JABEZ BLAFOUR'S RELEASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13193, 2 June 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

JABEZ BLAFOUR'S RELEASE.

' 5790 DAYS AND NIGHTS IN PRISON. - STORY OF THE FRAUDS. ' V ' ; V INTERESTING DETAILS. I;*"--: ; Thjo long-expected release of Jabez Bal;v, four took place at Park buret, Prison, in T;l'}'r the Isle of Wight, on Saturday morning, n April 14. The proceedings were conducted i' ; 'y 1 with: great secrecy, aud the' actual date of fej . the event was known only to the governor himself, Captain Connor. - t'n-' Oil that morning Mr." Balfour rose at |f;'\ f - the usual hour,, five o'clock, proceeded ■ with the execution of the ordinary tiusk of, preparing the cell for the day, and &**/• ' then started upon the voluntary clerical £•' . work in which he had, been for some time ■ engaged in connection with the prison jV library. ■ 1 l|p'f' 4 ■ Immediately after the hour for the pri- §&# » soil breakfast an official entered the cell and informed Mr. Balfou. that he was if' wanted .in the governor's office, to which ir-y', be instantly repaired! It was then that I'Vk' "' • the first intimation of freedom*—after exactly .3790 days' incarceration—was- con- % veyed" to him by the chief warder, who inlIP' 1 ' I ,' formed him that his clothes (meaning his |iV ' • ordinary apparel of outdoor life) were in §|! the next room, and he could go and change. As soon as lie had done this - and Said good-bye - lor ever to the hideous prison & garb, Mr. Balfour went to the ■ governor's f-' "i room, where the . governor informed him , 1 « that his release would take place then and f ' there. • Mr. Baltour thanked the governor, p- > ( who told him the formal "conditions of his I", release.. - Captain Connor expressed his 1 " satisfaction.) with Mr. Balfour's ' conduct, If'. '■ shook hands with him. and said he "hoped• fik!"< ho should never see ■ him again. ,;/■ , . \ ■ , .t. . TWELVK YEARS IN" GAOL. V, As a matter of .fact, the prisoner had Ife. ' earned- every - single ' mark possible to be . <,'■ earned in "the period, and the Government wity". made no concession whatever in releasing ft him on 14, .' inasmuch as : he had W V seryed all but. thirty-six days of the orifU'il; '• dinary term. As is generally known, he Bp * waif, six months 111 confinement prior to §£, being, tried and sentencedhis actual term U* of imprisonment being nearly eleven years, i and " r taking into f account the time he was % „ ;'h incarcerated in South America it exceeded more, than twelve years. . Wearing a dark overcoat, a dark-grey |;' I suit, and a soft felt hat, Mr. Balfour left K 1; the prison, where outside the gates a cary riage, containing his son and daughtcr-in-law, was waiting. '' To 'them .previous in--1 ' timatiou of ' the release had been conveyed ' by'the -Home Office authorities. The party ' provided "at once'to Yarmouth (Isle of I; . Wight), and took the' quarter to nine boat Bjgjfi -. toCLymington,' none of. them being recogpPlif < ni'sed by more than one or two persons at I"*?,.''' the-most. &',j ".- Arriving at Lymipgi m they left by , the M ' ordinary train for London, 'but .alighted at Ip;', " Basingstoke, ?to which station a' friend had gj * despatched a motor-car. . I', , , ' " HIS PRISON" TEAMS. • - mm Mr. .Balfour has been engaged in the fe . following * tasks Mailbai'-sewing, shoe--1 , making, and ;in the tinsmiths' shop at Port-||^';--'.j'Slan(l. ,M Since his removal to Parkhurst he Ipfe- '(, - worked *in the . tailors' shop, the printers' ' chop, and for the last eighteen' months p ' • ' had,the very heavy and responsible manual wj -work of delivering the books in the prison W\ library to some 800 readers, visiting in the y-' -course of each week "every cell in the pri- , eon, and having to do his 1 best,'under the. supervision of a warder, to supply each »>V.sv'y .-prisoner with the book he required. ,**.• TO t< 'Statements have been- made to -the effect, ®|^i|thl^ihe'; ; ex-M:P;vfor.-. Burnley found' the' I?;. life of ■' t'ne-prisdn pleasurable father than' otherwise. -As a matter of fact, it is well \ known that up to within the last two years ||| li« 'did not anticipate surviving the ordeal f" through'which he was passing, and he had g, 1 ,, written to his' friends celling them they ®^:^||^^/Jria^ht' i not^expeCt , to see him again. Since |fes; then his"health'has somewhat improved. fi , , - aad the-congenial library work and thft? early hope of release served to raise Hi': , his spirits/' *and it • is- openly stated by ' those who > have , recently come in contact f- 1 with him: that he is physically, and: mentally V ' stronger, than .when he entered upon his §'. ' prison life over .ten years ago, after the *l"t , harassing anxieties of his trial. ||p|l|spi^ : is believed by many of the prison officials that he is bent .on an earnest desire ?J,f. ' , to restore himself in some measure to a j position in the world, and, it is known Ipf' 1 that' Tie""has some , project in view, ; but its mty nature has not been disclosed. During ' !; his imprisonment •he ' made ; himself a ; master, HBS<, of Spanish, and was constantly appealed' Ell I to by his fellow-prisoners for instruction in jji%;Spanish and French.' j;:'/ fi* " , He once told "a visitor with evident satis2K* ' " * faction How he saved a fellow-convict from wOf'fJ «. madness. - The men are allowed -on Sundays to converse as they marcli round the ff&V''! exercise yard. Mr. Balfour. spoke to a man jsUgijjl"who f looked -depressed- and ■ who confessed ■ |> * that he was fast losing his reason. Iw'lfipl "I was like''you' at-.first," he said;-.." but W'ii* ' I set .myself to learn Spanish. This saved • fef me, and now lam fairly proficient. I mi]' .know French also. • Let •me teach you ipf: : French, and it will have you." >'•> j; * 7 The other "prisoner became a willing pupil M'during the .weekly. conversational lessons, and. was grateful to -Mr. Balfour for his timely aid. : - - - , .. - . ' While-, professing the deepest regret at '''-J the circumstances attending the failure of SgPfSifc,- 1 his projects and the suffering caused therefefj • by, no; maintains that he himself has suf■,t " '■ fered as much as anyone, that he re-enters Si m - the world" practically, penniless,..and at the age of-sixty-three, after an activ® and inrnf dustrious life, has to commence to earn t; ; his bread again. THE RISK AND KALI. OF axmz BALFOUR, : fef ' Jabes'Balfour worked himself up from a St"'*."', lowly position by great ability, engaging j§P; address, and the power of winning ad§p,' c, herents in almost every rank of life. K ' Ife is to the present day- a question whe- §-! ' ther. the business itoumen displayed in some 4, of his - transactions- -has- not: been ? justified ityu ' by the success of undertakings that rose fi V 11 on the ruins -left, by him. Many financial I" experts think that had •• the discovery of Wt > his methods been deferred for a few months §. one of the greatest crashes in financial hisr ■ tory would.never have . occurred.<*>r: He was. the son of - a marine store-dealer,.. iJ, I-''.';' who had a small post under Government >V connected with the- Committee <of Ways and Means. f Acting as his- father's assistants I*. > ' Jabez,-Balfour took .his first steps in busifeijlKli' 'ness.- t For. some- years he was clerk, to a %X • •' firm of .Parliamentary agents, which gave , I him. insight into the larger ways of com-.: I' merce and enterprise. . ' , FIRST OF TUB ' LIBERATOR GROLU*. | ■', At the age of twenty -five *he started his first company, which, when" incorporated in '• 1867. as the Lands Allotment Company, be-i-t'" cam® the pioneer of the Liberator . group. ;-V . -' The object*. .Were .to. purchase and deal in; (fe I, 1 lands ; 'and buildings, and ,'to.: raise and • lend. ' money oh mortgage. It continued, so far t, ': as evidence - .at the trial went, to make profits down to 1880. - ' • In 1868 the Liberator war .formed as ,a * '■ building society 011 a vast scale. The k-.C;'. House and Land Investment Trust ; was started in.. 187,5., By 1879 the Liberator llll^tfiiWas'.-a creditor .'to the.two other concern!, for the'sum of £192,000. , His growing name' as a Napoleon' of i '> finance brought Jabrz Balfour into Parlia|f|||l||||nient: in 1880 as the representative" of Tamf worth. After 1886 he sat for Burnley. ')•- *} J . Rarely has thero been a more popular niemI ber. .He, was unwearied in attention to I'.,"' Parliamentary business; " he was a, bluff, ' j hearty sneaker, who was readily listened ■to t , all sides, and lie was the ■ idol ■of iPijtofflNS', constituents.'' " ' Time . and purse were 'f -'; ever at their service. " ' K'. , Accepted everywhere as .a man of wealth HHw; he found ready response to bis hospitality, I while his preaching and piety were endors- , ed in public estimation by the schools, orphanages, -hospitals, churches, and Home K-, 'and foreign'missions' that he founded, built, p . or maintained. , BUILT Till-; HOTEL CECIL*. With, all this extraordinary financing there-was •of course.-some genuine ' work ft* ■; done, among the buildings erected being the j® . Hotel Cecil - and the fine block known as Whitehall • Court. The Hotel Cecil stood IS in the books at £700,000, but the Official, H;s> ' Receiver declared , that at the time of ffilv »' liquidation he. would have been glad .to sell it fgr £400,000. ... . . It was towards the end of 1893 that the fe-; crash came, and with it revelations of bogus balance-sheets, dividends that Mere

never earned, and reckless administration of a most amazing order. Balfour's codirectors declared that they had trusted implicitly in him, and accepted without, reservation the statements that he placed l>efore them. -In order to avoid arrest Balfour fled to the Argentine, but three of his coadjutors were put 011 trial and sentenced to terms of penal servitude. ■■In - January, 1894, he was arrested at Buenos Ayres. It was not until 1895, however, that his extradition, was arranged, and 011 May 6 of that- year he was brought up at Bow-street Police Court. The most extraordinary stories of Balfour's adventures in the Argentine were current at the time. It was said indeed that the train in which he was brought from Salta to Buenos Ayres was pursued by horsemen, among them being Balfour's legal representative, who frantically waved documents and shouted that he hud legal warrant lor the prisoner's further detection at Salta. , At Bow-street Balfour's happy and healthy appearance > surprised those who were in court. An eye-witness stated atthe time that " his face beamed with smiles, and his little daik eyes twinkled merrily during the time he was in the dock.'' THE COLL.U'SE. On September 2, 1892, the London and General Bank and the Liberator Building Society suspended payment. The crash enveloped the others. The total liabilities of-the group were £8,360,000,' and the assets were supposed to be £3,000,000, a.loss of nearly s>', millions. Jabez' Balfour took to flight, but Hobbs and Newman, the builders, and Wright, a solicitor, were tried and sentenced to various terms of penal servitude. By way of Calais and Genoa Balfour reached Buenos Ayres, and settled in a villa in the Argentime as Samuel Butler. There was then no extradition treaty, but- he did not feel safe, so he went up country to Salta, and bought a brewery. Then the Government overcame the difficulty of extradition, and-,in January. 1894, two. years after the smash, lie was lodged in gaol in Buenos Avres." Formalities, costing £8000, and a twelvemonths' delay, intervened before he stepped ashore 1 *11 charge of Inspector -Freest at Southampton 011 May 6, 1895. On t November 28, 1895, after a trial extending over twenty-three days, Mr. Justice Bruce sentenced him to fourteen years' penal servitude. FIRST IMPRESSIONS. The secret had been well kept. As the long night and tardy dawn of the Saturday moaning dragged : themselves out only 0110 person in that hard world of Parkburst knew that I might'be free that day, one only out of the thousand men (prisoners and officers) in that cruel home of weariness—Captain Connor, the stern but kindly governor. -His. chief prisoner surmised and expected it. I had not slept. The brain that had calculated again and again the years; the months, the days, and even the hours refused to obey in the hour of climax. These last moments, from four to five, when the prison awakened to another mechanical day, seemed like months. Was it true? Would not something go amiss? Had not disappointment •' accrued upon disappointment? Was I dreaming? I dressed mechanically in my prison clothes. I set machine-like upon the cleaning of my cell and the making of, my bed. I recommenced a clerical task with which I have killed dull times for a month past. •*' "Balfour, you are'wanted in the office." The office is the governor's place of business. I got there, whether by walking or by flying I know not. The chief warder faced me, repressing a sympathetic look, and saying calmly, "'Your clothes are in the next room. Put them on." . They' were strange garments to me. Clothes with pockets and braces, and boots that fitted easilyclothes that were not ridiculous.' I jumped at them and dressed with difficulty. - ."Good-bye; God bless you." "And you, my dear friends." " And may we never see you here again." , , . •My son waited without. We passed from,out- the angular buildings; the great gates with double locks (and keys chained to the men that guarded them) were opened and shut behind me. I was dazed and lost, but the fear of .the reporter awakened me,, and ere I. knew what as passing I was seated., beside ,my : dear ones,..on one of .the finest mornings .in a carriage, driving I knew not. whither, but free, free, free! ~ A thousand movements of the mind affected me. Perhaps it was not true—then the horses jibbed arid refused to turn a corner. I was overcome by a crise -.les rierfs. My . children reassured inc. We passed through smiling and flower-starred fields as, in a .dream to a steamboat at Yarmouth. It- was still early, but the boat had many people on it, free people, people idly chatting, people* reading what i had not seen in years—newspapers—people idly smoking, odd-looking people , I thought them; and the''"women were strangely dressed, with enormous hats," and.-'looking taller than I had imagined woman to be. Little things took me back years, forgotten phases of life recurred. Then we were in a dense crowd at a railway stationriot really a crowd, I daresay, but the world seems so crowded here outside," and then we were in a train. Life is full of disappointment. I liad in thosfe never-to-be-forgotten hours been alternately elated. ;ad, regretful, merry, and now I seemed weak' of spirit and faint and ill. Food was pressed upon me, a. little bovril, and I recovered. - Then I remembered that' I had riot been able to touch the prison breakfast, - arid had lived on excitement for "eighteen hours. "" "■ So far my children's plans for avoiding newspapers had been well laid. We had been observed, though not, we thought, watched. Hundreds of journalists were planning- to find me, and in vain. And yet I now know that we had been followed by reporters. Still we beat them. We had tickets for London. We alighted at Basingstoke, after a journey of questionings as to the outside world of friends— dead, alas!—of news, a first read of a newspaper after I know not how many years, a feeling of joy and of thankfulness that I had been spared to see that day. . , . writing; A hook. When asked by. a reporter whether lie had no desire to.walk and go about Mr. ■Balfour said, "Not yet. .My mind revolves round the book I am writing." Here are' some of the. chapters which he •Ims written in his mind: — From Wealth- to Poverty. How It.Feels' To Be Arrested.. 7 Behind the Scenes at a ({'real Trial. Real Friends and Sham Friends. , The-Sentence. • ' ■ ' - ■ What.-Imprisonment Means. First Peep at Penal Servitude. - • Horrors ot the Silent System. - ■* The Initiation at Wormwood Scrobb's. Are There Mary Innocent Men. in Prison A Study of Murderers. The Gentleman Prisoner. Escapes and Attempts Thereat. . Secret Communications -to • the Outer World. , :..■••• v ~. -, " 'The Sex Question. Prison Dietary. ' Warders and Their Ways. - . Why Convicts Go Mad. Crimes Hatched in Prison, < - Prison Farms. . When interviewed the Rev. Stockwell Watts; .secretary of the Liberator relief fuiid, said lie knew "nothing of Mr. Balfour's resources or intentions, but he understood the Home Secretary had refused permission for him to reside -abroad—presumably in Argentina. He had also seen it stated that Mr. Balfour intended writing a history of his prison life and the Liberator case, and giving the proceeds to the victims, of whom there are still a thousand 011 the relief fund, andmore coming on.' • 1 .