, at Johnsonville, did unlawfully detain the infant female child of Beatrice Irene Beadle, aged about ten days.

On or about October 20, 1922, at Newlands, did murder the infant child of Margaret Mary McLeod and William James Welch.

MORE BODIES FOUND

While the Coopers awaited trial scheduled to commence on the 14th of May 1923, the search of their 19-acre Newlands property continued. 

On the 27th of March 1923, approximately eleven metres from the ‘crib’ (the outbuilding in which expectant mothers were housed), Constable Hayhurst found evidence of a possible burial site. The crew began digging at the site. Approximately nine inches below the surface a badly decomposed body of an infant was found. 

Along with the buried body were a fork and teaspoon, and they appeared to have the appearance of being burnt. The body was exhumed and transported to the morgue for an autopsy. The corpse was examined by Dr Hector. The body was severely decomposed and Hector found it impossible to determine the sex of the child. He estimated the body had been buried for about a year as there was a “pink-coloured fluid mass [remaining] in the head, representing the brain”. Hector theorised that if the child was buried for two years the colour would not have been present.

Exactly one week later, on the 3rd of April 1923, police discovered a possible burial site approximately 36 metres to the rear of the crib. Constable Carroll began digging at the site, and approximately 46 cm under the earth, the detective discovered the gruesome corpse of a third child.

The child was exhumed and taken to the morgue for an autopsy. The sex of the corpse once more could not be ascertained. The examination also revealed that the “scalp was burst” and the skull was laterally compressed due to pressure, a possible cause of death. The examiner also theorised that the body had been buried for approximately six months.

When Daniel Cooper was asked about the corpses found at the Newlands property he said, “[I have] Absolutely nothing to say. Is there anybody watching that property? I know absolutely nothing about any of the children I have been told were found on my house section at Newlands.”

The police continued searching the property over the next month but no further corpses were uncovered. 

TRIAL

The trial of Daniel Richard Cooper and Martha Elizabeth Cooper commenced on the 14th of May 1923 at the Wellington Supreme Court. Daniel and Martha were ultimately charged with three counts of murder for the three children found on their property. Daniel was charged with one additional charge of murder for a child who went missing after being in his care as well as ten charges of performing an abortion.

However, this trial was only to reach a verdict in the murder of the child of Margaret Mary McLeod and William Welsh, as the prosecution believed that their child was the first body exhumed at the Newlands property.

Public interest in the case of ‘The Newlands Baby Farmer’ had reached a fever pitch. Newspapers, in particular the NZ Truth newspaper, had been covering every update and detail in the case over the past five months.

Due to this, the public gallery at the Supreme Court was packed full and many more waited outside the court to get any of the latest scandalous details that trickled out during the court case.

The trial began at 10.30 am. Mr Macassey (the prosecutor) laid the groundwork for the Crown. He claimed that the dead female child found on the Cooper’s property was indeed the offspring of Mary McLeod and instead of adopting the baby out, Daniel and Martha had killed the child and buried it on the property. 

Daniel Cooper’s defence was that anyone could have buried that child on his property, and the Crown could not definitively prove the child found was indeed the child of Mary McLeod, they contended it could’ve been any child. 

Throughout the trial, evidence was presented to back up the prosecution’s theory including, most shockingly, the mortal remains of the children found at the property. 

The prosecution was confident that the body of the female child was Mary McLeod’s child due to:

1. The child being born at the property.
2. The sex of the child corresponded.
3. The colour of the hair matching.
4. The age of the child.
5. The doctor’s estimate of burial matched the time the child went missing.
6. The spade marks at the burial site corresponded with an unusual type of spade found at the property.

The Cooper’s motivation was summarised in the 19th of May 1923 edition of the NZ Truth newspaper for the article Foul Deeds Will Rise, “The Crown’s contention, of course, was that Cooper did away with the child and Mrs Cooper was a party to the crime. “What was the motive”… Mr Macassey related the fact that Cooper obtained £38 15s out of his dealings with this child besides the 15s – a week he received from Miss McLeod for her accommodation. “She will tell you,” said Mr Macassey, “that if she had not been led to believe that the child was to be adopted she would never have parted with it.”

Martha Cooper’s defence was that she was just as convinced as the mothers were that the children were being adopted. As well as being dominated by her husband and being a victim of his infidelity and mistreatment. Her lawyer, T.M. Wilford, even suggested that she may have been hypnotised by Daniel, describing her in court as a “soulless household drudge without a mind of her own”.

The trial concluded on the 22nd of May 1923, eight days after it had begun. The Crown Prosecutor Mr Macassey said in his closing statement, “This case is one of the most important, if not the most important, that has come before a Court in New Zealand… it was not necessary to positively identify the body found as that of McLeod’s child. What the Crown set out to do was to prove that the body was that of a child which had been murdered, and it was to assist this that the evidence of system had been adduced. At any case, evidence pointed to it being McLeod’s child, which had disappeared without a trace. The body found had a hole in the abdomen sufficient to have caused death and the suggestion was that the body was placed in the grave and jabbed with the spade… I ask you, is the disappearance of these children consistent with any hypothesis of innocence? I can’t find one and I don’t think you will”.

Then Mr C. A. Treadwell (Daniel’s lawyer) made his closing statement. He told the jury that if the body of the child was not Mary McLeod’s child then the whole prosecution’s case falls apart. He asked the jury to put aside their prejudice of the prisoner having extra-marital affairs and “the degraded code of morals it disclosed”. 

Treadwell concluded that it was for the prosecution to prove guilt and not for the prisoner to prove innocence. 

Then Mr Wilford (Martha’s lawyer) made his closing statement, “Hugo Lupi, Welsh, Miss Lister, Miss McLeod and Miss Beadle all believed that the children were to be adopted. Was it unreasonable that Mrs Cooper should believe it? What could Mrs Cooper think when [Daniel] Cooper treated the mothers so kindly, and, in the case of Miss McLeod’s child, summoned a doctor at an early hour of the morning to attend the confinement. How could any women believe in those circumstances that ruthless murder was in the offing? There was nothing to arouse her suspicions.”

After a short time, the jury returned a verdict. They found Daniel Cooper guilty of wilful murder, however, cleared Martha Cooper of any guilt.

Daniel was then asked, “Daniel Richard Cooper, prisoner at the bar, have you anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon you?”

Daniel replied meekly, “I am innocent, sir, I can hardly believe now this is McLeod’s child”.

At this time, His Honor Justice Chapman donned the black cap, “It is not necessary that I should say more than a very few words, because your crime in the eyes of the public speaks for itself. I have, unfortunately, had to pass sentence upon several men for the crime of murder, but I have never known so cruel and heartless a murder as this”. 

Justice Chapman, reportedly with shaking hands, then sentenced Daniel Richard Cooper, The Newlands Baby Farmer, to death. The sentence was to be carried out at 8 am on the 16th of June 1923 at Terrace Gaol in Wellington.

EXECUTION

Saturday. 16th of June 1923. Daniel Cooper awoke in the early morning after having slept a couple of hours. He consumed a small portion of porridge, a piece of toast, another of bread and butter and half a cup of tea. 

Daniel asked for writing materials and spent much of the morning reading the bible and writing. 

At 6 am, two members of the Salvation Army arrived at Daniel’s cell, Commissioner Robert Hoggard and Colonel James H. Bray; Cooper had asked for them to come on the day of his execution. 

While with the members of the church, Daniel, in a “tragically low and depressed state” read from the bible, the first epistle of Saint John, verses 8, 9 and 10:

1:8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1:9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity.

1:10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar: and his word is not in us.

Daniel Cooper then collapsed to his knees and confessed his sins through prayer to the two holy men. Daniel reportedly went into much detail about his crimes during this confession but the exact details have been kept confidential to keep the seal of the confessional intact.

After this, Daniel wrote two letters, one to each of his daughters with the message that he wished they would think of him occasionally. He also asked Commissioner Hoggard to deliver an oral message to his wife if he ever met her.

It was now 7.30 am. Daniel Cooper sat at a table with pen in hand and began writing:

“I, Daniel Richard Cooper, desire to say as my last statement that I say clearly that my wife is absolutely innocent of the sin of murder, but I admit my guilt, but not to the extent that I am credited with. I have been placed in peculiar and trying circumstances, never intending to go as far as I have gone. I now confess my sin and guilt and leave myself in the hand of God, and feel I have forgiveness through Jesus Christ, my Saviour. I thank my two friends, Commissioner Hoggard and Colonel Bray, and also the prison officers for their kindness. I sign this freely. – D. R Cooper.”

After this, Daniel expressed that a great load had been lifted from his mind. He spent what little time he had left reading from the Bible:

1:8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1:9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity.

1:10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar: and his word is not in us.

8 am. The hangman entered Daniel’s cell. Cooper was reportedly unmoved as he was marched to the gallows. This moment was described in the 23rd of June 1923 edition of the NZ Truth newspaper for the article Cooper’s Confession, “Cooper was a small man of 43 years, with dark piercing eyes set far back in his head and a mouth like a seam in a saddle flap. He was ashen grey – an abject spectacle, his arms pinioned to his sides and his neck bared for the executioner’s hands. The custom is that the prisoner be hanged in his own clothes; accordingly, Cooper wore only his collarless shirt on the upper part of his body. Warders supported him on either side and through the silent gaol corridors the little procession silently tramped to the gallows, the only sound being the murmuring of the burial service”.

Daniel Cooper ascended the scaffold and was positioned above the trap door. Cooper kept his eyes closed during this time. His face was described as resigned and passive. 

A noose was placed around Daniel Cooper’s neck. He was asked if he had anything to say, “All I have said I have said to my friends. I have nothing more to say”.

The hangman placed a white cap over Daniel’s head and took two steps back. The bolt holding the trap door was released. Daniel Richard Cooper fell seven feet and two inches, breaking his neck in the process. The Newlands Baby Farmer was dead.

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EPILOGUE – LIFE AFTER DEATH

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After Daniel’s wife Martha Cooper was found to have no part in the murder, she was eventually cleared of all the other charges. After this, she left Wellington and returned to Gore on the South Island.

She changed her name back to Martha Stewart and eventually relocated to Dunedin sometime in the 1930s. On the 21st of December 1940, a childless 47-year-old Martha married Philip Powell McNaughton, a quarryman. Although, he died only three years later. By the early 1970s, Martha was living in Christchurch, where she passed away on the 10th of April 1975 at 82 years old.

At the time of his death, Daniel’s two daughters were 9 and 13 years old. They did not go with their stepmother Martha to the South Island. They were taken in by Daniel’s brother who lived in Wellington. What happened to them after this is unknown.

Daniel Cooper’s Newlands property was eventually demolished in 1973 and as of 2013 was still a vacant section. Many believe that more corpses lay buried on the property but none have been uncovered.

The two unidentified infant corpses found at the Newlands property were held at the Royal New Zealand Police Museum and used as a teaching aid for police throughout much of the 20th century. Eventually, the corpses were no longer needed and were placed in storage. 

The museum’s director Rowan Carroll told the Southland Times on the 28th of August 2015 for the article Mr Cooper’s tiny cadavers that she felt a sense of outrage at the cases in which the offenders were known and remembered but their victims were not, “It’s important to give [the victims] back some dignity, show them some care and look after them”.

92 years after being discovered, along with 20 aborted fetuses and two other nameless victims of infanticide, the unidentified bodies were cremated and buried at Makara Cemetery in Wellington on the 24th of July 2015.

The burial site is accompanied by a plaque that reads: 

Rest in Peace

This is the final resting place of 24 babies who died between 1920 and 1937. 

Their remains were entrusted to New Zealand Police, and now we return them to the earth.

—

SOURCES

Internet Articles
Ancestry, Hugo Lupi, https://www.ancestry.com.au/genealogy/records/hugo-lupi-24-k3xdn4
Te Ara, Story: Cooper, Daniel Richard and Cooper, Martha Elizabeth, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4c33/cooper-daniel-richard
Stuff.co.nz, Hated baby farmer last person to hang, https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/67020712/hated-baby-farmer-last-person-to-hang
Stuff.co.nz, Mr Cooper’s tiny cadavers, https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/71384071/mr-coopers-tiny-cadavers
Underground History, Foul deeds will rise – Daniel Cooper, baby farmer, http://undergroundhistory.blogspot.com/2015/06/foul-deeds-will-rise-daniel-cooper-baby.html

Documents
University of Auckland, Early New Zealand Statutes, CRIMES. 1908, No. 32., http://www.enzs.auckland.ac.nz/docs/1908/1908C032.pdf

Newspapers
Papers Past, NZ Truth, A Gruesome Discovery | Fears of a “Baby Farm” Near Johnsonville, 6 January 1923, Page 6, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230106.2.30
Papers Past, NZ Truth, The Newlands Mystery, 13 January 1923, Page 4, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230113.2.16
Papers Past, NZ Truth, A Sensational Sequel | Coopers to be Tried for Murder, 3 February 1923, Page 6, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230203.2.37
Papers Past, NZ Truth, The Newlands Mystery | Coopers Charged with Murder, 10 February 1923, Page 5, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230210.2.28
Papers Past, NZ Truth, The “Baby Farming” Case | Further Charges Against The Coopers, 24 February 1923, Page 6, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230224.2.32
Papers Past, NZ Truth, Indicted for Murder | Newlands Allged Baby Farmers Charged, 17 March 1923, Page 5, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230317.2.20
Papers Past, NZ Truth, The Newlands Mystery | Cooper Again Another Abortion Charge, 24 March 1923, Page 5, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230324.2.32
Papers Past, NZ Truth, The Newlands Mystery | Another Body Found, 31 March 1923, Page 6, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230331.2.59
Papers Past, NZ Truth, The Newlands Mystery | Third Body Found, 7 April 1923, Page 6, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230407.2.30
Papers Past, NZ Truth, The Alleged Baby-Farm | Coopers Again Before the Court, 28 April 1923, Page 5, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230428.2.16
Papers Past, NZ Truth, Four Charges of Murder | Trail Opens on Monday, 12 May 1923, Page 5, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230512.2.22.1
Papers Past, NZ Truth, “Foul Deeds Will Rise” | Coopers Tried for Murder, 19 May 1923, Page 5, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230519.2.18
Papers Past, NZ Truth, “Death Pays All Debts” | The Newlands Horror, NZ Truth, 26 May 1923, Page 5, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230526.2.17
Papers Past, NZ Truth, His Chances Narrowed Down | Cooper’s Appeal Dismissed, 2 June 1923, Page 7, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230602.2.31
Papers Past, NZ Truth, Awaiting Execution | Daniel Cooper’s Last Days, 9 June 1923, Page 5, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230609.2.26
Papers Past, NZ Truth, Cooper’s Confession | Hanged for Child Murder, 23 June 1923, Page 5, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19230623.2.16
Papers Past, Hawera & Normanby Star, Cooper’s Confession | Guilt Admitted | Wife Exonerated, 16 June 1923, Page 11, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HNS19230616.2.87