"DESPERATE MEN."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 224, 22 September 1938, Page 20

"DESPERATE MEN."

■ LONG GAOL TERMS. STABBING AFFRAY SEQUEL. JUDGE'S STRONG COMMENT. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, September 15. It matters little to the Tictim whether he is shot with a gun or stabbed with a knife, but there seems to be an innate rcpulsiniis)among British people those who used the knife as a weapon. This sulx-onscious feeling probably influenced Judge Markell when, at the Quarter Session* thin week, he handed! out a sentence of 10 years' iniprison--I'ient to C'h«irles Frederick Madden, 28, and John Thomas Harvey, 32, on throe charges—(l) Of having demanded money with menaces, and (2) of having maliciously wounded two men. One of the wounded men, James Samuel Young, admitted that he had been carrying on S.P. betting es a sideline and it was after he had refused to pay 4/ to the two men that the affair occurred. Young was looking out of the kitchen window of his home in the) industrial suburb of Waterloo when Madden and Harvey came up. Madden had hi* right hand in his coat pocket. He said to Young, "(Jive me 4/ or I'll clean \<>n up." When Young refused to hand oxer the money. Madden whipped bin rijjht hand out of his pocket, revealin? that he had a knife, and pinned Young's left hand with it to the window Bill. No Provocation. It was stated by Young that after Madden and Harvey had been charged he aaw Madden, who asked him to "break it down" with the polices and suggested that ho would know what to do if they were put into a lino-op. The other man who had hocn wounded, Edward Charles Perry, was described as "the cockatoo" for Young in bis BJ*, betting business. Perry saM that without provocation from him Madden said to him, "A man ought to Idek yonr bead off," and then stabbed him in the chest with the knife. Detective Lament said that when he told Madden that he would be charged, Madden replied, "You can charge me with what you like, but I want a lineup. Yon know there is no one in Redfern who will pick me out." The detective described both prisoners as a menace to society and said Madden was a reputed gunman and gangster. On three occasions within three years, Detective Lamont said. Madden had been charged with shooting with intent to murder, but neither the victim* nor other witnesses would come forward for fear of the consequences from Madden's associates. Before passing sentence Judge Markell said he could not distinguish between the prisoners. Both were desperate men and a grave menace to all peaceful citizens. Actually the men were each sentenced to 13 years, but as the judge ordered that three years be served concurrently the total effect of the sentence was 10.