POWELKA STILL TO THE FORE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 68, 29 June 1910, Page 5

POWELKA STILL TO THE FORE

A LETTER FROM PRISON. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Tuesday. The Times this morning published a letter signed by Powelka, and dated from the Terrace Goal, Wellington, June 25, resenting accusations against him of being a sexual maniac. It was to. this the Mayor of Wellington alluded when replying to a deputation last week. Powelka makes' no allusion to Mr. Wilford, but refers to statements published against him in a weekly paper. He asserts that he always treated Ms wife with respect, and says he is sure she would corroborate his statements. He also asks why such statements were not put in as evidence, so' that he could have had an opportunity to defend himself. The lettei 1 ends:| "As far as I am personally concerned, 1 I would have sooner been hanged for a' murder I did not commit than be condemned to the livin'g death of this life sentence." The signature J. J. Powelka is lithographed .by the Times. fn-j quiry at the 'gaol shows that no letter passed through the hands of the officials, but it might have been secretly written and taken by an outgoing prisoner. The authorities are inquiring as to how such a letter could have been got out.