HALEY'S CAREER IN ENGLAND AND INDIA.

Grey River Argus, Volume XVI, Issue 2252, 27 October 1875, Page 2

HALEY'S CAREER IN ENGLAND AND INDIA.

Haley began life as agent in. Glasgow for his father, who was a clothier in Bramley, near Leeds, and who carried on! his business at an establishment known as the Waterloo Mills. Haley's, wild manner of living in Glasgow got him into difficulty, which resulted in his enlistment into the Royal Engineers. Shortly after, he was drafted to India, went through the Persian war and got wounded. He next got into difficulty at a place in India, the name of which we cannot correctly; ascertain. He was under the charge of an officer, to revenge his spite' on whom he buried a chest of morey in order to 1 get him into trouble. For this offence he was tried by Court Martial, and found guilty.. He was sentenced to six years' penal servitude. Owing to his insubordinate conduct in prison, and his escaping on several occasions, the Government, in order to have him confined more closely, had him forwarded to the penal establishment in Portland, England. After remaining in Portland for four and a half years, and getting tired of his lonely seclusion in that island, he made overtures to the authorities that if the Government deemed it. desirable to send him back to India, he would discover to them the treasure that he had concealed. He went back to India, or rather was taken there, fulfilled his promise, showing where the treasure was hidden, the whole amount was recovered, and the officer, who had to make good the deficiency, got his money back again. At the expiration of the term of his sentence he was allowed to leave the Royal Engineers, owing to the disgrace into which he got himself. Through the good offices of a gentlemen in Bombay, who was a Bank manager there, and who. was acquainted with Haley's father, he received an appointment as storekeeper on the line of the Bombay and Barbda Railway. While there, he got on so well as to be able to mix in good society. However, he determined on a charge, and his resolution came about in the following manner : — He was invited to a Government party in Bombay. But prior to its taking place he found that his old acquaintance,. Major Hancock, the officer the treasure confided to whom he had buried, was to be one of the party, and fearing that he might be detected and exposed as being an ex-convict to those at the party and in Bombay generally, he not only did not go to the party, but he left Bpeedily for England. Soon after his arrival he got married in London. We next hear of him in a way in which his sharpness come 3to the fore. He, with the assistance of his father, formed a Coal Company, called "The Pall Mall Guinea Coal Company," being an. opposition to the well known Guinea Coal Company, Pall Mall, of Messrs Lee and Jardine. Messrs Lee and Jardine were a powerful fir m, ; and did not want to see their nara<> traded upon ; Mr Lee,- at.that time, was M.- P. f or Maidstone, Kent. A suit was instituted, and the result was that the Haley's wero involved in the whole of the costs, which were very heavy. Cyrus Haley thereupon absconded, wandered about Liverpool and Manches-. ter for about six months; his wife this time was living in London. Hearing that the bailiffs were after him, Haley returned to London, and deter, mined on . a course which well shows what

the character of the man was. He wa3 aware that on a certain day and hour Mr Lee would be in the fulfilment of his business present at a place he knew of. Haley provided himself with a pair of six chambered revolvers and a screw-driver. He repaired to a coffee-house, where he loaded the pistols, and then went to the London Parcel Delivery Company's Office, Rolls Buildings, Fetter Lane, where the . Board was sitting at its half-yearly meeting. The door opened by a spring from the inside— when it_ was. closed^ it c° n l4_:-. not be opened -from the outside.- Haley applied the screw ; driYer, forced operithe door, and gained admittance tpthe room where the Board wa3 sitting, of which Mr' * Lee was chairman. Before anything could be done, Haley to the amazement of- the- — astonished members of 'ther ßoard, produced his pistols, and extorted from Mr Lee, with a pistol pointed at_ his (Mr Leie's) head, apromise'ihathe would withdraw the warrant out. for his, (Haleyjs). „ apprehension; v The warrant waa /withjj f ;, drawn on the understanding that Haley .r should leave the country. Haley* how- ; r ever, did not leave the country* -no; one i dared to havethe warrant.rput into effect against him, and Haley's next step was. to become the landlord of- a hotel: .Haley ( had previously been a director of jthe,;. 1 . Parcels Delivery Company, knew everything as to their time of meeting, and the arrangements of the place, and when he; presented^,, the,,, pistol,;. at Mr , Lee,,, his, (Haley's) brother was present; .in. .the Board room, and held. the "'position of ! Secretary to the Board.; The hotel Haley. kept was the VernonrHead, ;North Audley^.j^ street, Grosvenor.. Square. Tjiis .was.in. about 1869. ■ He^was i a restless- man, and > a his next move wasto emigrate to Auck- i land. His doings there aie well known ; he was pre^eniinently " the fire raiseri"' For his destroying the kerosene stores, : Mechauics Bay,; no motive could ever .bY assigned; and his reason was that there was at that time a number of men out of work, and he wanted to give them employment. In order to foil the detectives in regard to the burning down of his restaurant, he gave the key to his manager, and the manager, being examined/ swore ; to the fact. But the explanation was - that HaleyjhadfiJeddownan.oldkeyvwhich " he had till it was similar in wards to the key he gave to the manager, and with the old key effected an entrance and set fire to the place. We have it on the best authority that had Haley succeeded in escaping from. custody, it .was ;! his.inten.7 , ; ■ tion to murder his wife ; and , commit suicide, as he had reason to believe that she bad been' exposing his villany. ' That he, knowing' from the gaol chaplain where Mrs Haley was, had made up his mind to trace her, lying in an ambush till cover of night, when he would have attacked her and murdered her, and then committed ; .' . suicide. In Lee's case he had determined if Lee would not withdraw the warrant £o shoot Lee and then shoot himself. After hearing that his children were cpnfiiied in , ; the Industrial School, he said rather thai : - have his children made criminals of he would have killed them : all, and his demeanour showed that he meant what he said... , , '.."' .',"'" ''"]''