PRISONER’S REQUEST

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 May 1925, Page 8

PRISONER’S REQUEST

“FOR HIS OWN GOOD.” The Recorder at the Old Bai-.ey, London, Sir Ernest Wild, was surprised and puzzled last month when a young man of 25, Ernest Furze, pleaded to be sent to penal servitude “for his own good.” “Hard work in the quarries of Dartmoor, ’ he Wanted. Finding that he was in earnest, the recorder sentenced him to three years’ pdnal servitude. The charge against him was that of stealing silver and other articles worth £lOO. I Furze, a slim-built, pale-faced young fellow, who appeared in the dock wearing a smart overcoat, has had a chequered career,'and during the last five years has seen the inside mt a number of prisons. He declared that sending him to a local prison for a long term would be useless, and suggested that hard work in a penal setlement was what he needed. For the prosecution it wasi stated that Furze and a younger man, named O’Brien —dealt with at the last Sessions —had been associated in daring robberies at Reigate and Richmond. Through a small back window they entered a house at Richmond, on New Year’s morning, and got away with a quantity. of silver. In a statement to the police, Furze said that he and O’Brien had been lodging together, and as they were both “down. and out,” they decided to steal. At Reigate they got

into a house through the pantry. Detective-inspector Humphries said that Furze was_the son of a Cornish seaman, and both his parents died when he was still an infant. His father was drowned at sea, and from four years of age he was in an orphanage at Bristol, where he remained until he was 14. He was then placed in a drapery business in Glamorgan, but owing to his wayward 1 conduct was discharged. From, a home at Westminster he was sent to work on a farm in Kent, but here again his bad behaviour and the harmful influence he exercised over the other boys resulted in his being turned adrift. In June, 1917, Furze enlisted, but deserted a few weeks later, and after a few months he again joined the army, this time being attached to the Rifle Brigade. He went to France, where he was wounded, and in 1919 he received his discharge in consequence of unfitness. Four years later he was certified insane, but after 11 months in an asylum his condition improved and he was transferred to Twerton Workhouse and later to Pontypool. Furze then said he would like to go to sea, and a berth was found for him, but he stayed only a few weeks. His next post was as kitchen porter in a London restaurant, but on February 5 he drew his wages and left without notice. Apart from minor offences, he had been convicted for stealing a horse, and several times for stealing bicycles. Once he was sent to prison for 14 days for falsely declaring himself to. be a deserter. He was liberated from prison, after serving his last sen-

fence, last December 21. With regard to his companion, Furze now said, “I am very sorry for him. I led him astray.” The Recorder: You say “Prison has only made a hardened criminal of me,” and you ask me, as a special favour, to give you three years’ hard work in penal servitude. Do you really prefer it? Furze: I do mean it. I prefer that to a long sentence in a local prison, where they would not help me. I have experienced it, so I know. The Recorder: You put me in a very curious position. Furze said when he came out of prison at the end of his sentence the Discharged Prisoners’ Aid Society said they would help him to find work. They gave him half-a-crown and put him up for two days, and he went to places to which they sent him, but failed to get work. Finally, he was told by the officials that as there was no prospect of his getting work they could not go on putting him up, and he was turned away, but he managed to get a job. In' passing sentence, the recorder commented on the fact that prisoner had had “something a little wrong’ with his mind.” “I was falsely certified insane,” interrupted Furze. The Recorder: That’s what all of them say, but I feel that perhaps you are not quite normal. You want penal servitude, with work in the quarries at Dartmoor. I am going to do as you wish, in the sincere hope that the open-air life at Dartmoor will do you good. Prisoner (obviously pleased): Thank you, sir.