A SERIOUS OFFENCE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 208, 27 May 1908, Page 8

A SERIOUS OFFENCE.

ESCAPING FROM custody. -. REMARKS BY JUDGE EDWARDS. (BI TELEGRAMI.— SrECIAIi CORBESPONDENT.) Auckland, May 26. At tho Supremo Court this morning, be- -' fore Mr. Justice Edwards, William Smith, alias Archer, whoso daring leap from tho train whilst lie was being conveyed from tho Waiotapu prison camp to Auckland has earned for him considerable notoriety, entered tho dock to receivo sentence for escaping from custody. Ho said "I should liko to.say that during tho time of my captivity I have been trying to do my utmost in tho way of conducting myself. I might say that after a period of eighteen months in Auckland I was recommended by the gaoler (Mr. I'oynton) to bo transferred to New Plymouth, and after my stay at New Plymouth of six months I was then- recommended by the gaoler (Mr. Millmgton) to the Waiotapu prison camp, and would willingly have remained there." His Honour: Did Mr. Millington know for what crime you wero serving sentence? * Prisoner: I think so, sir. His Honour: Of course you haven't forgotten you tried to shoot the constablo twice, and but for his presence of mind you would have shot him?. You very nearly did. , I' 1 soijor: I think, your Honour, you looked at the wrong side of that case. If your Honour would consider the ease you would see that I had no intention to do any grievous bodily harm to him. His Honour: Why did you start out with a tuliy-loadod revolver tlion? Prisoner: ]; did not get possession of the revolver until 1 got into that place. ? Honour: However, you wero recommended to go to WaiotapUj and wore being brought back when you escaped. Why did you escape? What justification had'you? 1 risonor: I was being sent back under no provocation whatever, and when I got into the train I saw in the papers an agitation about prisoners being sent to Waiotapu at an early period of their sentence, and considered it was unfair considering that 1 was doing ! my best to got through my sentence as peacefully and as quietly as I possibly could. I was so worked up with annoyance that I did not know, what I was doing. I thought I would try and prove to the public at large that I could resist any temptation whatever, and during my 'four days of liberty you could see that I could resist temptation, because had ' I any intention of doing anything I had an opportunity of doing it then. I would like your Honour to look at tho circumstances and tho way I have been driven to a certain extent to escape. I would npt have escaped had I been left at Rotorua,' becauso I ,had no intention of doing SO. "• His Honour: A prisoner cannot chooso his own lodgings, you know. He has to go where he is taken. Prisoner: I should .like your Honour to reconsider my case again. If you think I have undergono sufficient punishment and reformed sufficiently, I hope'you will 'bo ablo to bring about.something which would tend to hasten my release if you think I am de- • serving of it. 'In sentencing prisoner to an extra year's imprisonment, His Honour remarked: You were obviously a person most dangerous to tho community, and 'accordingly tho sentenco of the Court was 'that you should be secluded from the community for a considerable period, and it is quite'certain that you ought to be kept' in strict custody during that time because'you are a person dangerous to , the How- you'got to Waiotapu -1 don t know. It doesn't rest with-mo, or, depend upon it, you never would havo got. there. I am not consulted about such matters. You got through owing to indulgence, and wero brought back to Auckland which appears to bo the only sensible thing connected;-with your visit to Waiotami. On the way you jumncd from' a train while it was going probably forty to fifty miles an hour, risking your ■ own life in doing so. I am not going, to punish you-for. that, but tho fact that you hold your own life at such small value, coupled with tho further fact that you wore convicted of a> very' serious crime, shows that you aro a person, who has .10 due respect for human lifo. -If v you value your own life so lightly, is it likely von would 'havo any great consideration for tho lifo or others? Your escape was a serious -offence beyond a doubt, and, of course, vou must' be punished. I desire to lot it bo'known that I shall treat every attempt to esoapo from' Waiotapu as a serious offenco.