VICTORIAN CAUSES CELEBRES.

Press, Volume V, Issue 582, 10 September 1864, Page 2

VICTORIAN CAUSES CELEBRES.

I DruiNGr the last assize? at Melbourne no I* , ?-* \ four person* were arniinged on capital charge?, all ol uiiom woiv CKiiui guilt v"jmd underwent the estrone sentence of the law. the most remarkable of these MK.W celebrss was the trial of a Mr. Harrison for the murder of his partner. Mr Harrison was in business tn Melbourne when, like many another honest fellow, he committed the fVul mistake of allying himself with a person of wholly incompatible disposition. His partner turned out a rogue, robbed him right and left, till Mr. Harrison, unable to bear with it any longer, walked into the counting house pistol in hand, and executed summary justice on the delinquent by shooting him through the heart. The people of Melbourne, however, though tolerably go-a-head for their years, have not attained to the true American standard, and the settlement of a disputed account by the medium of a revolver was received with universal disapprobation. Mr. Harrison, in short, was put upon his trial for murder, and the facts of the case being clearly proved, the jury returned a verdict of guilty. Upon this a very singular scene ensued between "tho prisoner and the judge. The latter, as is the custom with judges, was anxious to improve the occasion, and when passing sentence commenced an address to the prisoner on the enormity of his offence and the remorse with which he uo doubt retlected on the violent act which had hurried a fellow-creature out of the world. The prisoner here interrupted the judge, and politely but firmly assured his Honor that he was entirely under a misapprehension ; that ho (the prisoner) did not admit that he had done anything wrong at all: that he felt no atom ot remorse, and that in his opinion his treacherous partner had got exactly what he deserved. The scandalised judge warmly protested against doctrine so offensive to the judicial mind, and an animated colloquy ensued, in which his Honor got so much the worst of it that he was compelled to abandon his and fall back upon facts—" I will not prolong the discussion ; the sentence of the Court is that you shall be hanged by the neck till you are dead," &c. This was a style of remark to which the disputant in the dock was not likely to find a triumphant rejoinder, and the judge had the satisfaction of terminating the scene master of the situation if not of the argument. Another episode in this singular trial showed that Mr. Harrison was not only an ardent lover of justice, but that he had the interests of society warmly at he*\rt, and had made use of his experience to come out in a character very unusual for persons in his situation, t'nt of qiol reformer. He took occasion to address the Court on the subject of prison discipline, and pointed out tho pernicious effects that must ensue from the custom of allowing the prisoners to mix promiscuously during their hours of recreation, by which the minds of the less hardened became rapidly depraved. He instanced the case of a young man who had got into trouble merely though a defective appreciation of the rights of property when turning over the books of a public library ; yet this voun** , man, who, he assured the Court, was possessed of considerable mental endowments, and calculated in many respects to become an estimable member of society, had been every day thrown into communication with himself, whom, he added with pleasing candour, society would probably consider us a i murderer. We regret to say that the result of this s touching appeal has not been mentioned in any report of the trial that lias come under our notice. The interest attending this case was very great. ' during its progress aid has been kept up by an event which occurred after its termination. Mr. Harrison's , imperturbable demeanor throughout the whole proceedings, and his resolute maintenance of the theory that his partner having cheated and plundered him he had a strictly moral, though perhaps not legal, • right to revenge himself in the way he had done, induced many persons to entertain the belief that he was not quite right in his mind. The Melbourne journals took the matter vp —of course taking oppo- ' "ite Fides —and while Mr. Harrison was waiting the i execution of his sentence, the question of his sanity was being ably debated by editors and correspondents. The idea was started that possibly an examination of the culprit's brain 3 might aid in solving the difficulty, 1 and a certain eminent doctor, catching eagerly at ! the notion, hastened to the prison and begged Mr. Harrison to leave him a legacy of his brains for scientific purposes. Mr. Harrison expressed himself ! ready to do anything to further a scientific cause, and kindly complied with the request. Accordingly, when the day arrived, the expectant legatee hastened to the lecture room of the Medical College, impatient to commence his investigations, when imagine his dis--1 may at finding the room occupied by a rival surgeon in the midst of an eloquent discourse to a crowd of admiring students — the subject of his lecture, Mr. Hiirrison'a braine Aghast at the sight, he rushed to the table, and a fierce ' altercation followed between the two savants. " Sir," says the first doctor, " what are you about; what do you mean by this ? these are my brains." " No, indeed, Sir, replies the other, "they are nothing of the kind ; they are my brains." " Sir," retorts the first, 1 " I tell you they are my brains ; Mr. Harrison rave them to mc himself." Admire the astuteness oi the reply. " Mr. Harrison, Sir, was a felon ; a felon has no property, and Mr. Harrison's brains, therefore, were not his to give." Legal subtlety triumphed over science, and the crestfallen doctor was forced to abandon his prize, and console himself as best he might with the prospect of contradicting and deriding every conclusion which his fortunate rival might venture to draw from his piratical inspection of Mr. Harrison's brains. 1 Another of these cases which has given rise to a i great deal of newspaper discussion is that of a man named Woods, who was condemned to death for bank robbery. Woods was one of a party who, as our • readers will recollect, entered and attempted to rob the bank at Castlemaine, but failing in , the attempt fell into the clutches of the police. Mr. Edward Wilson, the proprietor of the Argus, conceived the idea that a life of this worthy, if ' written in a graphic and sporting style, would have an i excellent, effect m increasing the sale of his paper ; . and as Woods happened to have pressing occasion for the sum of £20, a bargain was quickly struck between 1 them. The most accomplished sensation writer on the staff of the Argus was forthwith despatched to the ■ condemned cell, and there the two labored assidu- • ously at their task for several days ; Woods supplying the raw material, and the reporter working it up into a high-flown sensational romance. The memoir when ' completed was pronounced a masterpiece—a happy • combination of the Calender and Dumas fils —spicy and high-flavored, and not without start- ' ling revelations aa to the conduct of certain well- ! known public functionaries ; it was evident that the ; sale would be immense, and that the £20 would turn out a most lucrative investment. But unfortunately ! for Mr. Wilson's hopes the reporter committed the oversight of leaving his manuscript within the gaol, 1 and the Colonial Government hraring of what was ' going on, and judging that the projected publication would be more profitable to Mr. Wilson's banker's i account than to the morals of Victorian youth, laid , their hands on it, and disregarding; all entreaties and threats retained it in their possession. In the mean- : time the purchase money had been paid ever and I spent, and Mr. Wilson was left minus both hia present £20 and his whole crop of prospective profits. The point of the joke lies in the fact that Mr. 1 Wilson is a vehement opponent to transportation, on the ground that. Victoria is contaminated by the . escape of felons from the penal settlements of West Australia, and has repeatedly alluded to this man Woods as a specimen of convict scoundrelism in its 1 most rampant form ; yet in order to sell a few extra editions of his piper he had no scruple about scattering over every part, of the colony as exciting an account of the convict's career as it was possible to have written. He has a keen perception of the difference between a live bushranger who would rob him of his purse, and the same man, fairly hanged out of the way, whose notoriety may be made useful for filling it. In spite of Solomon, a living d<»g is ; sometimes less tlnu a dead lion. The money thua obtained might b: dirty, but it was good solid cash, and that was enough. Xon o!:!. Dutpcrlnps

lit wouUi W mrv ehirifuble to .-ourule y>ut Mr Wilson is a gentle minded m.-m fon-ed l>y lmiH-n..,:-----rluty into advo-Jitinsj harsh measures t.iose uniortnnnfe convii-tsl for wV..-»sc repwiation ho tlnWess f,.els n ton.lor r.'iTiircl. ITis v. nuo.-inco w.-irs not with the d«id ; hke Othello, lio kills them, and loves them after. The Aiyii* beeotnes at oneo their executioner and their hUtoriun ; it {lives them over to the death in its leading articles, but, justice thus annexed, gladly devotes its remaining columns to ; erecting n monument to their memory. I