DEATH OF A NOTED CRIMINAL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XLV, Issue 7570, 3 September 1885, Page 2

DEATH OF A NOTED CRIMINAL.

The news of tbe death of Henry Garrett j will be of interest to those who remember i the records of crime in Australia and New | Zealand. He died list bight, aged 72, of i decay of the system; The career of a man j who hAa spent fifty Christmases in gaol was necessarily a etfacgti one j and though a great criminal, there were some points in Garrett’s character which were not un* amiable or altogether bad. It is believed that he was first driven to evil courses by domestic trouble, aud that he began by committing petty offences. His urst lohg sentence was passed in Birmingham in the year 1842, when he was condemned to 10 years’ transportation, and sent to Norfolk Island. In 1355 he committed a most daring bank robbery in Ballarat. The robbery was done in broad daylight. Garrett posted a notice on the bank dodr that it would be closed for an hour, and then entering the buildihg presented a revolver at the beads of the officials. Ho thus managed to take about £6OOO, and escaped with it to London. He was followed thither by a detective from Australia and captured. The detective saw him in the street, and, not being sure of his man, gave a u cooey.” At tbis, Garrett, to whom the sound was familiar, turned round sharply, and the detective, being certain that he was the person sought, took him into custody. On being taken out to Australia he WdS tried, and received a sentence of 10 years. He was present when Mr Price, at one time Superintendent of tho convict establishments in Australia, was murdered by the prisoners. On the breaking out of the digging*, Garrett came over to New Zealand, and distinguished himself by sticking up and tying to trees seventeen men on the road between Dunedin and Gabriel’s Gully. Among the victims was Father Moreau, a French priest, whose memory is held in reverence both In Otago and in this district. When be bad the seventeen tied up and their pockets emptied, like a gentle thief as be was, he made tea for them, and filled and lighted tbe pipes of such as smoked, and rode away, ordering them not to move for two hours. It is stated that there are men now in Wellington who made hia acquaintance on that occasion, and among them possibly a member of Parliament, He seldom, however, long enjoyed tbe fruits of his Industry, and in May, 1562, he was sentenced to eight years’ penal servitude. This sentence he cannot have served to the end, as io 1868 he got one year foe being found with housebreaking tools in his possession, and not long afterwards twenty years for breaking into a shop and stealing valuable good*. He was released in 1882 by special permission, and for a short while devoted himself to literature. He contributed several biographies of gentlemen in hia own way of business in weekly parts to a society journal in Christchurch. The name he wrote under was “Clodhopper,” and among the lives were those of Silas Eli, Frederick Plummer, Robert Butler, and several other practitioners of eminence. They are said to have been exceedingly well done, showing great knowledge of character, and a curious and accurate acquaintance with facts. He also began a life of himself, which, unfortunately for literature, was Interrupted. He was arrested in November, 1882, for being found in a wholesale warehouse with about 40 or 50 skeleton keys in his possession, and received a sentence of seven years, from which he was released by death last night at 12 o’clock. Garrett sometimes called himself Rouse, which the Wellington Gaol authorities believe to have been hia real name. Through all hia career of crime, it is not recorded against him that he once shed human blood, and, like some of the highwayman of old, he never injured or robbed a woman. He was a man who had from hia secluded life read much, and yet at the same time ho had mixed and conversed with men sprung from all positions and of the most curious experiences. Hia memory was good, and ha had a vast fund of information. His name was a hoasehold word at Penfcridge, where he was regarded as a high legal authority. He had studied science as well as law, and was a warm disciple of Mr Darwin, being fully convinced that his principles were fully proved. He was not sound in his religious views, and it is stated he had no belief in God or devil. Shortly before his death, however, there were signs that this was not altogether the case. While in Dunedin and other gaols, Garrett was a most turbulent prisoner. At one time he threatened the life of a gaoler, and was kept in solitary confinement for three years. In Wellington, However, his conduct has been quite different, and for Mr Garvey, tbe Governor of the Gaol, he would do anything. Mr Garvey says he could have trusted Garrett at any time to go a message outside the prison with the certainty that he would return at the appointed hour. He was a capital, industriotn workman, and while he was at Mount cook was found exceedingly useful, doing, while in health the work of three ordinary men. Certain work in connection with tho laying of rails for the gaol tramways ho did particularly well, saving a good deal of money 'to tbe department. To common thieves he had a strong objection, and would never associate with them, holding them in high contempt. Whenever any of those belonging to the humbler branches of his business went to him for advice he sent them away. With all tho prison officials in Wellington he was perfectly well behaved, and he also showed himself amenable to discipline, there never being a complaint aaginst him. On the 10th of last July, Garrett was taken ill, and Mr Garvey, seeing that he required special treatment, recommended his removal from Mount Cook to the Terraco Gaol, where there is a hospital, Mr J, S. M. Thomson, the Visiting Justice, accordingly ordered bis removal, and he has been there ever since. The old man has been treated kindly in his last illness, and as an instance of this Dr Johnson only yesterday afternoon sent him a bottle of wine from his own cellar. Everything, also, that coaid be done has been done by tbe gaoler, warders, and tbe other prisoners. In cold weather be has always been weak for the last eighteen months, bat in fine weather he has always worked. The Ven. Archdeacon Stock has been most kind and attentive to Garrett, who was grateful and attached to him, though the latter never would take part in conversation on religious subjects. Last night Garrett was evidently very ill. He was in bed, and about 7 o'clock ho turned to the wall, and moaned “My God I my God !'* Mr Garvey immediately sent lor Archdeacon Stock, who hurried to the gaol. Though Garrett listened to the Archdeacon with respect, he asked him not to talk of religious matters, as It harassed him. After that he sank fast, and closed bis strange and turbulent life just at midnight.