Bloody Murder - A True Crime Podcast · Tara Sariban and Barney Black

180. Angel of Death - Dulcie Markham - Part One

January 25, 2021·1 hr 36 min·3 clips

I was more than ordinarily pretty and fellows took notice

This episode explores the early life and criminal associations of Dulcie Markham, a glamorous figure in Australia's 1920s-30s underworld known as the "Angel of Death." Hosts Barney Black and Tara Saraban, who blend true crime with comedic commentary, introduce her story as a two-part special. Markham, though not a murderer herself, became infamous for losing multiple partners to gang violence. Born in 1914, Dulcie was the daughter of Florence, a petty criminal, and John Markham, who left after her mother had a child with an unknown father. At age 15, she ran away and was taken in by Sydney's notorious underworld queen, Tilly Devine, who ran brothels during the Razor Gang Wars. Markham became a sought-after sex worker, earning over £100 a night, and befriended fellow worker Nellie Cameron. Her first serious lover was small-time criminal Cecil "Scotty" McCormack, a friend of violent gangster Chow Hayes. In 1931, McCormack was stabbed to death by a rival, Alfred Dillon, who was jealous over Markham's affections. Markham's dramatic appearance at the inquest, in a blood-red dress, captivated the press and began her public notoriety. After McCormack's death, she faced charges for vagrancy and soliciting before moving to Melbourne and then Brisbane. There, she married gangster Frank "the prettiest boy in gangland" Bowen in 1936, but continued affairs with other criminals like Guido Colletti and Arthur Taplin. Taplin was shot dead in a Melbourne hotel brawl in 1936, and Colletti was gunned down at a Sydney party in 1939, with Markham present but refusing to cooperate with police. A surprising insight is that Sydney's two major crime lords in the late 1920s were women, Tilly Devine and Kate Lee, who historians suggest may have been the world's first female organized crime bosses. The episode reveals how Markham was repeatedly arrested for offenses like impersonating a government official and breaking a toilet bucket in a cell, leading to vivid courtroom outbursts. Press coverage of her often read like "erotic fan fiction," fixating on her beauty while dubbing her a "hoodoo girl" for the deaths surrounding her. By 1940, she had linked with Melbourne crime figure Frederick "Paddles" Anderson, who was acquitted of murder, and her husband Frank Bowen died in a gunfight. The hosts emphasize that Markham leveraged her looks and intelligence to navigate a violent, male-dominated underworld, using aliases like Tosca DeMarca to evade police. The tone is conversational and darkly comedic, with the hosts joking about historical details while maintaining respect for victims. This episode will appeal to listeners who enjoy character-driven historical crime stories with a blend of humor and social context. Those sensitive to comedic takes on violent material or detailed discussions of sex work might prefer to skip it.

As heard by us

A darkly comic gangland portrait that stays respectful even when the story gets wild.

Bloody Murder frames Dulcie Markham, the Angel of Death, as a gangland portrait rather than a tidy crime story. It lingers on a woman who was never a killer herself, yet was bound so tightly to violence that five lovers and two husbands were lost to it, giving the episode a…

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For a comedy true-crime look at Dulcy Markham, an Angel of Death story from Australia.

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