DAYS OF PLEASURE; YEAR OF SORROW.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 97, 3 December 1879, Page 2

DAYS OF PLEASURE; YEAR OF SORROW.

The ne.ws of the. arrest ok' Scott, the bush ranger, — boiter known iv Victoria, ad Captaut Moonlight, brings back mv recollection to abouL ten \ears ago, wlicn he stood m £he dock, at Ballarat up,ou fcho charge of sticking up the bank :it $ge.rton, a littlyi township a fe\v miles from that city. Litllo id known of tho early history of Scott, although previous to the robbery for which ha wad tried he had ape.l at notoriety, uiul mther gloried n the sobriquet of O.ipt.iin Moonlight, by which ho wad generally known ; and to such a length did.that morbid desire lend him. that after having bound the officer m charge of t'ne bank, ho lelt behiii I him n note intimating thot tho oflloi.il was guiltless, ar.d that "Captain Moonlight w.u the perpetrator of the outrage." So cleverly, however., lukl he laid his plans that the police, keeping him lender surveillance, could find iio reasonable suspicion to justify his nrra.t. and the unfortunate b.mk clerk, the son of it Crernia,n painter m E-dlarat, was (lidillU3e.il the b.mk, and for years bore tho stain of suspicion upon his cliarac or. No.irly throe years after the outrage, Bcott was arrested iv, Sydney witli a nuinbt'i^ of bars of gold ii\ his possession, whose melting boiv the impress of unprofessional hand-, and he was remanded to Uallarat, and placed m the dock for the offences I was present m court during the trial, which lusted three .days, and the eloquence^ lojral acumen, and g\suer>i\ intaUigeivje of; the prisoner — who defended himself — was thfi ( thomo of general wonder to all, and raised him to the pitjucle of admiration m the eyes of {he lounging habitues of the Criminal Court. y^. PA\ ZZ .'?'*^ k' ie a> vyor3 on, naivits of la\y ; ejl»ibitip.d ii^orei i^^o^Wlge of- the technicalities and science off met.tWiir^y the professional assayers who were produced a9 experts ; while li is address to the jury ■\vaa ft masterpiece of .sophistry, and appealing, yat v/ithuj, cl^ani dw»lair.atioti. Like his prototype., Captain Melville, who p.iid the penalty of his misdeeds with his lire, his name was upon every man's lip, the pipers <i% tto§ 4av t«emed with eulogiuuis

upon liis ability, and regrets for his mis-' guided career • but all was no avail, a network of (•vidence w*>9 woven around him ; the jury was sceptical, the .Judge was stern, and th'e dashing, eloquent, and aeeom-. plislied soi-disant Captain was consigned to felon's fate for ten years. Some short time since he recovered his liberty, hut 80 far from his incarceration having a curative influence, his first step was to rally around him a few kindred spirits to renew once more his lawless career. As on this occasion the gang have gone to the length, of taking human life, the gallant Captain, notwithstanding all his eloquence and accomplishments, stands a very excellent chance of suffering the f-ite of the Knights of the Road of bye-gone days. «U. that same .Session m which "Moonlight " figured so conspicuously, another prisoner was placed m the dock, and although the crime, stealing a saddle, and the sentence of one year were both commonplace enough, yet the prisoner was destined not only never j afterwards to draw the breath of liberty, but suffered the extreme penalty of the law | within the precincts of the Melbourne Gaol. Janie.3 Weechurch was the son of an English rector, and his wild and unruly conduct had, like a great many others, driven him to the colonies, where, as might have been expected, he soon got into trouble. I remember seeing him when being removed from the dock with a twelvemonth's sentence entered against him, the stain of crime upon him for the first time, m the very prime of life and manly strength. I saw. him once again stand m the dock upon the ohnpge of murder, 1 and although but half-a'dozen years had gone over his head, m appearance he had aged twenty. Irascible m disposition, violent m temper, and possessed of no power of controlling his feelings, he was m constant I punishment for breaches of prison discipline, so that by the sontenccs of the visiting j justices, his twelve months became two I years, aud those merged into three, four, and five, each day seeing an accumulation of imprisonment, and a receding chance of liberty. In vain did he appeal for justice, but even before the magistrates who attended the gaol to hear and deal with complain* 3 from and against prisoners, he could not restrain his ebullitions of temper, and as a consequence his appeals were disregarded. Goaded to desperation he determined to do such a deed as would take him beyond the, jurisdiction of the visiting justices, necessitating a trial by jury, and the boon of seeing the outside of the gaol, even though. h.e should have to exchange his lifo for his liberty. He managed to secure a spoon, and having ground down the handle on the walls of his cell to the sharpness of a kn.ife, he asked to see the Inspector-General, Mr. Duncan, and upon that gentleman making j his appearance lie plunged tho weapon into his sfcomach. The wound was not fatal, be was quickly overpowered, loaded with chains, and sent from Ponfcridge— where the occurrence toofc place— to the Melbourne Gaol, to be tried for his life. As | have said I was m Court when the case was being heard, and it is hard for me to say whether I was most horrified at the change which his five years' incarceration had effected, or the monstrous cruelties with which he charged the pmon officials, and most of which they did not attempt to deny. His face was of ashen paleness, with tho outline of the cheek bones so unnaturally developed, with sunken jaws and bloodless lips, that one could almost imagine that it was a death's head ovor which a covering of skin had been drawn, the blank hair being cropped close to the slviill, while from beneath a brow upon which was wreathed fro wad of defiance, there sparkled two dark orb 3, the fire of whose lustre no'amc.unt of misery and persecution had been ftblo to dim. The culprit freely acknowledged the attempt at assassination, but stated that he had no animosity whatever against t.he object of his attack. He merely wanted to commit a crimo of such gravity as would take him beyond the pale of his prison persecutor.-), mid bring him once uga'in face to face with his fellow men. It was admitted that lie had been consigned to an underground dungeon for sixty-seven days, his food, bread and water, and that drawn up and lufc down to him by t a slidin» tramway opening into a trap door; but nothing could subdue the spirit of the man. I remember well an incident occurring m Court which was calculated to draw pity from the heart of a stone. Tlie unfortunate prisoner had elicited m cross-examination from the prison ofijcials, tho barbarous treatment to which he had been subjected — how I he had suffered solitary confinement, and had his scanty fare of bread and water reduced to such minute quantifies as woujd entail nil the pangs of starvation, without actually entailing its results. The Court adjourned for refreshment, and a good I Samaritan moved to compassion at the heart-rending r-scital, ordered a smoking hot i dinner ,to be taken to the starring wretch jin the dock. As the Court door. op,ened to let the messenger m, the deliciou,3 ai-oma of the victuals caught the prisoners-senses -sense of smell, and never will I forget the gleam of I rapture whk-h glistened m his eyes. But I nl.-is, for his bitter disappointment, and the refinement of cruelty ] The, gacje.r ste.npecl m, and forbade'the gift, which was" contrary to the prison regulations, and all of the delicious dish which fell to the lot of poor Weechurch was the. enticing small and a glance at the smoking viands, 'i^lie. trial was too much ; tiit* spirit, wlii.ih neither cruelty nor oppression could bend or break, molted under 1 l\e acy of kindness from his unknown friend, and he buvab into tears. He iv:is found guilty, but recoutinand^l to iharyy on account of the great provocation whic'i he had received, buL when asked by tlip Judge why sentence of dtuth should not be passed upon him, lie bpifsrud of the .Bench. to pay no attention to the recommendation of the jury, but 10 advise tlie Executive to let the law take its course.. Thy Jy s dge however, disregarded llio prisoner's prayer, the senlciiL-o was commute. l, and, 110 doubt, advised by thai official, the Government coim m u 11 icataii with tho convict's father, and actually granted him a fr.ee p,:irdou upon the condition v hnt he woujd leave* tlm colony and return to his parents m England. Two days before t. lie dale of his proposed discharge from Pent ridge, one of the -warders made some tatniliug remarks to him, which Wee li u rch returned with interest; words led to blows, »md the bane y.f hi.s life — his nugovcrn.-ible temper — getting the master of him, he seized the fir.^t weapon, at hand, and split, the man's head open. Again, he was consigned to a murderer's cell, and once more, did lie stand m the do«k upon the -| capital ohartre. His victim was uot seriously injured, but. the majesty of the law this time was asserted, and about the very time that "l us iiued father was anxiously exp.o.':fcin«» to welcome home the p.rodigal, James Weechuivh had suffered the last dread sentence of fhn law. ;ind lua body embalmed by quick lime had been con-dgntid to a convict's grav6 within thw piv^incis of & gaol. '