MURDERERS I HAVE KNOWN.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 114, 15 May 1926, Page 31

MURDERERS I HAVE KNOWN.

PRISON CHAPLAIN'S STORY. TESTIMONIAL FROM SOO CONVICTS. The Benjamin Reed, who for many jears a prison chaplain at Pentridge, in Australia, and is now living in retirement at Batchvrorth, Herts., knew William Barnes, the murderer, and the ally of { Charles rvarc. intimately. . \ Power, the man who boasted that he taught Iho Kellys, the notorious bushrangTS. all they knew about the "game," was one of his flock. My fir<=r rncountcr with a criminal was at the tender app of ten (said the Rev. Benjamin Reed in an interview with a Sunday Chronicl<>" representative). During my school holidays I used to stay at Kings Cross, and it was there that I came arross one of the most notorious murderers who ever escaped the iiangman's rope. A blind man with n patriarchal beard, who got his livivg by selling matches and bootlaces at street corners, attracted my attention, and I learned that he was ■William Hare, the accomplice of 'William Burke. Many were the pennies I spent in order to listen to the old man speak, and time after time he would warn .mc against having evil companions. Burke and Hare, many years previously, were responsible for more than twenty murders. Their practice was to lure drunken men and women to a house, where they suffocated them. They then sold the bodies to various doctors for dissection for sums ranging up to £5. In order to save his neck when arrested. Hare turned King's evidence, and Burke was hanged. The mob outside the prison hearing of Hare's treachery -would have lynched him had they been able to lay their hands on him. The authorities spirited him away, and it has never been definitely settled how it was that he became blind. I am convinced, however, that he obtained work at a lime factory, and there one of his fellow employees, seeing through his disguise, told his mates. Together they pitched Hare into a lime kiln, which burned the hair • from his head and rendered him sightless. Although Power, the bushranger, taught the Kellys their dastardly job, he was disgusted with the methods they adopted, and it was his greatest boast that he never drew a knife. He used to call the Kellys "butchers." He was the only man who ever "Broke Pentridge," as the saying goes, but he was recaptured, and finally ientenced to death. Another of my flock was William Barnes, the disciple of Charles Peace. Barnes managed to elude arrest for a series of daring burglaries, and sailed for Australia. There he committed one of the most sensational murders ever known. John Slack, a notorious old " fence," was found one morning with his throat cut and a razor clutched in his left hand. It was assumed that he had committed eulcide, and no further inquires.' were made. Some time after, however, the police raided Barnes' home and there found some property that had previously belonged to Slack. Barnes was subsequently arrested lor murder. It was revealed at the trial that In the dead of night Barnes stole into Slack's chop and helped himself to everything he fancied. Suddenly Slack, who was sleeping in the room, awoke and cried out, "What are you doing here, Barnes?" Without a word Barnes sprang at (the "fence" and, gripping him with hie strong , hands, strangled him. To cover ~ up : the" murder, the man then slit his victim's throat with a razor, set a watch going by his side, and placed the razor In the left hand. Barnes was hanged. Barnes once told mc what he thought was a fine joke. "Do you know," he said, " that for a two years' sentence I burgled nearly every doctor's house in a district, and a hotel, while a. pal of mine served the same time for stealing sevenpence half-penny from an old lady's purse ?" Hanging on the wall of my Btudy Is a splendidly penned testimonial from 800 convicts. It is my most treasured possession. The testimonial, which is signed byjWilliam Barrett, who was reprieved from hanging for wife murder, Herbert Leslie, • forger, and William Richards, who was serving a sentence for larceny, reads as follows:— " Eev. Sir, —We, the members of the Church of England in Pentridge, do earnestly desire to testify our regret at the prospect of your departure from us! " Although we wish you a more congenial congregation in a more pleasant sphere, we do heartily assure you that you cannot minister to one where you will be more appreciated, or leave one where you will be more missed. " Further, we sinoerely thank you for your endeavours on behalf of some of us, and trust that you and yours may never fail to find a happy path through life, and friends to wish you, as we do, * God speed.' "