THE CASE OK LIONEL TERRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 7, 3 July 1911, Page 3

THE CASE OK LIONEL TERRY.

1 To the Editor. Sir, —1 regret exceedingly to find you I in the list of those who would "shut the gates 01 mercy" on the unfortunate -prisoner Terry. Believing, as you do. that he is a dangerous maniac, your attitude is most praiseworthy; but have you a sufficient ground for your belief» Personally, I am fully convinced to the contrary effect, viz., that he is perfectly sane and that no danger would ensue to anyone from his liberation.- I do not know tne grounds for your belief; but here are a few of mine: I knew Terry intimately before he committed the crime for which he has suffered nearly six years' imprisonment, and detected in him no sign of insanity—only a, passionate conviction of the evils flowing from conj tact between white and colored races. 1 | have had several communications from J him since his conviction, not one of them I snowing the least trace of mental aberj ration. I had half-an-hour's conversation with him in his "cage" a few months , ago and found him calm and' rational. I i h:,ve just received a letter from a man who had intimate contact with him for six weeks in Seacliff Mental Hospital, and he states that he found Terry always sane and reasonable, albeit suffer-, ing keenly the loss of his liberty and the indignity of being classed as a lunatic. What.l contend is that there is sufficient evidence disclosed to support the presumption that Terry is sane, and to justify a thorough examination into his condition, with a view to his libera'I tjon, if it is, thought that the. has been sufficiently punished. It must be remembered that he is not in the position of an ordinary insane, patient, who would in ordinary course be liberated when cured. He ha,s been sentenced to imprisonment for life, and tho only way to draw attention to his case is to petition (he Governor. I appeal to all mercifully-minded people to sign the petition now at your office, or elsewhere in circulation in*Taranaki, if only with a view of ascertaining whether Terry has recovered from the temporary fit (if insanity that led him to commit the fearful act for which he was justly condemned.—l am, etc., • J. LIDDELL KELLY. Asbburton, June 27, 1911. [We admire Mr. J. Liddell Kelly'* advocacy, but he does not convince us. We earnestly believe that Terry is sane except on the one point—he is a monomaniac. An examination into his general mental condition might reasonably be made, but unless it could be disclosed that Terry had been cured of his antipathy to tha Chinese and recognised the "enormity" of the crime he committed, it would be-unfair to the community to release him. \ve wrote the article referred to deliberately and with pnin, f for our conclusions were arrived at ' through personal knowledge of the im-1 fortunate prisoner.] j