INQUEST ON CYRUS HALEY.

Evening Star, Issue 3936, 6 October 1875, Page 2

INQUEST ON CYRUS HALEY.

/in inquest was In io at the vjaol at two oelock auis afternoou. before Mr Ho ken, i istriCl ' ovonei, and a juiy of twelve, uf whom Mr i .S, t.rahaiu was cnoseu toiemaii, on the body of Cyrus U dey, «a.) was shot while attempting to .scape from legal custody on Monday morning Mr &t«ut watetnd the case on behalf of the Gaol Departure) t. Tho Oorouer, m his opening remarks, said i,oat the jury woul i a..e tom the evidence biought he.ore them that the dreeas.d tor a. long ume led a cmni iai and vicious life. v O that his violent career was iu some vay m ouisun with his death. At tne same tune it be mved them to iu.i e wuethei- die - movi hmi wantonly K-ded rte i'i' »'.i.i.r in his ati mpt to escape. t course the law lioe. imi* suppose the shoot* ri. 0 a piis .ner in .it .emptiiig fo escape to be iiiiuecissarily or want *uly tfoue . and although it aiiowed the prisouer to be sh -t, ii, did not contemplate my wanton execution to such act. he jury having viewed the body, the following evidence w s taken : -

laim-M Caldwell, cnief gaolei at Dunedin, iu{) t<eJ : I received the deceased Cyrus Haley > j May i, 1*72. He was the under a sen(■"lice ot p-nai .servitude for lite for shooting wi.h intent to murder. There was no sentence passed on another cna-ge, threatening to ■uslro, property. On a .bird char.e, found uny.i arson, penal servitude lor lite. * l n a li'iutn cu-itga, also for aisou, penal servitude for hie, an.i 10 pay costs of the pro-ecution. Another cliaige, of sen.linga t neai. nhjg etter, t/ e Uown refused to prosecute. The warrant u , 11 "® l which b. ieceived was signed • Weu ) Coveruor, and counieisigned by 1 11 1U . S *| e re.na.i-.ed in my custody till Alouday inoi niu,, and at ten minutes to was given, w.tb a gang of twenty seven mher pi i-ouers, to Sergo mt Ua ram. Warden Aid er was one o: tbe sentries in clnnge of tbe gang at Beil Hill. 1 produce bia apj oiutmeut as a warder, ana # also th»* vlocument of his swear ng in as a constable I also produce prioou regulations, dated March 18, 1875, and extracted from tbe -overnment ‘Gazetts* ihe.e i emulations are frequently read over to each piiß-uer. Clause 63, headed ‘'Attempt (o escape, says:—“ Any piLoner attempting to escape will render himself liable to be fihj'. dead af'e, be ng c died on to stand.” ( htuse 1» of me Prison Act, 1873, emp. wers a prisoner to bo sec to labor eumide the goal precincts. The lifeless body of the deceased wan brought into the gaol by Seigeant VVatson, about 7.36 on Alouday morning. Deceased has atwa> is givea considerable amount of trouble to the vi-itirii, justices and to t e otiicers of the gaol In r .-binary, l-' s >73, for thro win. pepii.-r into the eyes ot Warder O'Hagan, he w ■■■s ordered to solium confinement. Other iha-ges were a,so entered*, g dust, the deceased. At the time ot his escape in he was aimed with a laige iece of iron, with which he Would doubtless have struck 0 Hagau on his re-cap-ture bad it not be .u lor ? ergeant Oibel. bor this he wi* also placed in irons, but these weie removed sometime aftervii an application to .tii trodr jus; before Ida wif» arrival here, Haley saying he did not like to appear before bis liiwin in nacled as a felon. H • was a very dangeious man. He seemed very much cut up at bis children having lately neen sent to tho industrial fcwhooi. While be was iu gaol > very iuonlgenco was granted to him, and he studied 1 iUuai) s system ot stei ograi by. Prisoner was fmt.y- wo year-- of ago at the tom ol his death, an engineer, a ma'iied man, and a native of Leeds,

i _ '|°hn i hitram, oveise.r of prison labor at ( • -6ii i ib, said that dec.-ased was oneoftwenty . eight given «vei to him by Mr Caldwell on Monday morning last. The men wereputto work , at 1 eii ill 11, \\ itnesaouhearng VVaidenNichol•on cry “HaUy s off,’’cried out to the men to full i in and all but Haley wore marched down to tne gaol. A., noon as he got the men to the back gate he heard that Haley w«h shot. He then went back t ■ the works, and on making an exauiinaTou found a pair ot trousers that Haley had been wearing on that morni g. i “ l d been ripped olf by the seams, and war: pjckflii up dose by wheie uicy had been wot king. tSa.ey, although o> eot the mot oitlig ng men in the gaol, was one of the most violent ciiaTactors. Warder stated that he saw Haley spring Horn behind a huge stone on Bell Hill, at about nfteeu or twenty inmates past seven on douday morning. He ran U p the slope of the mil, and witness, obse.ving that he had no tmwreis on. bum-diaely ca ed out 1 Ha ey’h away !” ■1 arder . uller. Intving been cautioned, said tie w sued o give evidence. He then deposed : ."‘V 111 c * ia, B° of part of >lie priMoneiH on Monday morning, and w is statione i on the top ot the bill. About 72d am. I s w prisoner Ha ey coming up the face of the works to the -op o the hank, about fifty y aids ea-t of where 1 .v is stutioned. Ashe n.al no business I eoiiltoged him, a\iug - lop!" H tt con . tinned t. run on. I called to him several times to stop, and gave tlio s goal of souiettiuig neing wrong to toe working wander at ■he top 1 tlmu r..n to the fiont of ■ lie C urcti wih \i. w of intercepting nim. 1 men saw Haley cumi,,g up about lurty yaids f.oin me, running i tl tjm direction where I was. I biought my r fl-r bo the present and again erdered him to st md He continued to run towaros me and jam, ed over the f« n ce nto the danse grounds. 1 then h.ed low, with ‘ VIUIV oi longing him to ii Bland. He, how- ■ ver, Continued <o run, and on his g< ttrm mar m opening at Claremont House, L again ore.t, aiming at the centre o, Ins body, ut the shot missed, I feared that m- would have got out belaud Claremont Muunq, -»iiu thus Lave ed. He, however* •igiio j mip.-d the fence at the, fiont of tida a u-e I went round the house, and on ge'ting m rb . street again he was in Moray pl. ee a out sixty yards from me. He eonlmued to urn duwn 1 or ay place and on t-> the footpath, I followed nim. but was lame and c-ulo not run. 's he continued t.u run towaids Btuart •■•■r.et, I stood auu fir d again. He staggered a iew paces forward, ami fell towaids the Jamp-post I walk' d down and saw blood flowing from hts mouth and u ose : moved his left am a tittle, but did not : p.‘..k 1 continue.! snouting to bun to stand tne uh - e tie 1 was in pursuit, but Ha ev took no notice of -In's. 1 al.»>j„ conMdu -i lialev a v.ry d«.nge;ous n.an. arm oailv ■ e ßv’r.i Sl '- Clal mK^ Ctiom '■ ding him. Hi it e m email: We a.emu anowe i, y K0 Tins" 1 VV'rV’?i a V W °* a |inßou,?! '-den under .tins. Hal Haley continued to iun unia.ds •no wlmn I presented my nfl.. sl i Idm m, the ois occasion I .should have been cm; third to Ihr Coioiiei ;i he reason a w it V e t must not - ciui.t a piisoum U) approach w j h, u thirty yards of him n. Hat tne pn onei might assault A»' vr '?i 11 * ■ H-'in him, and nin>. t him. After Me Sirs John l»av », [. .lulmston A. naolV! oT’ a " , ‘ U ‘, Tun * 1K '' {olia.dain to the lisid en tv’dtiico, the Co. oner Hummed up, mg ih jury ibmk that u great deal of uau.iCi.-H.jary

evidence bad been given ; but many people outside seemed to think that prisoner had been wantonly killed, therefore he thought it advisable to have as much evidence taken as could be. There was no evidence of the nature of the crimes Haley hud been guilty of before, but he had beard, and no doubt so had the jury, that he had led a life to warrant them in beli ving that ho was a man of a highly criminal type. Tho question for the jury to d oido was whether the pr-soner had b en killed by War ier Miller in a justifiable manner, or whether the Warder had killed him wantonly an 1 nnucc s-aril'', in which case of course it might he a verdict of manslaughter against the wa-der Ho thought fr-m the evidence that tho wa’dcr was not only justified by the prison regulation'; iu shorn,mg him when he refused to stand, but that it would have been almost ihu geum* bod he not fired at so revengeful a man as Haley seemed to be, but allowed him to esc.-pe, for it was not improbable that he would have nrliued some seiious mischief on some persons whom he conceived to be his enemies, before be could have been captured. Tf they thought that, their verdict would he one of “ Justifiable homicide,” in which, case the law considered that not only the person who killed the piisonvr was not only not worthy of condemnation, but was entitled to commendation. The jury returned a verdict of “ justifiable homicide,” adding a rider recording their commendation of the action of Warder Miller, tho officer who shot deceased.