THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1880. THE CASE OF MURPHY.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2066, 7 October 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1880. THE CASE OF MURPHY.

In the case of Regina v. Murphy, recently heard in the Supreme Court, there are to be found curious revelations. It is a fact that wo have in our midst men prepared to swear to a fabricated and trumped up story, not only for the purpose of extricating a criminal from the clutches of the law hut for the purpose of throwing discredit and approbrium on two respectable witnesses. The plot was well conceived and consistently carried out, each man swearing hard and fast to his portion of the story; hut, as often happens in such cases, there were weak points in the amour of villainy. Tho prisoner, John Murphy, in giving evidence on his own behalf, stated what precisely and most strikingly contradicted what the other two came there prepared to swear. This was ably pointed out by the counsel for the prosecution, and no doubt had its due weight on the minds of the jury. It is, we think, to ho regretted that his Honor did not act upon what evidently was his first intention, and commit Michael Murphy and Watt for gross and deliberate perjury, for, as his Honor justly remarked, a more flagrant case of conspiracy and perjury had never come under his notice. It is to he hoped, in the interests of public justice, that the Crown Prosecutor, in whose hands the matter has been left, will not allow the matter to rest here. A most deliberate and unblushing conspiracy to defeat the ends of justice has been laid bare, and the community, as a whole, will not feel safe unless stops are taken to vindicate the law. Therefore it is that we urge upon tho Crown Prosecutor to act, if he considers, as doubtless he will on looking into the matter, that there is a case. Both on account of the public and, we might almost say, in tho interests of the men themselves it is desirable that tho case should he heard. At present Messrs. Michael Murphy and Watt occupy a most unenviable position, and it is only right that an opportunity should be afforded to them to show—if they can—that they are not quite so black as they are painted.