ARSENIC CASE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 294, 8 June 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

ARSENIC CASE

Kh.MAIiKABLE LETTER FROM CONDEMNED MAX. A long letter was written to liis wife by Frederick Henry Seddon (recently executed for the murder of Miss Burrow) from his condemned cell at I'entonville. protesting his innocence mid bidding his wife face the alternatives of the coming days with courage. Seddon wrote: It must he better for ail innocent person to lie under sentence of death than a guilty one. and you and all my family know I am innocent; therefore, whatever happens, don't let it upset you. lam quite prepared to meet either fateeither death or. penal servitude—and a clear conscience will help me to die bravely, or sustain me in imprisonment. You suffered with me in the degradation and unjust punishment of police persecution and arrest, and two months' imprisonment,' and after the strain of a long ten days' trial acquitted without even one word of apology from the police or the Crown for, your unjustifiable arrest, and no doubt they think you have to be thankful that you were acquitted. True, you are thankful; so am I; so are the children, but is that enough?

'What have we done? What has the prosecution proved against either of us? No'thing proved, absolutely nothing; it is all "ifs" and guesswork, all assumptions and conjectures. They discharged you, being satisfied to hold me as thenvictim. Truly, lam a victim of circumstances. It is fate. The appeal has failed; the die is cast; the tide is against me. Condemned on "ifs" and guesswork and calculations, the tidal wave of prejudice has overwhelmed me. The prosecution never at any time during the trial attempted to assail my past career and character. MEMBERSHIP OF LODGES. They had one view, and one view only, and it was thus expressed. No other person had a greater motive to desire this woman's death;, none had a greater interest in her death; no one benefited more by her death than I, therefore I murdered her. Mind you, 110 proof, all supposition. Mr. Marshall Hall's entreaties for justice and benefit of doubt were, therefore, treated with conspicuous contempt. Reverting to the question of "motive," stated by the prosecution to be cupidity, avariciousness, meanness, greed of gold; how exaggerated all this when it is reasonably considered that I am a man of unblemished character—twenty-one years in one employ; and if the prosecution has assailed it, a multitude of witnesses—business friends, acquaintances and relatives—could prove I was a man of very opposite nature and character, charitably disposed, and practised' charity, and on very many occasions rendered financial assistance to many in poor and distressed circumstances, and also. labored in charitable object. A Freemason, of Royal Arch Degree, a founder of a Lodge, a life governor of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution for Aged and Distressed Freemasons, a Past Noble Arch in the Ancient Order of Druids, a member of the Grand Lodge of England, a member of the Order of Buffaloes, a member of the Legion of Frontiersmen, etc.

T merely mention these as evidence that a man who is mean, avaricious, and has a greed for gold would not incur these expenses, and it is not consistent with the amount of money requirc-d to be spent in joining and supporting liis' membership with these orders and their objects. This is briefly put, but motive is further reduced had it been known that I was in possession of properties and investments twelve months prior to the death of Miss Barrow, and that at her death my assets amounted to between £3OOO and £4OOO, and my weekly income was about £l4 14s 3d, and that, after paying her £2 Ss, I had a balance of £l2 tis 3d weekly for my own needs. I merely gained 2Ss weekly at her death; that is surely a paltry, insignificant sum to a man in my financial circumstances to commit murder for, and to jeopardise all a man can hold dear in life, every home comfort, and wife and children, and aged father depending 011 him. I held a permanent, remunerative position. and every prospect in life. fs it feasible that a man should risk all, even his very life, by an ignominious death on the scaffold, by poisoning a woman under the very nose of a skilled physician and surgeon in daily regular attendance?.

I am not mad, I am not a degenerate; not even now, after all the great mental strain and anguish I have undergone. My brain is still clear, and my conscience is unsullied. Seddon adds another tribute to his wife's courage and the courage of his children, and says: '"Whatever happens, be bra vis and womanly, and don't break down your health by fretting and crying. C'heer up, and let the knowledge of your husband's innocence sustain you, that you may be spared in health and strength to bear up and live for your children's sake."