THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1872.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 160, 13 April 1872, Page 2

THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1872.

The ease of Cyrus Haley,one of the most remarkable criminal trials which has ever taken place in New Zealand, terminated yesterday, as was very generally expected, in a verdict of guilty ou the indictment charging the prisoner with shooting with intent to kill. This verdict will surprise nobody, considering the clear evidence adduced. What docs seem rather astonishing in connection with the case, is that the accused should have pleaded guilty to the other offences charged against him, although it practically will make very little difference to him, for having been convicted and sentenced to penal servitude for life, lie could not improve his position much by lighting out against the other indictments. Nevertheless, we should have anticipated from Haley’s antecedents that lie would have persisted in his innocence until the last moment. Since the apprehension of Haley until the close of the trial, yesterday, we have refrained from making any comment whatever upon the facts, but now that the unfortunate man cannot be prejudiced by anything we say, it is open to us to express our opinion that the verdict is a just and righteous one, and that if the jury had arrived at any other conclusion, the result would have been injurious to society. The charge of arson to which Haley has pleaded guilty we look upon as one of the most atrocious of all crimes, and the motive which induced it in this instance, so far as can be gathered from the evidence, is paltry in the extreme. Haley seems to have entertained an extraordinary idea that it was his duty to burn and destroy the property of those better off than himself, and then to murder certain individuals against whom he entertained a spite for little or no reason. Unless the man was mad, there is very little excuse for him, and if the strong arm of the law were not brought to bear upon such as he, it would augur ill for the Colony. In this country every man possessed of health and strength may look forward to competence, if not wealth, by exercising prudence and economy. The home of Haley, as spoken of during the trial, was not such as to show any signs of privation—on the contrary, it is stated that it exhibited the usual indications of comfort, if not luxury. Amongst all the hard things that have been said of Mr Thomas Russell, we never before remember to have heard him spoken of as an uncharitable man to the poor, which is one of the statements made against him by Haley. Certainly neither he nor his family have done anything which would at all justify Haley in the course he has pursued. An opinion has been expressed that it would be impossible for the prisoner to have a fair trial in Auckland. AVe believe that he has had a most fair and impartial trial, and that if the venue had been removed to Wellington or anywhere else, the result would have been just the same before any British jury in any part of Her Majesty’s dominions. Tue prisoner in his cross-examination failed to elicit

anything to shake the testimony offered ;on behalf oftfte Crown, and Mr Brookfieldf appears to have conducted the case prisoner. We lotricfiipon the result of this trial as, index of a .right state of feeling existing in the community—not as a triumph of a rich and influential man against a poor one, but as a confirmation of our opinion that a respect for law and order and for impartial justice between man and man exists here in an eminent degree. If,as is intimated in one of the letters presumed to be Haley’s, there arc amongst us—though we greatly doubt the fact —a class of men banded together to destroy the lives and property of their neighbours, wc would advise them to stay their Ifands while there is yet time, as the probabilities are that they will not escape any better than their leader, Cyrus Haley. It may be that lie is mad, and, if so, we presume it is not too late for that question to be investigated ; but, be that as it may, his being kept und r lock and key, either in gaol or an asylum, will be beneficial to society and to himself,as it will be the means of keeping him out of further mischief. It must have been rather alarming to a good many quiet and respectable citizens to know that they had such a firebrand in their midst. The good sense of the people will, we feel sure, read with satisfaction the result of this extraordinary trial. In what we have said we have endeavoured to extenuate nothing, nor to set down aught in malice, but to express as public journalists our concurrence in the verdict and judgment, now that it has once been delivered, and becomes a free subject for comment. Had Haley shot his victims, would he have been any the better for it? Would he have been one penny the richer or happier ? And if he had escaped the just retribution which has fallen upon him, would society have been the gainer ? On the contrary, we think Haley’s acquittal would have had a very bad effect. It would have had a tendency to lower the respect with which trial by jury is held throughout the British Dominions, and to produce a feeling of the insecurity of our hearths and homes, which the law of the land was unable to protect. It will be a bad sign for this or any other country when a criminal is allowed to escape, not because there was insufficient evidence, but because his victim liappeus to be unpopular by those who are not blest with his good fortune in a worldly sense, nor possess those qualifications which invite success in monetary speculations.