MURTAGH'S MISERY.

NZ Truth, 4 January 1908, Page 4

MURTAGH'S MISERY.

MORE ABOUT MRS. LEIGH. Some Serious Statements Signed!. ! Ah Immediate Re-heariag Imperative. Owing to the Christmas holidays "Truth" presumes, the Minister of Justice has been obliged to postpone any consideration of the case of the young jockey Edward Murtagh, at present* incarcerated m the Terrace Gaol serving a sentence of 18 months' imprisonment on a charge of wounding his alleged illegitimate daughter, a child of two or three years of age. Why the fact of Christmas intervening should prevent . a responsible Minister of the Crown promptly proceeding to investigate what looks to be a serious misof Justice is really inexplicable. Still N the matter seems to have been temporarily pigeon-holed, nevertheless ; young Murtagh is all the time eating his heart out m durance^, vile. Now, this paper " submits that it has already made out a very good, case why there should be an immediate re-hearing of the case. Certain it is that now that a little mqre light has been shed on Mrs Leigh's rather, sensational past life, facts, unfortunately, withheld from the jury . that tried the young jockey, there would be little hesitation on any fair-minded man's part m declaring that this young woman was ■ TOTALLY UNWORTHY OF CREDENCE. Now it seems that : when the young woman Leigh said m the box m the Supreme Court that the handwriting on Tui Leigh's birth registration paper was not unlike her own, having been emphatic, m the lower Court that Murtagh wrote out the details, she ; acted on certain advice. Anyhow, the perjury proceedings have been dropped, though if Murtagh is released,- it would not be asking too much m haying this atrocious young female called on to give a. further account of herself. Young Murtagh was sent to gaol on the uncorroborated oath, .of a worse, than prostitute. Statements have been made and published which brand this young woman as an infamous liar. Those statements show that Mrs Leigh declared, that the child was accidentally cut by the razor. Other statements show the woman m a very different light to the poor unfortunate, wronged girl that she was made out to be. Right on top of these ■ statements now • before the Minister of Justice comes a signed statement from a Mrs M. Goodwin, of Willis-street, who declares ' that shortly after the alleged razor slashing incident, which was about October 11, Mrs Leigh rushed into, her shop asking for .the use of the telephone declaring , that her little girl had cut her leg. Now r this paper has dealt as fully' as .it possibly could with Mrs Leigh's past life. When it is more fully told how this young woman' dealt with her child, Viotel , Velett, as witnessed to by her husband, Harry Leigh, and ■ a woman named Jones, it might very well be asked if the Department of Justice are going to stand still and do absolutely no 1 thing. Leigh says that on one occasion his wife, while m a rage', caught the 'child by the legs AND BANGED ITS HEAD on the window sill. How the child Jived is a mystery. When a doctor examined the child, Mrs Leigh, according to her husband, told the medical man that Mrs Jones let the child fall. After Leigh had got into trouble Mrs Leigh accused her husband of Raving hit the child with a bottle. Mrs Jones, who now resides at Petone, and who, m 1903-4, lived at Stratford and kept the Trocadero boarding-house, gives a sad and shocking account of Mrs Leigh's treatment of the child Violet or Velett', or whatever it's name is.. The b'.afov was sarllv neisflected. It was covered m filthy rags. It was bruised about the body. On one occasion the child was m convulsions and Mrs Jones took it from her and noticed a hupro swnlling. on tire pide of it's head. -Mrs Leigh said the child had slipped from her hands and had struck it's head on the window. This ffoori woman was nfra'id that the tiplpiess infant would he killed and I Dr. Carberry was sent for, and to the doctor, accounting for the injury to the child, Mrs Leish declared -thn.t Mrs' Jones' daughter had dropped the child and that it had struck it's head on" the bed-post. The statement signed, by Mrs Jones is a truly serious one. "It shows, if the statement is true, that this young woman Leigh, is a cruelhearted wretch, AND A t.T'.\t>T.'TTT, TJAR. Her past life is miserable, her conduct to her unfortunate children has been such that "Truth" has little hesitation m declaring that she could be guilty of any cruelty. Yet, it is on the evidence of such, a woman that a youth like Murtagh is hurled into prison to consort with the vilest of the vile. The Minister of Justice cannot turn a deaf ear to the assertions that have been 'made' against this young vixen, and it is really scandalous that so much time should be absolutely wasted. Young Murt.affh is m gaol now, Mrs Leigh is free to go on as she has done m the past. Far be it- from "Truth" helping to hound down any unfortunate woman, but Mrs Leigh seems" to be dangerous, and it is just as well that the whole truth should be known about her.