CONVICT'S SUICIDE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 237, 3 October 1908, Page 15

CONVICT'S SUICIDE.

AUTKOR OIF ATROCIOUS C 833&&&5&832 HIMSELF IN HIS CELL. Falling In Ms petition to the Appeal Court to lessen his sentence-ef prnii servitude, Ed-ward QookHiig, 46, hanged. ■hiTn«»*f in his cell at Winaon. Green Gaol, London, on August 17. Goulding was a .North Country laumaa—lS. er. He received a Vie sentence on being; convicted of an gfrortam offence upon his daughter, a. girl of 2L From the "—m-nfc his doom left tie lips of the judge the man gave every eviilpiire of fear and. desjair at the fate before him. He persistently declared his innocence. Judge Darling, who sentenced "'"V expressed his thorough agreement with tiei verdict of the jury. "The evidence," said the Judge, "admits of no conceivable doubt. It hardly admfla any sort of defence. It is the most tcxritta crime which it has fallen to my lot to in. vestagate since I first occupied the Benefc. The man was sentenced in 189t to tea yeartf penal servitude for a similar crime, ani that was not his first offence." In spite of this condemnation, Goatdhx* sought leatve to appeal against the He was visited in prison 'hy his son, white; waiting the call of the judges of appeal. "Ji I come hack from London the same as a go up I shall not last long," he said. Goulding was taken to London by nte gaolers a few days ago. Then, before the judges, he learnt that he must take Ow full punishment of his crime. He was ta~N& 1 back to Winson Green Gaol, aud locked is | his ceU, to be removed to the penal prteaa in due course. I He cast about in despair for mean* eS I suicide, and, pulling up the flooringdods, I -worked silently and cautiously through the j night—so cautiously that the warders oe. sentry-go patrolling the corridors heard no ; sound—tearing the cloth into strips sum! I knotting them together. | On the slate with which prisoners are pro. !vlded he wrote a message, bidding relatives wham he named farewell. The writing proceeded:— "1 have no time to write more, as it was late when I came from London. It is impossible to live any longer. I die an 1 innocent man. My wife and my daughter !are guilty of this black crime. They are my murderers. Please seed this to my sister." He managed to reach the window-bar, Sft from the floor, aud fasten one end of his improvised rope. He noosed the other round his neck. His body was cold when it was discovered. He had beeu dead for sours. At the inquest Iv the prison the jury returned a verdict of "Suicide." "There it nothing," added the foreman, "to indicts* the state of the convict's mind."