Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1898. A MODERN BUSHRANGER.

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2075, 5 February 1898, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1898. A MODERN BUSHRANGER.

Harrison Ainsworth, the lawyer and romancist, who not long ago paid the debt of nature, provided one of those contrasts we are always tumbling over in this world of contradictions. He was a dry-stick of a lawyer and followed his profession in a grubby set of chambers in the neighbourhood of the Manchester Law Courts In real life the late Mr Aliasworth was a lover of peace, a regular atton lant at a place of worship, and an estimable character generally j but in the realm of fancyj seems to have spent th'e -major poriion of his daysj- our matter-of-fact legal friend was the enthusiastic admirer and recondite historian* of some of the greatest scoundrels gnd blackguards that figure in ,the Newgate Calendar. Every alleged, inbident of the bold Turpin’s ride from London to York in order to establish an alibi is-lovingly depicted by this master of representing things as they, are not. In the; prison-breaker, Jaok Shepperl, the great fiction-monger discerns the of a hero, whose exploits are worthy •of being handed down to posterity with those of Agamemnon. Nor is it difficult to trace in Scott’s Rob Roy, how well disposed the good Sir Walter felt towards that lawless cateran. In that matchless story-teller’s Ivanhoe, our favourite among the Waverleys, no more fasci mating character appears than that of Locksley, otherwise Robin Hood. Of - course a large amount of poetical license is- allowable to such a prince among storytellers, as the Wizard o| the North. Whatwe are. to pardon, ,nay relish, in Scott, however, .is not so easily condoned in Ainsworth The Lancashire lawyer was a plodding,, persevering student in the neglected by-paths of history of an unreliable- character. ; He was clever, exceedingly, but absolutely destitute of genius, The pages of Scott, on the other hand, live, his characters breathe, and many of them are our familiar friends. Ainsworth’s 'Jack Sbepperd, Turpin, and all the rest* of the lawless crew,. excite little more than a passing interest, fortunately. Bulwer Lytton also incurred censure for prostituting bis talents in 8 apotheosizing crime in such of his works as Paul Clifford, and Eugene Aram; While admitting their heroes guilt this class of authors, by skilfully citing a host of extenuating circumstances i insidiously win over our sympathies to the law-breaker,- and we close the history of his misfortunes with a sigh of compassion for the hardness of his fate. There is at present at liberty in the Waikato a convict named Knox, who furnished only this week food for conyersationandcomment in Te Aroha. Some time has elapsed since the man in question made a successful dash for liberty from the warders at Devenport and up to the time of writing the police have failed to effect his reaiTest. From time to time he has been seen ranging round the Waikato. The last we heard of him was at Waiorougomai, where he had been oh served with his face buried in one of Mr Martin Murphy’s generous pewters, whether to conceal his identity or imbibe the contents, as Sam Weller would say, our informant was unable to state. In the old hush ranging days Knox would probably have stuck up the hotel and taken possession of the bar; to-day hia exploit is limited to Calling for a pint of beer and drinking it • but not . before he has paid for it. Knox must eitjher have the sympathy of the people with him or they regard his enlargement with absolute indifference, as being none of their business. We have not in New Zealand, asm the old country, a large class who are openly and actively in sympathy with criminals. People who are perpetually at wa* with the police, and nave a code of ethics all their own, under which * to blow the gaff on a pal,’ however great the inducement offered, wouldheregardMaaacrimeforWhieh being kicked to death in a back'slum Would he a merciful punishment, For the sake of settlers * ’way back,’ we do not like the idea of a convict being at liberty who, it is declared I his intention of never - alive ;*yet, we are has offered no reward fotjjhis captureThose who have taken part iUft)ie pursuit declare there is no excitement in the world like man-huritiifg. ’ There are sheriffs in the United States, where offenders are dealt with much more sharply than wjth osV who will spend* "days' ' - in escapee' revellingvinthe Intoxication of a chase with a human being for a quarry, With a • prayer on their lips that the desperado might only resist so that the pursuit may he crowned with such a fitting clamax as shooting him down would form. We do nob want to en-. courage such a spirit in New Zealand, nor to see even our most : Hardened prison-breakers treated like wild beasts,jbut in the case of the gaol-bird at present fluttering ro»*nd the Waikato bush we think it is high time his sings were clipped.