Nine-day Wonders

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 45, 3 February 1894, Page 5

Nine-day Wonders

[all eights reserved.]

Suicide of a Pp.isoneb.— Arthur Eoi\ney. who was committed for trial a few days ago on a charge of stealing a large sum of money from his employer, committed suicide last night by hanging himself from the window bars in his cell. From the time of his apprehension he strenuously denied -.all knowledge of the robbery, and m spite of the fact that two bonk notes found in Ms possession have been conclusively tified as part of the stolen property, there is a wide-spread belief m his innocence. The unfortunate young man became very low-spirited after his committal, land lus demeanour was so peculiar yesterday, that about an hour after his retirement for the night, a warder visited his cell, to see it he wanted anything. He was found quite •dead, the body being suspended from the iron bars of the window by strips of the hed-clothes, which had been torn up for the purpose. An inquest was held by the Coroner this afternoon, and after hearing the evidence of the prison officials, the jury returned a verdict of “Suicide while in an unsound state of mind.” A WRONG RIGHTED —BY POST. Lambton Quay, Wellington, 15th July, 188—. 'To Dr. A. J. , The Parade, Leamington, England. My dear , To say that I start this letter with deeper regret than any I hare ever before experienced in a long life of unpleasant letterwriting, is but a very tame way of picturing my present position. The fact that you succeeded in winning from me the only woman I hare ever loved, has up to now kept me from writing to my old school-mate, and the fact that that woman still lives to suffer horribly from the information that my pen, of all others, must convey to her, adds a torture to my task that you w'ill readily comprehend. If you open this letter, therefore, in her presence, for Heaven’s sake postpone reading further till you are in some place, where signs of natural agitation will bring about no sudden excitement. You may then be able to lessen somewhat the effect, upon her, of my communication. I am too far advanced in years to create any feeling of jealousy on your part now, hut I have not yet reached that stage of callousness to human misery said to be inseparable from old age, —and I know from experience that if any man can soften a blow' when he likes to do so, you can. How the -estrangement between you and the one offspring of your marriage came about, I do not know, but it must have been something serious which led him to come out to this colony under an assumed name, and practically penniless, for notwithstanding our •estrangement, you will believe me, 1 think, when I say that I have heard with pleasure of your successes, professionally and financially. Life, however, is full of mysteries and surprises. Who could have anticipated that at the other end of the world, and after an in- ' fcerregnum of twenty-five years, we should again he brought by circumstances into sympathetic touch ? Yet, after all, it is not ’Life, but Death that has done this ; and the Great Destroyer’s visit has been attended, too, by surroundings of more than ordinary gloom. Why beat about the bush any longer? You will have guessed by this time the trouble that has befallen you and your wife. Your son is dead ; and his death has been accompanied by eertain proceedings of a legal -character, that mnst add greatly to your .grief. For he died in prison, by his own hand, while awaiting trial on a charge of theft. Having thus delivered the blow, let mehasten to mitigate your sorrow, by declaring my belief that he was innocent of the crime he was charged with committing, —a belief, it will further relieve you to know, which is shared by everybody but the employer who prosecuted him. Before going into the details, let me strongly advise your withholding from your wife all but the fact of the death itself. To bettor enable you to do so, I have had the bare announcement of the death inserted i» one of the newspapers published in this city, .and will forward it s® as to reach you in a week or so from receipt of this. I send a paper by this post containing a paragraph which you alone will recognise as referring to your son’s death, and with the one which will disclose his correct name I will send a brief letter of condolence in order that any suspicion of peculiarity may be averted. iNow for the details. A week ago I received -a communication from a Dunedin solicitor, referring me Jto a newspaper paragraph announcing the suicide of a prisoner, and informing me that that prisoner, on the day of liis death, had handed him a letter addressed to me, which letter he therefore enclosed^

You will understand my horror when, on opening it, I discovered who Arthur Eowney was. Your son begged me to keep his secret from everyone but. yourself, and to send you the package which accompanied his note. I do So accordingly. He 1 ad frequently heard of me, he said, from his mother, and thought he might venture, under such circumstances, to ask this favour at my hands. If he had only written me to defend him in his trouble, you wc.uld have been spared this miserable ending to your family quarrel, whatever it was, for I would have gladly sacrified every shilling I possess to have saved Person from the degradation of such a charge—just as I shall spend every shilling I possess, if necessary, in establishing his innocence. Leave that task to me, therefore, there’s a good fellow, and rely on everything being done that can be done to clear his name from the stain sought to be cast upon it. Directly I got that letter from Dunedin, I made arrangements to proceed there, and arrived the following night. I lost no time in placing myself in communication with a remarkably smart detective, an ex-member of the police force, and a man on whom I can thoroughly rely for his best exertions on my behalf. From him I have learned that your son, under the name of Eowney, arrived in Dunedin from Melbourne about tnrec months ago, and after some little time obtained employment as a clerk with one Samuel Kearsage, a general importer and commission agent. Late in the afternoon of the day before his arrest your son obtained from his employer’s bank the sum of L 531 in notes and gold,that amount being inquired, in cash, to complete two or three tvan sactions in which Kearsage was engaged. The money was wanted before the usual time for the opening of the bank on the following days and Kearsage declared that it was placed for safe keeping overnight in a strong-room, to which his clerk had access durin g office hours. Kearsage says he locked np the strong-room before leaving at five o’clock, but did not look to see if the money was all right then. The next morning when the money was wanted it was gone, and all that could be taraced of it was two notes, for ten and five pounds respectively, which were found ,by the police in your son’s office coat. They had apparently been left there in the hurry of takiug out the bundle of which they were proved to have formed part. The theory of the prosecution was, that your son abstracted the money while in the strong-room just before closing time, and that in changing coats before leaving for the night, he had, in his nervous desire to escape detection by his cm. ployer, separated the two notes from the rest of the bundle, and left them in the pocket without being aware of the fact. As lending colour to this theory, it appeared from Kearsage’s statement to the police, that avhen he was about to enter the strong-room for the purpose of a final look round, his attention was suddenly called by his clerk to someone passing the office whom ho was anxious to see, and that he hurriedly closed the strongroom door and hastened his clerk’s departure in order that he might overtake the individual referred to. Kearsage is known now to have been very much in want of money at the time of the alleged robbery, and he has since declared, that in consequence of the robbery, it will be almost impossible for him to carry on business much longer. Public opinion, as I have already said, is in favour of your son’s innocence, and no doubt at all would be felt about his being the victim of a diabolical plot if it were not for two facts of a damaging character. The first is, his refusal to supply any information about his past life, and tlxe second, that he had absented himself from the office on the day after his supposed crime. As a matter of fact be was apprehended an hour after he should have been at the office, when walking with a young woman on what is known as the Town Belt. That young woman has since disappeared, without leaving any trace of her whereabouts, and your son obstinately refused to give any information concerning her, None of the stolen money has been discovered—exoept of course the two notes I have mentioned—but it is supposed by a few, that if the young woman could bo found, some more of the missing cash would soon be forthcoming. I have now told you as much of this terrible affair as I know myself. The detective I have employed believes that Kearsage took the money himself, that he placed the two notes in your son’s coat pocket to direct suspicion in that direction, and that he cunningly picked out notes of a large value, to add a greater appearance of naturalness to the theory intended to be put forward. There is some ground for hope that by apparent inaction, Kearsage will bo lulled into false security, and that he will then do something, on which we shall be justified in proceeding against him. Until then we must be content

to be watchfully quiet. And now, my dear that nothing which you would have done yourself, has been wanting in the respect shown towards the remains of the poor boy, whose colonial career, at all events, has been so short and so unhappy. If there is anything you would wish done with regard to his effects, whatever and wherever they may be, I will sec that your wishes are complied with, but you will forgive me for pointing out, that while it continues impossible to prove him innocent of the crime ho was charged with, it might be as well to allow him to lie whore he|is, known only as Arthur Rowney. With the deepest feeling of sympathy for you, and a further earnest entreaty to save your wife from more pain than is absolutely necessary, Believe me, Yours faithfully, John J. . P.3.—On the point of posting this letter I re-open it to give you a copy of a telegram I have just received from the private detective : —“ Kearsage has filed. Will take care to make use of this ia every way possible to obtain what we want. Can get one of the creditors to do anything required. What counsel shall I retain ?” To this I have replied that I will be in Dunedin myself to examine the bankrupt and to watch proceedings generally. Should there be any information in the packet sent to you by deceased, which will be useful to me in my inquiries, and which you can let me have, send it to mo at once. I will take care that its use shall work no mischief to anyone, but the man who, I believe, deserves exposure andjpunishment.— J. J. The Parade, Leamington, Aug. 28th, 188 —. J. J. , Esq., Solicitor, Lambton Quay, Wellington, N.Z. My dear I am so much cut up by your letter that I can do little more than express my heartfelt gratitude for your manly behaviour. I have already cabled “woman employer’s sister.” that was to assist you if possible in unmasking the treachery which has driven my poor boy to his death. I could not cable more than that without fear of disclosing too much, and you will forgive me now for making my explanation as brief as possible. lam much too ill to be writing at all, but I have braced

myself up to do so, because T, cannot ask for assistance, and delay might ruin your effort*. Arthur and I quarrelled over a woman ho was entangled with, a woman with a queer reputation, but whose manners and personal appearance proved too fascinating for my foolish boy to resist. She induced him to obtain a large sum of money from me for the purpose of providing her brother with the means to proceed to Australia, and after leading him a pretty dance with her extravagance and intrigues, she at last declared that if he did not marry her, she would go to Australia herself, there to rejoin her brother. It was this that brought about the quarrel between us, and drove him from his home. I discovered his intention to make her his wife.

and put a stop to the proceedings, by providing her myself with ample funds to leave the country. She told me that that was all she wanted, and that it was my son who ran after her, not she after him. I stipulated that he should not know of her departure until she was gone, and this arrangement I believe she was honest enough to adhere to. Somehow or other, however, Arthur found out the trick that had been played upon him. and a stormy interview between us resulted in his leaving the house, as he truthfully enough declared, for ever. Why he took the name of Rowuey I do not know and cannot imagine. He may have thought it would bo easier to get tidings of her by taking that course. I know that she embarked under her right name—Emily Kearsagc. I can write no more now. Don’t consider money—draw freely. My wife docs not know yet, and 1 will follow y( ur advice carefully. (Tod bless you for your generous conduct, and believe me Yours gratefully, A. J. • . (To be continued.)