MURTAGH'S MISERY!

NZ Truth, Issue 130, 14 December 1907, Page 5

MURTAGH'S MISERY!

CONVICTED ON THE OATH OF A PROSTITUTE. Who Slashed Baby Tui ? MRS. LEIGH NOW SAYS IT WAS AN ACCIDENT* Another Baby Brutally Bashed. MURTAGH'S RELEASE DEMANDED.

' Tlie case of the young jockey, Edward Murtagh, who was convicted at the recent Criminal Sittings of the .Supreme Court m Wellington, of wounding a little child, the daughtei of a young woman named Frances •Ellen Leigh, and of which Murtagh is the reputed father, is, "Truth" is given to understand, not to be allowed to stand as it is at present. Not- ■ withstanding .the-, fact that the jury - declared Murtagh "fhiilty," the opinion prevails^ tls,t the" young fellow !.-(-if not exactly "Not Guilty"), was . convicted on inconclusive evidence. It was a case of oath v... oath, that of the woman Leigh against Murtagh, . and the jury,- rightly or wrongly, accepted the testimony of an abandoned; if not hysterical young woman, and, m believing her against the man, adjudged him guilty. Juries, like judges, • often err, and : err on the wrong- s-ide, and '.'Truth" has no hesitation/and accepts every responsibility m saying that if ai little more light had been thrown on the past life ooff f the unfortunate Woman, Murlagh would not now be m prison. Edward' Murtaglf is^ not the first young, or' for that matter, old, man who has been consigned to a felon's cell' on the untrustworthy and tainted' evidence of a woman, whose lnotives; springing from hysterical excitement, " jealousy, 1 or even WANTON AND WICKED SPITE, nre difrcult to determine. As cunning as a vixen, . subtle and lating as a serpent, so coaxing and cat-like, • this type of really dangerous womanhood has before, to-day 'h piped •to send men. to eternity, c it-act -from, the gallows, and sanc-tioned-:by Law, or by the friendly. ;ud of a" bullet, smothered over by fie Law as "Suicide." In. many quarters the -opinion/, prevails that '< Murtagh is innocent. That a doubt p-asts as to his guilt is generally id mit ted. and. when, we find as . j-.rosccutnx the chief factor m securing a man's conviction, a female, young, certainly, but with such an unsavory reputation as that ■ possessed by the woman Leigh, the suspici--on that ■Murtagfo is possibly inno- • cr-nt is' certainly < justified, and "Truth" is certain that his Honor Mr Justice Cooper,- had he known of Mrs Leigh's past life, would have strongly 1 represented to the jury the great ' danger ' of convicting on her uncorroborated, highly-eolor-■fd ..and^i sensational .story. In thus refeffirisr to the 'case of the young man Murtagh "Truth": wishes to' give publicity to" certain evidence, now before the Minister of Justice, and m the face of the statements sworn to and the admissions of this woman Leigh, it is imperative m the interests of Justice, that Murtag-h, who has all .alon t < stoutly j protested his innocence, should be immediately released from the Wellington gaol, where he at present is r-onfined. It is always dangerous for iurors to convict a man on the uncorroborated evidence of a feminine witness, and that the jury m convicting Murtagh has MADE A SERIOUS BLUNDER, "Truth" has no doubt whatever. There has, since Murtagh's - conviction and sentence, been gathered the evidence of three women, named Mrs MeG-rath, Mas Bolton and Mrs Nicholas, the daughter of Mrs Bolton. All these- women know Mrs / Leigh, and after Martagh's. conviction, she made certain statements to them. To Mrs Bolton and Mrs Nicholas Mrs Leigh said,- "He (meaning Murtagh) is innocent. He did not do it. I had an open rajzor m my hand. I was going to his clothes. I fell and cut Tui. He told me the night before he was marrying another woman. I would do anything to stop him marrying another woman." In the National Hotel, Lambton Quay, after Murtagh was sentenced, and after Mrs Leigh got a brandy ©r two into her, she became very confident to Mrs McGrath and told her this : "He did not do it. He is innocent,. I had. an open razor .m my hand. . I was going to cut . his clothes. I fell and cut Tui. I was jealous of him. I wish she (Tui) was . dead, What ara I going to do with her now ? lam going into a bar as soon as this is over." Again, to Mr Major, M.H.R., did this young woman make a similar statement,, but very cautiously added, after assuring him that Murtagh did not cut the child, that she did aot mean to say she did. These statements have ALL BEEN SWORN TO and have been placed before the Minister of Justice. If they are not sufficient to cause a re-open-ing of the case what will cause the cause the authorities to act and release from gaol a man, who, if anything, seems to have been convicted wrongfully? "Truth" does not know if it was ever contended that this young wanton female was a good kind 'mother to her child, or to her children (she has more than' one), and* it will be interesting to note her conduct while staying at the Trocadero Hotel and the Arcadia Private Hotel m Lambton Quay. Evidence, if necessary, can be produced to show that this young woman, while obtaining board and lodgings under false pretences, having paraded herself as Mrs Murtagh, shamlefully neglected the child " Tui. She, while leading the life of a prostitute, heartlessly left the little' mite crying bit-r tcrly till the small hours of the morning what time the wicked young woman was hiring her body out to boarders m the hotels^ This, it might be mentioned, happened v'lile Murtngh was ;i wait ing trial. Why on earth the fact U«af M'.s Pin-rock, of

the Trocadero, and the proprietor ol 1 the Arcadia turned Mrs Leigh out was not elicited at Murtagh's trial is, to' the lay mind, at anyrate, inexplicable. Surely she could have been questioned on these matters, if only for the purpose of testing her credibility and thus enabling a jury to guage the character of a woman on whose evidence the Crown sought to have Murtagh gaoled. Mrs Pinnock has signed a statement that Mrs . Leigh neglected her child, that she turned Mrs Leigh out of her establishment, because m playing * THE PART OF PROSTITUTE she robbed and bilked a male boarder. Evidence much to the same effect can be given by employees at the Arcadia. And it must be remembered that it was the evidence of suoh a woman as this that helped to make . young Murtagh an inmate of His Majesty's Prison. "Truth" must not be taken as helping to hound down an unfortunate woman. She is at liberty, and perhaps free to ruin and rob more men, but the fact that a possibly. innocent man, m the person of Edward Murtagh, is at present serving a sentence of 18 months' imprisonment for wounding a baby, that its mother, its natural protector, often left m a heartless manner, while pandering to the passions of men m the hotel m which she resided, is something that deserves widest publicity. For such' women, shameless sluts as they are, no man or respectable woman has any sympathy, and if on the evidence of such a fallen and utterly depraved ami unnatural woman young or old men are to be cast to prison, ■'Truth" regrets very much if it is to be accused of hounding down an unfortunate female. It is regrettable, of course, that this boy Murtagh should have ever allowed himself to become entangled with a woman, a married woman, too,' of the Mrs Leigh type. He, unless his innocence is proved, or unless it is . shown that he is wrongfully m gaol, is ruined irretrievably, yet, and it is small satisfaction to. Mm, he is not the first, nor will 'he. .be the last man, who, becoming blindly infatuated with a worthless woman, who has 'been lured to his doom. It is not necessary, anyhow, at this moment, to preach any sermon on morality. MRS LEIGH IS AN ADULTERESS, and, again, "Truth" regrets that m the .interests of this young man Murtagh, this brazen female, this shameless disgrace ifo; her sex, was not closely questioned concerning some incidents of her married life. She married, three or four years ago, a man nanied Leigh, who shortly afterwards served a sentence of sir months' imprisonment for the crime of perjury. There is one child, allegedly of that marriage, though the alleged father has denied his responsibility. Again, "Truth" is not going to enter into a. -question of morals, though there is wide enough scope for it. What, • however, is more pertinent to the issue, is the allegation that that child m its infancy, received "brutal treatment,'and, peculiar to remark, the charge was made against its alleged father, Leigh, by its mother— the same woman who became Murtagh's paramour and charged him with "brutality to her child, the paternity of which, as far as Murtagh is concerned, is open to doubt. This is a iafther peculiar, if not a significant coincidence. The child at Hawera, or Stratford, or wherever it was, is said to now be peculiar mentally. This may or may not be true. It was alleged Ihat Leigh struck the child with a lemonade or feeding bottle, alleged, be it ever remembered, by Mrs Leigh herself. Leig-h was never charged with this offence, which might be fortunate for Leigh when Murtagh's conviction is considered. At anyrate, it looks to be a habit on the part of this rather startling, abandoned and outcast young 'woman to „ accuse ihe alleged fathers of her children with acts of coward cruelty that men worthy of the name would shrink from the very thought of committing. This is, "Truth" admits, a rather strong indictment against this utterly irresponsible young wom-an, who seems to Ue utterly unfortunate m all ' her enterprises with the opposite sex. When it comes, however, to the gaoling of men on her evidence, and when, for some unknown reason, facts known against her, which, if placed before a jury could not help but make them reflect on the danger of accepting her testimony are suppressed from both judge and jury, "Truth" thinks it only right and just that the world should know of it. The Minister for Justice can hardly fail to keep quiet under the extraordinary circumstances that are now made public, circumstances, perhaps, that he is now fully acquainted with. To order Murtagh's immediate release is his plain and bounden duty, because it seems very much as if there has been a grave miscarriage of justice.