DREAD OF THE “CAT”

Evening Star, Issue 21931, 18 January 1935, Page 1

DREAD OF THE “CAT”

LEADS TO SUICIDE CONVICTS’ LAST LETTERS IN CELL. Poignant messages found in the cell of Ernest Collins, who was-discovered hanged in his cell at Dartmoor Prison, were read at the inquest at Princetown. The notes were written on a slate and on scraps of paper. Collins, with another convict named Leonard Hollins, escaped last month. They were recaptured after they had held up a motor van and raced towards Exeter chased by warders. Subsequently they were each sentenced to three years 1 ' penal servitude and to receive twelve strokes with the “ eat ” for assaulting the driver of the van. Their appeals were dismissed. The jury returned a verdict of suicide, in accordance with the medical evidence adding a rider: “There is no doubt he was in fear of the punishment that was awaiting him.” “ MY MIND IN AGONY.” One of the letters read by the coroner ran as follows: — “ This is just to say over-here I have been-treated fair. The strain has now finished off my heart. I feel if I live through the beating I would die bfore all the years go by, for I have felt very sharp pains over my heart. “My head goes just like a clock before it strikes, and I shake' awful. . . . The policeman in my head keeps lashing me every night. Please' inform my greatest pal on earth the date of _my funeral. If my head burst lam thinking always of the dearest and best, pal I have ever had. I will try and send her a message from beyond, and hope to meet her there one day. . . .1 cannot rest or sleep. Keep starting up feeling the lash across my body. My mind is in agony. God help me.” Dr J. J. Landers, the prison doctor, said that the cause of death was asphyxia, due to strangulation following hanging. IS FLOGGING BARBAROUS? Summing .up, the Coroner said: It appears here on the man’s own statement that he was suffering very bitterly in mind, especially at the thought of the flogging. That no doubt preyed on his mind to a-great extent! It is open for anybody to suggest that that mode of punishment is too barbarous in these times. On the other hand, some people would say the statement of the deceased and the - fear shown in him absolutely justified that particular form of punishment. However, that is purely a matter of academic discussion.