EXECUTION OF THORNE

Hokitika Guardian, 24 April 1925, Page 2

EXECUTION OF THORNE

LATEST CABLE NEWS

AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. OAELB ASSOCIATION. LONDON, April 22. Thorne was hanged at eight o’clock this morning in Wandsworth prison. He faltered momentarily when lie caught sight of the execution shed. Then he walked unassisted to the scaffold. 'The execution was the most rapid one in the memory of the officials, it being completed in ten seconds. LONDON. April 22. There was an unusual im ident at the tormal inquest after Thorne’s execution. A juror asked whether Thorne had made any confession on the scaffold. The Governor of the prison replied : “1 have no authority to answer the question.” The Coroner; “That means you are forbidden to answer? There is no question of authority to answer questions put by a Coroner’s jury.” The Governor: “I received instructions authorising me to .say that I was not ill a position to answer.’’

The Coroner: “So the public, represented by the jury, are not to know whether Thorne made a confession?” The Governor: “I am only able to repeat- that I am not authorised to reply.”

The jurv returned the usual verdict 'LONDON. April 23.

Apropos of the question at tho inquest on Thorne, Sir Wm. Jovnson llicks (Home Alinister) in an interview with the “Daily Express,” explained why the Home Office does not publish confessions by those convicted of murder. He said: “Some make a full written confession, which comes to the Home Secretary. Others make statements to the Prison Govrnor, stipulating that the confidence, must be observed. Others tonfess to a clergyman. which is a sacred matter, about which nothing can he said. Regarding the eases of the first-mentioned person*. the statement might contain only half of the facts. Often condemned persons make statements in order to relieve their feelings, hut they wish to keep the truth from their relatives. There wa-s one case recently where a married man made a statement on the explicit- understanding that his wife should never know. The Home Offico view is that, a man having been convicted. this is the right course.”