MUSICIAN IN GAOL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1656, 24 January 1913, Page 9

MUSICIAN IN GAOL.

STONE-BREAKING JARS HIS HAND. ■ CHARGE OF MALINGERING. (By Tolegraph.-finecdal Correspondent.) Auckland, January 23. t A prisoner named Joseph. Bannekor Edger; aged 17 years, came tfefore Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., at the Mount Eden Gnol yesterday afternoon on a charge of malingering. Tho evidence against him was that ho came to Mount Eden early in December from the Wellington Gaol, and was put to work on the stone heap, that being regarded as the easiest form of hard labour in the prison. Edger protested that ho was not fit for tho work, and though apparently quite well and healthy, he persisted in only bis left hand for stone-breaking, with the result that he did less than half the work of the. other- men. ■ Exhortations to do sufficient to earn remission marks had no effect, and after the'ehief warder had unsuccessfully endeavoured for nearly three weeks to get the prisoner *o do something near the average. amount of work, Edger was finally placed in the cells as punishment for pretending .illness. The gaol surgeon saw him several times, but could find no sign of nervous or other trouble, and gave the unhesitating opinion that the man. was malingering. Dr. Bull was called in and : his search for some symptom of disease or physical disability was fruitless. He considered that the man was strong and in good health, and while he would not go so far as to say that' the man did not have any pain (such as the prisoner alleged affected his back and limbs), he considered that it did not affect his capacity to work.

Edger—who told the magistrate in reply to a question on the subject that he was a musician by occupation—made a long, rambling statement concerning, his troubles. , He said that no matter what the doctors might say he did. suffer great pain in his back and limbs, and in misery from the pain even at the moment of speaking. As ho spoke ho extended his right arm and freely moved the joints and'fingers, at the same time making the assertion that that arm was "out of. commission" because the muscles were constricted. The subject matter of his remarks was so disjointed and. his allegations so vague that.it was almost impossible to gather a concise idea of-what his grievance was. He complained- that he had been wrongly sentenced in the first place, that everybody was against him, that the allowance of tobacco which is given prisoners as the reward of good conduct and industry had been withheld from him, that he was disappointed in not getting his grievance heard before a jury, and that the small amount of atone-, breaking had been detrimental to his health, because it jarred the loft hand, which he had'used.

The magistrate, after patiently hearing the: prisoner through a rambling . discourse, lasting over half an hour.' told the'man that he .seemed to be suffering chiefly from a severe _attack of imagination, and that if he concentrated his attention i -.on. work, instead of on his supposed ailment; it would improve both his bodily'and, mental health. His Worship sentenced Edger to'seven days' close confinement in a night'.cell (partly lit), on half rations, and without exercise.- '~■'' , ■•.