QUEER FADS OF CONDEMNED MURDERERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 146, 17 July 1909, Page 3

QUEER FADS OF CONDEMNED MURDERERS.

Oscar Slater, who murdered Miss Gilchrist in her Glasgow fiat, proved himself a typical dandy even in the condemned cell, and also a stickler for the proprieties. He insisted, for instance, from the very beginning, in being called ''Mr." Slater, and each morning he changed his linen, varied his neckwear, and demanded polished boots.

WANTED HIS CLEAN LINEN; Similar exhibitions of strutting, peacock vanity are not uncommon o ;] the .part of men doomed to die on the gal,'lows. Waiiiwright, on the day preceding his execution, absolutely refused to dress because his clean liiicn had not arrived from the laundry, and a now .shirt and collar had to be bought for him. When the evening arrivcel—his last on earth—he craved a smoke. A pipe and tobacco were brought to him, hut lie rejected them with disdain. He would have a cigar. And he got it. ■ Lefroy, who murdered poor old Mr. Gold in a railway carriage on the way to Brighton, wore an evening dress suit during the whole of the period that tlapseel between his condemnation and his execution. Also he was' greatly .upset at the refusal of the authorities to allow him to be hanged in a new silk .hat presented to him in court. ORDERED HIS OWN DINNER. As a rule, however, the thoughts of the condemned turn mostly towards ;food. Rush, the Stansfield "Hall murderer, was an educated man. "I want •my slippers and the Times" were his first words on returning to gaol after his conviction. But a little later he called for pen and paper, and wrote out an order for his next day's dinner, "Pig and plenty of apple sauce." In those days it was the custom to five capital convicts whatever they asked for in the way of food. But the rule was abolished soon afterwards, one of the first delinquents to come under the new regulations being a certain •li'lVrcy, who murdered his six-year-old child by hanging him in a cellar in Seven l)ials. He was unaware of the alteration, and called for a roast duck directly he entered the condemned cell, and when it was refused him he behaved so violently that he had to be put in a Exchange.