LAW’S PENALTY

Hokitika Guardian, 31 August 1932, Page 3

LAW’S PENALTY

THE EXECUTION OF MOXLEY

# FINAL SCENE IN TRAGEDY

SYDNEY, August 29

On Wednesday morning, August 17,, Moxley paid the ’tow's penalty for his terrible-crime. After his appeal was rejected, h© resigned himself-" to his fate, •But-he was constantly visited by Colonel’Pennell of the Salvation Army, from whose ministrations he appeared to derive much comfort, and who spent the night before the execution with him in the condemned cell. Before Ids death Moxley expressed satisfaction, that provision’'Had been made for his twelve-year-old son, and thanked the gaol officiate and Superintendent Mackay—the only policeman he would nddress—for their .kindness. The hanging was conducted as. decorously as possible; and though « number of morbidly minded spectators waited outside the penitentiary at Long Bay, the newspapers treated the' ivbdlte horrible business with due reticence and dignity. i .

A last minute effort to save Moxley from hanging was made by members of the Howard Prison Beform League, who waited on the Premier on Tuesday. But .Mr Stevens told the .deputation that he .could find '.no single, mitigating circumstance -ini the case, and that.the law must take its course. The extremists of the Labour Party and ; the . section ,of public opinion- that the “Labour -.-DailyV/* represent' have raised' the-usuai outcry/ against capita,! punishment as contrary;-toLabour’s -principles everywhere. It ~ has ,be,en -pointed-.'out to them, /.rather uhkindly, that.at -'the/present dime; in- Russia?-tbe paradise of the worker, according to the '“Beds'?—the capital penalty isibeing -enforced on a large scale against all who indulge in tile 1 ‘ ‘counter-revdhi-.iionary” -crime of corn-stealing.. 1 'Apparently.; interference uvithuthe ecjohoimicCarrangements .ef :the ■ Soyiet hierarchy is an-the-eyes of Lh® -Bolsheviks ,a far mtore serious crime than outrag ( ..and murder-.w y;--

, LEGISLATION CONTEMPLATED

,One- .rather -fact- connected with the execution was Moxley’s wisli to' bequeath his body td the Medical School at. th’e University,-.so that his .bfhM 'be examined- to) discover if, as he maitained his reason could ,-liavo been affected- by his previous injuries./Twenty: ;years; ago, Moxley - was -employed for, a time at-the University lias telephone 'assistant, and;'the testimonial he then received describes.„hini, ■as i “courteous, Honest and industrious.” ’ feiutj the /University- authorities Were .unwilling to' have their -work, a,s- , sociated fn. any /way. -w-itih sqch -‘an --aw-' . ful record as - ancV hisf-be-quest’ was -refused.

•ilt is possibie» > 'that 'the tgagic series .yof Vevent's iyhieh closed at Long Bay , may ’produce -one,.desirable result. Mr / Wilkinson.,, father of the murdered -man;:who vvas.'so foully slandered after’ '-his death, has-inteview.ed cMr : Steveiis. ; -and gt is. reported 'that. the Bfemiei’ prepared to introduce trito Parliament v<* Bill enabling ' surviving relatives to .bring/syit forlitelandto secure damages on behalf of -the dead—and it is /.reported that the measure . may he -smade retrospective.) This is Still eon.jeotural, hut there ■ can- he little doubt that public opinion here would greet (with strong approval any measure intended, to protect from -calumny the sacred-memory .of,the.:dead. . «

. DOLE DISCLOSURES

... After /tbea© horrors, .it,.may be some relief to turn to the lighter aspects of law-breaking.; l:haye referred previous r •lyto -the prevalence of. . fraud,in oon- . neetion. with - the, ddlte, and ,this -week another batch of disclosures hast bten published. A man hits been getting the ■ dole for himself and 'two children—but lie Mias no cliildren. 'When the inspector 1 •ft coming. the wife “borrows” two .children for the day trains' them -to answer questions. A man has been •:d.r Awing the dole for himself, wife; and three children' for over four, but his wife and family ire not living with him and a re-not being -.•supported *by him.- Among .these who ■ have been taking the dole, though in -prosperous circumstances, are : —A '■.milk vendor who earns '£B a week;-a foreigner who gets' £4- a week from t his fish -shop; a miner * who draw over .'£9 last Week and on'the same day get food relief ; a builder • who owned five houses, al] oeefipied, and drew relief • for a 1 family of five. But -the 'best 1 “shocking example” that I have-come across is an Englishman arrested -last .week at Newton, who has £3500 invested at Home; gets-a bank draft for £9O every quarter—£7 a week—by •way of interest, and has been “bn'the dole” hero for J eighteen' months. /No wonder that some people who find it ' difficult to' “carry on” in England regard Australia a s a comfortable Ve:ftige/ ,•'• ' . ' ' . . ; v " ■% Q& r • v l '-' A DISAPpteVRANCE.

Here is another of the “mysterious disappearances” for which Sydney has made itself-notorious of late; On June ill tost, election • day ;m fact, Morris Joseph Fagin left his home at McMafian’s Point, and ! has not’been neem or board of since. The length of tin>’ . that has elapsed without’ any effort at 'iiblieity on the part >of the police is ra id to-be accounted for by thei -.rolongcd efforts :-at discovering - hiavhereabouts; >• Bututheir • efforts' hnvbeen entirely unavailing.“ The • case' i n cmrimis ond,' and I'Fagin' was in hi own -way rather a notorious- personal* ity." He was oneof'the, famous twelve