TWENTY-ONE YEARS IN GAOL. Death of an Old Convict. Wellington, March 16.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 195, 19 March 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

TWENTY- ONE YEARS IN GAOL. Death of an Old Convict. Wellington, March 16.

An old man, Richard Farrell, who has passed 21 years of hid life within the walls of colonial prisons, died at the Terrace Gaol on Saturday afternooa, at the age of 77. The deceased was convicted at the Napier Supreme Court on the Ist February, 1866, before Mr Justice Johnston, for the murder of a man named Foan, and was sentenced to death. Representations were, however, made in his behalf to the Government of the day, and the result of a numerously signed petition forwarded by the inhabitants of Napier waa that Sir George Grey, the then Governoi* of the colony, commuted the sentence to imprisonment, for life. The prisoner remained in Napier Gaol till November, 1883, when he was transferred to the Mount Cook Gaol. There he was employed as cooper and general handy man until about a month ago, when Mr Garvey, Governor^ of the Gaol, noticing that the old man was becoming feeble and required more careful treatment than was afforded at the chief penal establishment, obtained authorify from the VisiuDg Ju&tico for his removal to tho Terrace prison. Up to this time Farrell had not been absent from his duty o.viog t > illness for a single day throughout his long period in prison. On Saturday afternoon Farrell went into the gaol yard for exercise with the other prisoners, and one of the attendants, observing»that he seemed to be faint, carried him back to his quartors in the Hospital, where he died peacefully within a few minutoa Deceased was one of the most williug workers amongst the inmatea of the gaol, and be seems to have been quite an exemplary prisoner, having never incurred the slightest punishment for a breach of the prison regulations. His removal from Mount Cook made him rather melancholy, and he has since frequeutly remarked, in the most serious manner, chat he did not know how the workshops carried on there would be conducted in hiß absence. All that is known of to the history of deceased's antecedent to thecrime of which he wap convicted, is that he was an old soldier, having been in the 40th Regiment 51 years ago. He saw a deal of active service in the Crimea and elsewhere, for which he at one time possessed several decorations, and after his arrival in the colony he enjoyed a pension of Sd per day, which was paid to him till forfeited by the committal of the felony which cost him his liberty. It appears that when he shot Foan he was suffering from delirium tremens, and it was on this ground that the commutation of his sentence was granted. The possibility of actual release from custody was ever uppermost in the prisoner's mind. Several times between the yoars 1869 and July last year he addressed petitions to the several Governors of the colony for the remission of his rentence, and in his requests to the chief gaoler and visiting justices this idea always received prominence. In one of his petitions Farroll urged that when he committed the murder he was under the impression that. Foan was following him about with the intention of shoofcibg him, and it -was that deception alone which prompted him to commit the crime. lv refusing the request, one Governor pointed out that it had baen proved that Farrell was liable to paroxysms and dangerous mania, go that the idea of remitting his sentence could not bs entertained. JDvery subsequent petition was refused, on the ground that the case had already been duly considered. The deceased had for many years beon religiously inclined, and studied his Bible diligently, besides aocepting the ministra ions of Arch deacon Stock. For the last few weeks he has been attended by Dr. Johnston, the gaol surgeon.

In the race for the Australian Cup, Nelson's half neck defeat ie attributed by a Melbourne writer to the fact of his rider, Brown, having lost hia whip at a critical part of the race, and he states that as the absence of the flail would prevent hia jockey getting the last ounce ont of My Idea's soa, Major George may be said to have been truly unfortuuate. With Commotion, Malua, and Trenton out of the way, Nelson is undoubtedly the best horse in Australia today, aad although his winning Hat is a good one it would have been further added to had his customary rider, Brown, used a little more discretion in many of: his races, Coming to the front nearly five furlongs fiom home lost him the A. J C. Plate won l>y Matchlock, and opinions differ v ry little on the point that had ho deferred his final run in the Australian Cup till within the distance instead of making it half a mile away he would ha ire turned the half-neck defeat into a victory.