BOTTOMLEY IN GOAL.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 December 1923, Page 3

BOTTOMLEY IN GOAL.

HIS EXPERIENCES DESCRIBED The first instalment of a remarkable account by Horatio Bottomlcy of his tile in gaol has been published in London. Below are printed extracts from the story:—

tin Snuditv alternooon, .May 29th, iqoq i sat in the grounds at my country home, the glorious" South Downs, a few miles distant, radiating their atmosphere of everlasting sleep—and typpical Sussex -lenei".' all round. I was waiting with absolute confidence the issue of the- ordeal. Tims, iu confident, mood, 1 Mint hack to town in the evening, and at 10.30 the next morning Mas at the Old Bailey for the final act. At 1 o'clock in the aftenvoii I was being escorted hv two Murder-, in a cab to Wormwood Scrubs Prison, sen tend'd to seven years penal servitude I By 5 o'clock I lmd been stripped and meightil and put into my prison garb, mv watch and chain, money, pocket Imok, and papers being earelully Ivied ami placed with my own clothes in the custody of the prison authorities. ■ At length a doctor came. I suppose the result ol that half-hour’s meditation and the terrible shock I had received were manifesting themselves in some May familiar to his experienced eve. lor he at once ordered me into the hospital, with instructions to remain m bed till I had seen him on the next day. and before 0 o'clock I Mas dulv tucked up.

This "apartment" measured Rift hv Hit Mas lairlv lofty, and Mas light ed hv a high and heavily-haired windo m - . Its furniture consisted ol a bed. a wooden chair, a wnshsland, and a small table.

SUDDENLY H UR LED DEE LIFE'S WILE El.. There, on that lovelv spring evening, | lay in a prison eel!. \A a - ibis, then tie End!' Riess, I’aiTiaiivnl. Power. Home, and all I loved torn from me stripped of a sudden ol everything I had struggled lor Ami Imw I struggled! During thirt v strenuous years, lighting, lighting, lighting—usually alone and singlehandccl, and at times against almost overwhelming odds! Anil tile bitterness of it Mas that mv work was only just beginning. Suddenly 1 had been hulled" right elf the Wheel ol lll.'—hoi into space and lauded in gaol! But there miis no need lor an "observation cell.'’ Was rot my mothei -God rest her sold. for i am sure, she knows all that happened —Mas not flic a llolyoake, and did not her Druid blood, the oldest in Die land, course through my veins!' Had mil she given me a name borne by Nelson ot the Nile. Kitchener of Khartoum, and the old warrior of am-ieut Rom*- Had in! I rather appropriated to my-eli lamed Was not Charles Bradlaugh. boimii'si ol lighter.-,, tee mentor ol mv youth r

c <,me. ('one-! D. indeed. as i*. se 'uv'-l the world had el a sudden turned against me—Moll, it should be Bottomlcy contra niiimlmi-. 1 - agamsi the world L The next pair of eyes that looked through the cel! window ■ aid see a smile on my face, mid uheu the ,ha ter railed he would find

iii»* p-ntly lor th*’ trav. HOPELESSLY LEFT AT THE RDM . q;,e Wednesday was Derby Day, and

a- ain !, v.as condemned lo remain iu >„„1 D, rhv D. v'. Yes. I could hear ,he "passing conches ,m the main mad. far titlin'. All mails lead to E'd,om. and. as mv mind wandered to the great carnival. 1 reflected once more how. in Dv Derby of life. I had been hopelessly left at the posts "IFope!,.sdv." did I sav ? Dum spim. " Oii Tbiu-sclav I was up. and by tbe week-end Mils out at exen-ise with the other hospital paibnts. My apecai.llU.„ ~.,„5(.,| a mild •■ensalinn ainong them ami M.eh e! tie- general p.'isone, s mho sum- me, including the mice world famous Air. Hnolev. an .-x-sher- .(-(- hue pai liamentni-y candidate. a solicitor 1 knew, and a racing ar.|iiainianee oi good family. mlio w.i seated on his haunches cut ting Die hiM-i, grass. "Sul! on the turf.” T whispered as I passed. Ilere were priests and parsons, barrister- and solicitors, eoh nels, mujoi s. ami eantains. naval ollieers. doi toi s, school-masters. bankers. iinamiers buildei's. live! and even editors and Lei me add that tbere have been times when f really doubted that I should see the outer world again. But an infinite lailli in mv destiny, a stem resolve and an inflexible optimism 1;not me up-and will. I trust, do so til! at lasi the dav of Hbertv arrives. BATS A SPECIAL TREAT.

And then when the pri'-.m gates o|ieii I shall repeat a pm'lfioii of 'Nune Dimiif is.’ which I have so often listened to in chapel : ••Lord, now lelii-l Thou Thy servant depart iu neiiee. • <A ''' have seen.'

which I "as imjirossed was iheir intense love of anything in the shape of animal life. Rul, of . iUl ‘j r c'hriee of P'.'is was restnefed—hemg. m 1' le -t pra'-tieallv confined to birds, cats, and' mice, with very occasional!v, hv wav of a special treat, a rat thrown

Rot mice Mere the prisoners’ s.nec- ],,] favourites. Tlicv found their wav into the cells from umlev the lint water pipes, attracted hv the smell of food, and what pals they heeame with Die men. who would tame them into regn- ],,,• eomnanioits. teaching tliem eveiy eonecivahle kind ol trick.