POSTMAN POOLE'S PLOT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10836, 20 August 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

POSTMAN POOLE'S PLOT.

SIX MONTHS' HARD LABOUR FOR

;|:'•, ■: INCITING TO MURDER. '■''./,./..■ At the Central Criminal Court; a few days ; '.•• ago, before Mr. Justice Grantham, Francis ■': Joseph Poole, a postman, was indicted for ;■ • soliciting, encouraging, and endeavouring to . • persuade Thomas Murphy to murder Annie Poole. The facts were of a peculiar characgjS. ter. Prisoner was a postman in the Southwestern district, with 17 years' service. Ho |i lived with his wife at 10, Claverton-street, H Pimlico. For some time prior to May 27 ,', prisoner and his wife had been living on rather straitened terms. He gave way to drink, and, although he took the pledge, he :.; ' did not keep it. Some time in April he ap- §§• peared to have been flirting with a domestic servant in St. George's Square, W. He had I known the man Murphy about three years. H The evidence went to show that one evening T, prisoner saw Murphy in the Spread Eagle public-house, Grosvenor Road, and confided , to him that he had got a sen-ant girl in trouble, and had given her laudanum and other things with the object of getting her out of it. He asked Murphy for his advice, and he replied that he (prisoner) must put <-/ lip with the consequences of his act. Priso- .> ner became very excited, and according to Murphy, he made a suggestion that the girl should be taker out on the river in a boat and drowned. He afterwards told Murphy ■"■■. that he would sooner have his wife" knocked '.■; -V on the head" instead of killing the girl. He ; m suggested that Murphy might do the deed for him, and he would give him £7. The •'; men had several interviews, and, in a letter v . written by prisoner, he explained how his ;/ wife might be killed under circumstances .".'..-. which would lead to the belief that she had v.-:.- met with a fatal accident. A pair of steps were to be placed in one of the rooms and the woman was to be placed in such a position to look as though she had fallen from the steps V on the edge of a stool. Murphy communi- £■'! , cated with the police at Scotland Yard,' and eventually prisoner was arrested. -.Whilst in Holloway Gaol prisoner wrote a letter to his ; wife, couched in a religious strain," with pro- ... mises to reform, and to give up drink. He added "It was an abominable thing to do, • ' and no doubt my punishment will be great, : but there is One who I know will hold me. up ,; and help me through, Whom I never intend, to desert again, and that is Jesus. Believe :. ' • me, your repentant husband, Frank." . - It was admitted by several of the witnesses '.;. that when prisoner was sober he treated his '..'■ ' ■', wife kindly, and there was no reason to sup- ■ .- pose that he intendeu to injure his wife. ;:.. • Mr. Muir argued that prisoner had no in- ,,'. tention to cause the death of his wife,'and \ \ that his conduct was attributable to mental •;. •;. •aberration, the outcome of drink., i :•' • '■ ' '• '•■■-': , The jury found the prisoner guilty. Mr. '■};■■:. Justice Grantham said the jury had taken a '~ legal and sensible view of the case. Had he _ thought -. that '-, there would have been • the "' slightest chance of the prisoner's intention be- ::,;■';■ ing carried out, he would have sent him to a ' ■ ' long term of penal servitude. He sentenced •.; prisoner to six months' hard labour.':.' - * r ;.V- .-. -' ■'--. ' : '-: '•. ' : :'.'•'•■';■' '■■ '•■•'• , ■'-'. •, >..;..;.,.-/■-;.-. ■•,;••'.-' '.-..• ■■.■• -y .' ' ■-. ?.- :■■■-. :;- '^;.'."--'V.v. a :- ■', :■ \- }J:. ■.'".-■•■. ■ - ;■■'' -■■ i t ,: '-v