MERCY SHOWN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 267, 10 November 1937, Page 10

MERCY SHOWN.

PRISONERS RELEASED.

SYDNEY KILLINGS RECALLED.

THE «STILETTO MURDER."

(From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, November 5. The Executive Council last week exercised the prerogative of mercy on behalf of two prisoners—John Dillon, aged 27, who hae spent moat of the bust 10 year* on the Emu Plains prison farm, and Frederick Carmody, aged 49, who was released from the Bombala afforestation camp arter serving 18 years. Both men have been exemplary prisoners, obedient, industrious andeelf-respecting; both men have now the confidence and ceteem of the visiting clergymen and many of the gaol officials; and in both cases there were circumstances associated with their sentences which certainly seem to justify the exceptional measure of clemency that they have received.

Carmody is now in his fiftieth year. I Sixteen year* ago, an active young man i of 33, he was in Sydney, and he became associated with men of an undesirable and dangerous type, such as frequented] the sly-grog shop kept by "Old Peter" j Monaghan in Surry Hills. The place was run by the old man, hi* stepdaughter and two sons who acted the part of "chuckers-out" whenever required. On a Saturday night (June 18, 1921), the little place was full of a motley crowd of gangsters and their women friend* when trouble arose. One "Ja<nt the notorious in the part of a "stand over'* man, as he would now be called, attempted to extort money from a gambler, and the two Monaghan boys hurled him through the doorway into Campbell Street. - Evening Callers. Next evening a knock came to Monaghan'* door, a number of men entered, seized the old man and threatened him with instant death for attacking "Jack the Barman" the previous day. Th* old man protested, the atepdaughter called for help, and One ot the Monaghan boys vaulted the fence and rushed to his father's aid.

Someone fired at "old Peter" and miesed, but another shot vm beard and young Monaghan fell. The group then dissolved into its constituent part* and melted away. A policeman off duty at the corner of Goulburn Street saw a number of men race past him, and recognised one as Fred Carmody. When he got to the grog shop he found young Peter dead and the old man and the girl raving against his murderers. It «u easy to find and arrest Carmody. He was identified in a line-up by the Monaghans, but they were fiercely resentful and determined to take vengeance on someone. The police —Inspector Lynch had charge of the case—had this against Carmody, that he had been seen in the company of one of the most desperate criminals in Australia. Carmody had a good alibi —two reputable men swore that he Was drinking elsewhere with them at the fatal hour—and Mr. R. D. Meagher, the famous barrister. Who defended him, always maintained that he was innocent. A "Model" Prisoner. The jury, however, thought otherwise and Carmody was convicted and sentenced to death. Later he was reprieved and now, after 16 years in goal, he has been released, chiefly on the around that the authorities have alwava had some reasonable doubt about his guilt. He has been a "model" prisoner; and his attachment to his 'mother, who, Sfi years old, has been long awaiting his release, is obviously sincere. He | seems to be a straightforward eort of man —dubious and apprehensive about all the changes that have taken place in the world since he left it. He admitted to the "Sunday Sun" reporter who

saw hinl just before his release that he would be "pretty frightened of people and things—especially trams'." Fortunately he is "well off" as the result of a number of legacies that have fallen to his lot in .recent years, and he can look forward to peace and comfort for the rest of his life. The other "ticket of leave" case is even sadder and more tragic. For all who knew Woolloraooloo and Darlinghurst a decade back, the night of May 13, 1931, was made for ever memorable by the "stiletto murder." Early that evening three men stood arguing in the darkened doorway of a William Street shop. One of them suddenly stepped out on to the pavement and without a cry fell forward on his face—dead. Two young men ran out into the night and hurried from the spot, and one of these was Jack Dillon. Criminal Stabbed.

The police got the alarm and soon recognised the dead man. He was "Scotty" McCormack, young in years, but old in vice and crime. Dillon had known him only too well, for McCormack had some sort of hold over Dillon's mother, who kept a "residential" in Darlinghurst. Mrs. Dillon had been terrorised and robbed by McCormack till her life had become a burden to her, and her son promised himself to avenge her. At first the police had great difficulty in discovering the precise cause of death. I for there was only a very amall punctured wound to guide them, hut the doctors found that the dead man's heart was pierced. A long bag needle used for stitching hales of wool had been driven into the victim's chest. This "stiletto murder" was, naturally, a nine-days' wonder at "the Cross" and on "the Too," and at the inquest and the trial an even more romantic element was introduced into the tragedy. The police, knowing of McCormack's association with Mrs. Dillon, arrested her son and one of his companions turned "King's evidence." Under cross-examination Dillon was asked if he knew Marie Eugene— then and for years after " the most beautiful bad girl in Sydney." Dillon knew her, but denied that he had ever taken any special interest in her. All the underworld knew that Marie Eugene was McCorma«&'s "girt," and she was more faithful to him than he deserved. On that fatal evening she sat waiting for him in a picture theatre. Jealousy Denied. The police believed that jealousy of McCormack led Dillon to lull him, but this Dillon and his friends always denied. The jury, feeling doubtless that McCormack deserved his fate, refused to bring in a verdict of murder, and after they had disagreed and a second jury brought in a verdict of manslaughter only, Dillon was sentenced to 13 years" imprisonment. He has served only half his term and now he is to regain his freedom. For this remission he has to thank his own determination to "go straight" and the loyalty and devotion of one faithful friend. In his cell he hung a pennant bearing his school motto on the wall and below it he placed the portraits of his mother and the girl—not Marie Eugene—to whom he had pledged his heart. Every Saturday —"visitors' day" —for six years she took the long journey from Sydney to Emu Plains, carrying little presents for Dillon and encouraging nim to hope for a happier future. Dillon responded to her loyaltv. He became "the perfect prisoner." lie never complained, he never asked for concessions, and he put all the energy and ability that he possessed into any work set before him.

Dillon's manliness, his fine bearing and his habitual courtesy, "made a great impression," we are told, "on the prison officials," who, like the gaol chaplain, caine to believe implicitly in the man and in his determination to lead a new life when the prison gates should open. At last he has his freedom, he is married to the girl who waited for him at the prison door, and he has already written to the governor of the gaol and to the Minister of Justice thanking them gratefully for the consideration that they have shown him and for the opportunity they have given him to "start again" with every hope of happiness and peace.