JOHN NORTON.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3720, 13 October 1906, Page 2

JOHN NORTON.

Sydney, October 10. At the inquest on Grohn, whom John Norton is alleged to have killed, counsel for the Crown stated that the original certificate of death posted to the Registrar was missing. Apparently it was never received. The undertaker, who had buried the body at the Registrar s request, had supplied particulars two years later. The undertaker, in evidence, said that Grohn had every appearance of having died from the effects of drink. He saw no wounds on the body. Morris repeated his evidence given at the criminal libel trial, adding that he had not stopped Norton once, but a thousand times, 1 ■ from knocking Grohn down. Norton treated him more like a dog than a man. The inquest was adjourned, till ; Friday. • The article which formed the subject of the criminal proceedings ‘ appeared in the Newsletter on July : 14th last, and was the direct out- : come of Norton’s savage and un- : provoked attack on Mr Holman, the member for Cootamunda, lead- : ing to the resignation by Messrs Holman annd Norton of their re- : spective seats, and to the ultimate ■ rejection of Norton by both con- . stituencies. In the course of a remarkably vitriolic article the [ writer said:— . Norton is a filthy blackmailer ■ (quoting one among a thousand ! instances) because he attacked in the most savage manner the pro- , prietors of what is known as ’ “M’Dachlan’sßelt.” . . . Being strangers in Australia,' they thought that a professional blackmailer like Norton could make or mar them ; and therefore after his first savage attack had been made they (like other business men not desiring to be bothered) capitulated. Norton’s agent brought the M’Dachlan people round a contract for advertising, which they signed. We ask the public to think over the few particulars which follow: Norton’s usual price for advertising is between three shillings and four shillings per inch ; but in this case twelve shillings per inch was asked „for and obtained from the strangers, the M’Dachlan proprietary. The contract was for 1000 inches ; and was paid over to Norton. The filthy blackmailer kept to his contract. Yet this is only one instance. Norton has been a blackmailer all his life. It will be remembered that some years ago he made strong exposures of a place called the “Wind Club.” These exposures seemed all very right and proper in the public interest, but the real object of them was to blackmail wealthy, foolish young men who were in the habit of visiting the club. Norton had his pimps in the place, and, having obtained the necessary information, threatened to publish their names. OOnc Victorian sportsman paid up a heavy sum, and the wretched little wife-beater (for among his other

accomplishments Norton strikes women) ceased his attacks. . . Willis was the original proprietor of Truth. This was in the time when Norton might have been seen hanging about King street the whole day, cadging 3d from any-; one who could bear the range of his breath. By some means or other Norton wormed himself into Truth office, and finally by theft and fraud and conspiracy obtained a hold upon the proprietor. Up to a few years, ago Willis really owned Truth. Then a man named Philip (now on the Brisbane Courier) was able to give Norton certain information about Willis’s land transactions, and heigh, presto! the property passed over to Norton. Originally, the money for the starting of Truth was found by Mr Archibald Thompson. This gentleman is in the sporting line, and all who know him regard him as the essence of a straight-goer and a decent, generous fellow. Before he had gone far with this venture Crick, Willis, and Norton had got him into their toils, and not being versed in the arts of such informers, he was glad to surrender his rights. But in spite of this Norton, at his meeting, attempted to prove that Mr Thompson had done something discreditable in connection with the defeat of Mr 0. H. Reid. No one who knows Mr Thompson will think for a moment that he lent himself to this feeble blackmailing onslaught. On the contrary, Norton was kept and fed for many years by “Archie ” Thompson, whom he has since persistently attempted to “boodle.” At the same meeting Norton attempted to blacken the. private life , of Mr G, H. Reid, and the meeting ! rose at him and howled him down. : We are no friends of Mr Reid or his policy,’ but in him we recog- : nise an honourable gentleman, ' who has always stood religiously j : aloof from the boodling, blackmailing influences of our wretched State

politics. . . Norton is a criminal of the very worst kind. He has npt only beaten and bashed his unfortunate wife unmercifully, but has published in his own long, circumstantial accounpf of her supposedly infamous doings. We do not for a moment believe the the lady was guilty of the charges made against her—the very fact that Norton made them ought to be strong evidence in her favour —but the fact that the charges were made ought to show the public the kind of human vermin that the)'- now have the opportunity of ridding themselves of. Norton is a persistent and consistent blackmailer, as well as an active inciter to crime. Whether he is an actual murderer we do not know ; but there is in the hands of the In-spector-General of Police a statutory declaration which asserts that Norton, in his house at Randwick, killed a man named De Gr6r Whether this be true or not we w not know ; but since the character of the brute well-known an immediate investigation should be made. De Groen, it seems, -lame put from England with Norton on the same boat. Norton stole his money, and reduced him to a state of beggary; and De Groen, as a hanger-on, lived with Norton during several years. De Groen “died suddenly ’ ’ three or four years ago, but the allegation is that Norton hit him on thead with a beer bottle, a thing which the cowardly little scoundrel is quite capable of doing.