The Closing Scene. PUBLIC OPINION OF THE RESULT. The Vilest Criminal Ever Tried.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 175, 23 October 1886, Page 5 (Supplement)

The Closing Scene. PUBLIC OPINION OF THE RESULT. The Vilest Criminal Ever Tried.

Christchuboh, October 20. After a trial extending over eight days, the charge against Thos. Hall and Margaret Graham Houston was yesterday afternoon brought to a termination — the verdict being one that was in accordance with public feel ing, and accordingly one that has been very generally approved of, When the curtain was rung up yesterday morning on the final act of this tragedy (the most terrible that haß been enacted in the annals of crime in New Zealand), Mr Joynt resumed his address on behalf of the male prisoner, and seeing the fearfully uphill battle he had to fight in defending one concerning whose guilt the evidence was overwhelming, he made a plucky fight for his client's liberty. Mr Hay^ followed on behalf of the female prisoner, and asked not for an acquittal merely, but for a vindication This advocate, who was delivering his maiden address, spoke with great earnestness and cousiderable briilianoy, and quite electrified many of those in Court, who, having found him exceedingly weak in

oross-examinatioD, were not prepared to listen to co masterly an address. He cleared up the doubtful points as to Miss Houston'sguilt, and when he resumed his seat, almost' everyone in Court was prepared to find that his appeal to the jury would not bo without effect, and that hot only would the lady be discharged, bat that she would leave the Court without a blemish on her character. As Mr, Hay put it, this was the only reparation left her for the sufferings she ■ had undergone since her arrest ; and in justice to Miss Houston I propose later on' to place • before your readers the very complete answer made on her behalf to the various incidents charged against her as the supposed accomplice in the crime, After the luncheon adjournment came a pleasant surprise. In the course of the trial His Honor had stated that he should require the greater part of a day to read over his notes and sum up, and so when Mr Justice Johnston commenced to sum up just before two o'clock, it was anticipated that the jury would not retire to deliberate before an advanced hour at night ; but, aa has been repeatedly Baid of politics, it is the unexpected that always happens. His Honor hardly referred to his notes, merely directing the jury shortly, and stating with regard to the female aecueed, that the theory of her guilt reeled on the supposition that there was a guilty passion; the object of which was to make her Mra Hall's successor. This supposition, or the supposition that Hall required her pervice as an accomplice, His Honor dismissed as quite untenable. His Honor only spoke for an hour ; but if any uncertainty had previously existed as to Miss Houston's fate, he had said enough to satisfy the jury that their duty was plain, and that she waa entitled to an immediate acquittal at their hands. The jury practically returned their verdict without leaving the box, for they were only absent about seven minutes, and this time was probably occupied in considering the rider as regarded Miss Houston— that she left the Court without the slightest stain on her character. When this amnouncoment was made, there was just the faintest outburst. Miss Houston was at once discharged, and she hurried from the dock attended by her counsel, and was driven off. Throughout the trial she was exceedingly calm, and those who have watched her intently affirm that she never exchanged a glance with the fellow-prisoner standing along 1 > id^ her. On Hall being called on he said nothing, and His Honor, in sentencing him, spoke with great warmth. He said that Hall was worse than a murderer ; that he had achieved the distinction of being the vilest criminal who had ever been tried in our law Court ; and that had the law hot been altered, he would certainly have forfeited his life, and there would not have, been any chance of commutation of his sentence. After strictures ef so Bevere a nature no one was surprised at the denouement which followed — the sentencing of the prisoner to penal servitude for the term of his natural life. His Honor specially emphasised the word " natural," and, no doubt, the majority of your readers will at once recognise what that means. After sentence was pronounced, Hall leant over the dock and had some slight conversation with his solicitor, and expressed a wish to see him on Saturday "to settle some matteis of business," after which he was hurried out of Court, and the Timaru caust eelebre was at an end. Hall's self-possession is really something marvellous, and in hia demeanour no outward change was observable after sentence had been pronounced, his conduct being on a par with that he had phown throughout the trial ; his look immobile, and his demeanour calm and eelf -contained. t Of course one hears the case, the whole case, and nothing but the case and its conclusion discussed, and I have not heard one person dissent from the finding of the jury. There are some, however, who think that Miss Houston has been a martyr to circumstances, and that it was the duty of the Crown not to have pressed the prosecution against her after the motive of guilty passion had been brokendown; butithe < aejpeople areunmindful of the fact that the case as now presented to the Court bears a very different aspect to | what it did at the time of the magisterial investigation, and when the bills were before the Grand Jury ; and that had she not stood her trial she would not have had an opportunity of a triumphant refutation of the serious accusations made against her character. The defence certainly took a wisejstep in calling Dr. Guthrie,andlhave]no hesitation in saying that had Miss Houston not been put on her defence, she would not have been without detractors in the colony, who will, however, bo satisfied as to her chastity, and the absence of impropriety with Hall, by the course that has been adopted. Dr. Mclntyre's conduct has been favourably commended upon on all sides. In taking the responsibility of signing the information against the accused when the police refused to act on their own motion, he risked loss of reputation and position and all he possessed, had his suspicions of aUtimonial poisoning been proved unfounded. The "Lyttelton Times" say 3 :— "The gravest crime in our criminal annals has received its meed of punishment, after an investigation of the most complete, fair, and painstaking character. In the case of Miss Houston the judge's verdict must meet with general approval.^ The defence were successful in establishing a theory which accounted for all the facts in her case, and when there were two theories each accounting for a set of circumstances, the accused (as was laid down in Butler's case by Justice Williams) had a right to the benefit thus created. Sir Robert Stout and Mr Leckie, his Private Secretary, left by the Southern express to-day, and will remain in Dunedin for a week. Can the Verdict ho Upset? I hear that an attempt will be made to upset the verdict in Hall's caBe, but on what ground cannot ascertain.