MUNN HANGS ON TUESDAY: : ’QUAKE HORROR IN ITALY

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1032, 24 July 1930, Page 1

MUNN HANGS ON TUESDAY: : ’QUAKE HORROR IN ITALY

DECISION HEARD CALMLY

PREPAREDLY AWAITS EXECUTION LAST PHASE OF GRIM MURDER DRAMA rS solemn tolling- of the Mount Eden Prison bell after execution will signify the last and grimmest phase of the Hum drama. Arthur Thomas Munn’s appeal to Parliament against the sentence of death for the murder of his wife has failed. Apparently he accepted the decision of the Executive Council with much of the calm he exhibited at his trial, when the result was formally conveyed to him at 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Preparedly he awaits execution, which will take place on Tuesday morning.

It was at the request o£ the superintendent of the prison. Mr. J. Dickison, that Staff-Captain T. Holmes, Salvation Army prison chaplain and Munn's spiritual adviser, made known to the condemned man the failure of his appeal. Mr. Dickison and Mr. C. E. Spittal, the chief warder, attended when Mnnn heard his fate. When the sheriff, Mr. C. J. Hewlett, registrar of the Supreme Court at Auckland, receives the Governor’s warrant of death, it will be read to Mnnn. When the sheriff, Mr. C. J. Hewlett, registrar of the Supreme Court at Auckland, received the Governor-Gen-eral’s intimation today that there was no intention to interfere with the sentence, he visited the prison and formally notified Munn that the warrant had been received. The date of the execution was fixed, on receipt of the warrant, for Tuesday morning at 8 o’clock. Munn is never loft alone. There wilt bo an authorised person in his company until the time the sheriff marches to the door of the con- ' damned man’s cell, knocking and demanding “the body of Arthur Thomas Munn, sentenced to death for murder.” Grim words, and profoundly descriptive of the inexorable tread of Justice. These words will ring through the prison corridors at precisely two minutes before the execution. There i> an inexpressible hush throughout a prison at the time of execution; individuals —officials, authorised visitors and prisoners—are united in a common sensation of tenseness. SOLEMN PROCESSION Munn will be led from the cell he is to occupy for the night before the execution to take his place in a solemn procession, headed by the sheriff, to the gallows. Prayers will be recited by the prison chaplain during the deliberate march to the place of execution. Immediately before the sentence is given effect to, the condemned man will be asked if he has anything to say. The black cap will then be placed and the rope adjusted. Such Is the decree of the law. Iu this atmosphere of suspense, Milan is said to be revealing remarkable calm. It was the same during his trial and even when Mr. Justice Berdman pronounced the awesome sentence Munn is relieving the drabness and the suspense of these last days by Playing dominoes and draughts with the warders guarding him.

He is engaged, too, in writing fully the experiences of his lifetime. There are personal letters, also, to which he can devote his attention. The condemned man has the privilege of asking for foods not ordinarily included in the gaol fare. Meat, stew, vegetables, boiled pudding—these are the items generally found in prison meals, but Munn, through the permission of the medical officer, is being allowed to have eggs. NO “CONDEMNED CELL” There is nothing of the harsh confinement of the “condemned cell” for Munn. He will be removed to a cell adjacent to the place of execution a few hours before the sentence Is carried out, but it will scarcely be regarded as a "condemned cell.” At present he Is occupying two rooms at the front of the prison, with a spacious corridor, where he can exercise, between them. Munn has been closely guarded for two months now. Ordinarily, the sentence would have been given effect to within three weeks of the conviction. Munn was convicted eight weeks ago of the murder of his wife by poisoning her with strychnine, at Northcote on February 11. The extended interval has been due to the tedium of investigating Munn’s application to the Court of Appeal to have the conviction cancelled, and the subsequent petition. The law places strict limitations on the classes and the number of people to witness an execution, apart from the officials of a prison. A medical practitioner, the gaoler and prison officials who-may be required by the sheriff generally accompany the sheriff. Justices and ministers may attend. The sheriff can direct the provision of a police or a military guard, and has discretion in selecting 10 other adult male witnesses. The sanction of the Governor-General must be obtained for the admission of others. Every witness of the execution must remain until the sentence is complete and until the medical practitioner has signed and delivered to the sheriff a certificate of death. The sheriff, the gaoler, and other officials must sign a declaration that the sentence has been fulfilled. Whether the sentence has been duly carried out must be decided at an inquest afterward. After the expiration of eight nours, the body is given over to relatives, if application is received. The last execution at Mount Eden Prison was that of Robert Scott, in 1924, for the murder of a young girl near Gisborne.