THE CULPRIT MERCER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4393, 19 April 1875, Page 3

THE CULPRIT MERCER.

(From the Lyttelton Times, April 12.) The vast crowd which collected outside the Supreme Court, after sentence of death was passed on Mercer, to see the unhappy wretch as he passed out, was doomed to disappointment, because by a judicious, and as it turned out, successful ruse on the part of the police and prison authorities, he had left the courthouse for the railway station several minutes before many persons were aware of his departure. It was anticipated that on making his appearance in the open air, Mercer would be received by demonstrations-of a kind that would give expression to the opinion popularly entertained, that the verdict of the jury was a just and proper one, and the only one that could be ax-rived at on evidence disclosing one of the most brutal, hideous, and abominable crimes to be found on the criminal records of the colony. To avoid this manifestation of popxxlar feeling, the authorities ordered an omnibus to the doorway through which prisoners ordinarily pass to and fi-om the courthouse. ’Towards this point, the crowd eagerly pressed, and here they patiently waited, expecting every moment to see the culprit make his appearance. In order that the pre-arranged plan might be carried out with perfect success, the police exerted themselves, in a make-believe kind of way, to keep a passage clear from the doorway to tho ’bus, and the eager throng never for a moment suspected that Mercer would bo taken out by another door. Meantime, a cab had been ordered to the opposite side of the courthouse, and before the public knew anything to the contrary, the murderer was on his way to .the railway station, in charge of Mr. Boston, chief gaoler, and Sergeant-Major O’Grady. As a considerable time had to elapse before the starting of tho 5.20 p.m. train for Lyttelton, Mercer was admitted into the manager’s room, and kept there until a moment or two before tho starting of the tx-ain, All this time, his demeanor was marked by the same amount of san<j froid and apparent unconcern as had characterised his attitude in the dock throughout his trial, which, but a few minutes before, had culminated in his condemnation. A large number of persons collected on the platform, and the prisoner was hooted on being taken out of the room at tho station and placed in tho railway carriage ; in fact, Sergeant-Major O’Grady and Constable Wallace, who walked on either side of him, thought it necessary to lay hands on him, and push him into the carriage before them. It was a single compartment of a second-class carriage ; or one of those compartments that are occasionally used by the guard, that the condemned man was put into, the other occupants being SergeantMajor O’Grady, Constable Wallace, some of the gaol authorities, and two prisoners awaiting trial. Shortly after the train started, Mercer evinced evei-y desire to enter into conversation with those around hixn, but very little encouragement was given him in this respect. He requested one of the company to fill his pipe afresh, and on the request being complied with, he lighted it and continued smoking almost all the way to Lyttelton, with a degree of nonchalance that was perfectly inconsistent with Ills terrible position. He frequently looked out of the carriage windows as the train px-oceeded, now and then beat time with his feet, as to a tune, on the floor, and addressing himself at one period to Constable Wallace, said—“ Well, Wallace, farewell; X suppose I’ll not see you after to-nigbt in this world, but I hope I’ll sec you in the next.” Another remark which Mercer made was, that they (meaning, it is presumed, those engaged on tho trial) had mado it warm for him ; and it is related that ho expressed disappointment at tho Judge cutting him so short. ■_ “ If I had not been taken so short,” said he, “ I would have said more than I did ; I would have said that I forgave all my enemies.” Our reporter cannot understand this statement of Mercer s about the Judge cutting him so short, as it seems to him that tho Judge him amide time to make any statement ho desired. There was an interval of silence between tho conclusion of the prisoner’s statement and the commencement of the Judge’s address to the prisoner in passing sentence. Tho news that the man had been condemned preceded his arrival in Port, and the ' result was that hundreds of persons waited

about the station, in order to see the prisoner ; and on the arrival of the train, those so inspired had their wish gratified, the prisoner being escorted up to the gaol in the midst of a body of constables, and it is to be regretted that this was done amidst the groans of the populace. Before the new post office was reached, a gentleman prominent in commercial circles, was seen to go quite close to Mercer, and hoot him. Mercer, turning round, uttered the words, “ Oh, you ——- hound,” with great bitterness. Now that Mercer has been found guilty after a patient trial, by a jury of his own countrymen, it cannot prejudice the position in which he stands (for not the slightest ray of hope has been held out to him that the dread sentence of the law will not be carried out) to say that there is every reason for believing the story about the occurrence at the Buller, which was mentioned so unexpectedly at the trial. Certain it is that for ill-treating a little girl ten years old at Dunedin, he underwent imprisonment in Dunedin gaol for a term of twelve months; and it is also stated that while incarcerated there he remarked, in the presence of one of the warders, “I’ll take care the next —■—• woman doesn't tell against me.” Had evidence like this been admissible prior to conviction (which, of course, it lightly was not), or had it been considered necessary to prove previous conviction, after the verdict of the jury on the charge of murder, the warder in question would have been brought to Christchurch. The following paragraph appeared in the Otago Daily Times of January 18 :—“lt appears that the man John Mercer, now in custody at Christchurch charged with the murder of the girl Thomson, is identical with John Eobinson Mercer, who was sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment on October 6, 1873, at Dunedin, for a common assault upon a little girl ten years of age. In connection with this case, it may be stated that in August, 1873, the prisoner met the little girl in Williamstreet and asked her to show him the way to Mornington. The girl consented, and when they were near the Cattle Market, the man told her he would give her a shilling if she would go and cut him a switch. The child went into the bush to cut a switch, when the man followed her, threw her down, stuffed a pocket handkerchief into her mouth to stifle her cries, and then beat her. The man then ran away, and was apprehended three days afterwards on board the barque Duke of Edinburgh, just as the vessel was about to sail for Newcastle, When the prisoner was tried, his Honor Mr. Justice Chapman, in addressing the jury said, ‘lt was impossible to say what the prisoner’s motive was, but such extraordinary cases as the present one sometimes presented themselves in the annals of a criminal court.’ Prior to Mercer's arrival in New Zealand, where he had only been for a few months before this assault, he was a sailor on vessels trading from Geelong and Newcastle.”

John Kobinson Mercer (for such is his full name) is a married man, and his wife and one child are at present living at Emerald Hill, Melbourne. Some time after the occurrence of the murder, she was made aware of his arrest on the charge of having perpetrated it, and only a few days ago he received a letter from her, [asking him to make over to his child a cottage [and section which he owned at Emerald Hill. This request he complied with before • the trial. It is not certain what countryman Mercer is. One of his seafaring discharges would make it appear that he was a native of Edinburgh; but the majority of these documents denote Liverpool as his place of birth. Erom the contents of the pocketbook which was found in his possession, it would seem that he kept a careful diary of all matters connected with the vessels on which he was employed from time to time. The interval that occurred from the time of his arrest to the date of his discharge from Dunedin gaol is, however, studiously omitted. Petty cash transactions with some of those who gave evidence against him on his trial are carefully entered in a part of the note-book reserved for that purpose. The gaol authorities at Lyttelton have engaged the services of two civilians, who entered on their duties yesterday. They will alternately watch the condemned for eight hours each, to see that he makes no attempt to do away with himself prior to the date fixed for his execution, which will in all probability be in about a fortnight. During the remaining hours of the twenty-four he will be looked after by the regular prison staff, who will also be on the alert at all times. The locality of the murder was visited by several persons yesterday, most of whom belonged to Christchurch.