NO REPRIEVE FOR ANGUS MURRAY

Shannon News, 15 April 1924, Page 4

NO REPRIEVE FOR ANGUS MURRAY

, STRENUOUS AOTATIQN ■’RAILS.

MELBOURNE, April 14. A processiQ?iii,tUrpt|piUotlie#.fiity, f.ol.ipwea.a imieeti|ig si .Qn .Yarra panK ..at which ten th:oii§an<la> ve^@i| P reße 55 ' adopted ■ a : resohfttop protesting, against the hanging of Angus MUIH ' ...Following, the* meeting*.,petiti<?s .bearing sixty-five .thousand sigP«sjrAs ; laskingi for- a reprieve .;W^ c ®resented !at a special meeting .of th e -Executive Coiincil, which decided) that, tne sentences must stand.. . , . . 0 [, Yfest;erd(ay /a - special v *was. ! hold in St. John’s Church! in the city ! to pray for -a reprieve.

' , On October. ;8, 1923,.,-twp of whom .was identified as Murray, ,iri an attempt, ;to rob .Wiilmpn‘ man, a bank manager, shot mm through the shoulder. The,wound became and .Berrimimvdied, Murray 1 later was ; arrested; trieq,,. found guilty of the murder .and -was to, death. The other man, Murray biad a,...remar|ca|l§ career, and in many, people his Adpedong fipnl, and a romantic ,strain ; m his proyoked - the : .unwilling .adnnra|iqn that is .felt for the. rebel. when, free,. was, a man who -toPtjJg. time in ’crime or m love. in less than two complete years of freedom between i 1901 and 192?, he was never without Jan affair ,of the heart. Suav itv was fcs long-sudt._- _ mh-iLv If onei could have followed . on his ,{evening • walks -abroad* , ’e likely .that he would have seen him fn Eire company of a ymmg -wcinan (writes H. C. Maddison m Smith y Weekly’*). Possibly an inquisitive nasler-by in the dusk ,wouhL bave, reSedfa tall, well-dressed man, gf refined appearance;, wearing, a.lemopcoloured velour hat pulled; well dowh -bveT hii ey es,= ; talking jmclow^w elb modulated tones to a; gm'r. ov.er^^ 6 front gale, of a house ja.'SonjihKYarra..; He* 'mijM~ have noted, i incidentally, that the . and well shaped, the hands that..go With a, sensitive soul. And it may have come to', him .last' monthfbf ne had' happened ,to be sitting MelbourheCriminal. Court, j-that -JW had somewhere seen jbefore , those ssbv sitive fingers.. that U gripped the rail of the dock at tense; moments, and played Inervously i>over ithe of the' mah on.- trial -for his lifer whenthe ohefwqrd ‘‘Guilty’’.struck th e . /li s - teners like a blow on the 'heart:, j > • He had a natural - and .; dangerous, gift. ,qf eloquence, which Major Com ■ dor'discovered to . his, chagrin; /.when Murray,) in i Pentridge,! became. 1 the <recognised spokesman : of other. prisoners Ijn butting (.complaints .-forward. His reward was. y transference to the ‘A • divisipn jandi special treatment, ..and ultimately removal' to Geelongt whence he escaped, ~ As the Irish say, Murray.could-coax i the hirers off the bushes;' .Whenahe left; Geelong he persuaded two ladies to take!! him to Melbourne in their motor’ qar, and later, in the;- .true spirit -Of courtesy, he sent them an ; expensive box of .chocolates, in appreciation of their kindness.. -

LOVE LETTERS INTERCEPTED. , At all! events, after those six -weeks of freedom,, • MtiJrrajyv %>ilgti«ii£(t aoxa lady killer, went ttt’ v Mdlßouifn© goal with another heart dangling frond,, his belt. Little did Dhis .young who ' kindled- '> such* » -fierce >1 'Murray’s amorous heart, know-how : mfliiy ' burning" ! notes were issuing ■ fr<>in*'Mtirray’s cell .which she • would never sfee. In one he wrote: “My Darling,—Your dear letters are ,the only gleams of light which] enter in,to my cell 1 and into my soul. What a relief they are amidst' all the dull, discipline *hnd routine: to which I have been : sij|bjected. . - . . Our hearts’ will always speak to one another, however far apart we may . have to be'!—Your ever loving Angpus. Angus by no means confines himseif to expressions jotf endeannjent.S . There ' iis a merest suggestion of passion, often there- is a strain of philo-t .sophy, ’and sometimes a neat touch of humour such as' the description l of the iie\V InspectoiCDeheral -of Prisons as ‘‘a glorified l 'pedagogue' who goes; rohud : taking' 11 4 psyChdiogical: sfiapsiioits.” * 1: The„(new Inspector-General is 'Mr Joe AkerOyd', State- Schools inspector; who was 1 'selected - on account pf 1 his- knCwledge of psychol- 1 ogy. 1 Again/Angus indulges in an outburst of righteous .such as this;: , ’ / “They -talk .of criminology and they run their prisons as ? they do. There is nothing/ hut ignorance in allthey d<3. Keep nfien locked up, clothe them afad feed them/ That ‘is the limit of official ideas.

“They may pepper and salt, sugar and palaver their notions with pinprick punishments and silly rewards/ but they dQ not see as you ing thht it is the soul of* a -man that; has’ to She doctored in, this place* J ahd/ not Ills 'body- to be" cured and secured. They cannot even : do £ the securing without a 'lot of extra^ 1 expense./ When Murray wrhte r “There' -is very little I ask for that I; don't .get,” he spoke truly. ' This man of; fortytwo has asked for the hand of two! women in, wedlock. He has been twice (married, the second time when his wife was .alive. As James; Henry Donnpljy I he married ’ a trusting in Adelaide at -the age of nineteen, ’ Soon afterwards, he Went -to J gaol * where lie spent eighteen months. Go-

ling west, -he-rQbtbed*& pawnbroker-S shop in Perth and gave a stolen ring toja girl living in-thellhouse... . The exploit cost him seven' years’ impris* onmentJ * , A few; months after, his release,, he .engaged! in an enterprise, that moyes quick., indignaition, It is. ah repisode,. the.- .memory., of wthiqh, rejecting Jin the..condemned cell upon diis -career, should cause, him . the deepest istoame. . ■ ..(Early ] in 1915,.. Murray, who 'had been, released a few months. earlier, i lS .\vas ; joined, by the notorious „ Boh Bennett,! who preyed upon children. ■.Thbyo left . Adelaide. together 4>y train for.,Victoria. Travelling on the. train! jyas a young girl in mourning .for .her., faither. .Murray, polished, and, suave, gentle of manner and sympathetic! made tfhe igirl’s , acquaintance, ana impressed her by. his refinement arid' the manicured nails on his .delicate I fingers. Murray was for the occasion an American planter. He :apd ( .Bennett left, the train at Ballarat: iMurray continued:,the acquaintance ■and was invited to the house, where , his manners won him-favour. • Ben-/ nett!was brought along and attempted to pay . court to a sister, ,but nothing could disguise .this bird;,of ill omen land:.he fnade no headway in his loye m ßmn4t appeared to be a deeply •religious man and showed a remark? , aiWly j : close acquaiinfance . wltfti the hymn Hook. Games of cards were suggested at times by members of the' family i during: .the visit of two strangers, but they could: not - be induced to play anything more oomphcated -ttfan euchre, and both, contrived to malffi mistakesv on the simplest - points. 5He used to tell* them ; that he .: had beJn. a choirmaster. They after-?, \Vards found that, this was true. .. He had lea the : sin#ing?4n the Fremantle g&ol. ■ "s . -Murray won :the*?, girl’s affection,; married her- in an .Anglican church, and arranged; to take her to Scotland.. - for-thef honeymoon:. As a _ preliminary he!persuaded her? to give, ■ nlm. ‘£3oo,* 'tlie proceeds of a mortgage : on a - house* left her by her father. ; YOUNG BBiIDE’S AWAKENING. .->» The young, bride- was not Iqng m / •Sydneyl before • her husband was arrested. | She wired to her people-in to secure ; bail for rhim ,-and.. 4hev were inquiring aibout it when a kindly police office? remarked , "Surely ‘.you .areinot- goinjgbail' fortlxte -main? ‘ He-is -the ! most notorious criminal: ffi Australia.” _