MURDER IN OAMARU GAOL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1249, 19 April 1880, Page 2

MURDER IN OAMARU GAOL.

The public ver.e yesterday morning by the intelligence that a njurder had been committed in the Gamaru Gaol by a young woman named Juiia Paul, who had killed her infant child by dashing it against the walls of her cell. To lay plainly before our readers the facts of the occurrence it is necessary to enter into details not altogether connected with the matter. Qn Friday night, shortly after nine o'clock; Julia Paul, who has for some years been known here as a bad character, was arrested at north Tharnesstreet for being drunk ajid disorderly. She was then very violent, and apparently either insane or suffering from delimim tremens, and it was found necessary to convey her to the lock-up iu a cab. At. the station she appeared to be mad, and had to be carried into the office.. Here it took the combined efforts of fchrgp constables to hold her down. A strait jacket w.a.S put on her, and she was placed in a bed in the pell. An hour afterwards the gaolor visited her, and slje was calrijy and ha 4 apparently recovered from her ma,d fit, but still the strait jacket wag not removed. Some time in the morning she appears to have got out of this by some means, and then tore three of the gaol blankets to shreds. At ten o'clock on Saturday morning she was brought up at the Indent Magistrate's Court, where she was fined, an 4 ordered to pay for the damage done, in default of payment bejng ordered to go to gaol for eleven days with ] har4 labor. On being returned to gaol j she was examined by pr. Garland, who said he thought she %ya§ then all right. She appears afterwards to been per? fectly' cal in j and shortly before .eleyen o'clock she was taken hfta tije kitchen and placed under the care of the matron of the gaol, who says that Julia Paul appeared to have recovered from her mad fit, talking and acting rationally. She ajsked. tli3.fc some person might be sent to her home for sopie plean clothes, and to ask her friends to bring her b&by to the gaol.- About three o'clock the baby—a delicate - looking female child of about eight months of age—was brought to the gaol by a little girl. Paul appeared to be happy and contented, saying a few days in the gaol might do her good. Throughout: th.e afternoon the gaoler saw her several times, and she ccntjniied sensible in manner and conversation. Slip ate 3, gpo t d ten r and the matron haying prepared some food for the infant, Paul gave it to; the child before going to bed, with the child, at about a quarter to eight o'clock. Previoqs to this she said she had nothicg to

;put on the baby to go to'bed in, and the matron provided her with a warm nightdress, Paul saying at the tifne, "The little darling will be nice aqd comfortable noW." The matron sayß that -Paul seem' 3 .to have felt her position, for she remarked at one 'timi? that she wished she could get some one to take her children, so that she might take a situation,'and do some-good for herself. Northing particular seems to have been notided about her after she went to bed, and the gaoler concluded that she was sleeping quietly. : - About - 15 - minutes to four o'clock yesterday morning she appears to have had another fit of lunacy, the gaoler being awakened by screams coming from the direction of the cell in which slie was confined. The attention of Constables Cameron and M'Gaugliran was also attracted by the screams, and, with the gaoler, they proceeded to the cell. Here they heard noise similar to that produced by hammering some soft substance against a wall, accompanied by cries of "Will you leave me- now V' On opening the door Paul was discovered in the act of dashing her infant against the wall of the cell. On the Constables entering, she dropped the child on the floor, and it expired in a very few seconds. Paul was at once secured, and Dr. Garland sent for; but the infant was past medical aid long before he arrived. Later on this morning she again became calm and inquired for her child, asking if she might not have it with her, being apparently totally oblivious to all that had happened. At the time of writing it has not been decided what course to adopt with reference to her, but it seems highly probable that the unfortunate woman will be committed to a lunatic asylum, and that no inquiry will be held touching the matter. With a view to arriving at a conclusion, Drs. Wait and Garland were authorised this afternoon to examine the woman and report upon the state of her mind. Their reports have not yet been received, but there is little doubt that she is insane. It may be mentioned that Julia Paul was brought up at the Resident Magistrate's Court on the 7th March, on suspicion of being of unsound mind, and was dismissed after having been confined in gaol for two days. As has already been stated Julia Paul has for three or four years led a bad life in Oamaru, and though previously to Saturday she had never been before the Court for drunkenness, she was well known to be addicted to drink.