A MAYOR'S NEST.

NZ Truth, Issue 160, 11 July 1908, Page 5

A MAYOR'S NEST.

THE CHARITY CRAZE.

McCarthy Wanted a Cornet.

Now He Gets Nothing at All.

Christchurch "Press," which clucks indistinctly for Fat. with the staid respectability of an elderly hen, has discovered a mayor's nest, m the case of the blind man McCarthy, whom Christchurch and Timaru and surrounding districts have been falling over each other m their eagerness: to help financially. McCarthy is blind ; there is no auestion of that ; his eye sockets are empty and oity-stirrin* m appearance: and when he went to the Mayor of Timaru and asked him to head a subscription, the proceeds of which would enable the afflicted person to buy a cornet. : that stupid functionary immediately headed the list and drew attention to the. dreadful . case without making adequate inquiry. Timaru "Post.' gasping, for advertisement as a public, benefactor opened a subscription list, and Chrisfxshurch "Press,?' pantin." for the limelight, also invited the philanthropic to send money along. This undue publicity alarmed McCarthy, >who said he didn't want any money, ; BUT MERELY A CORNET, wherewith; to soothe the savage heart aji the street corner and earn a charitable, copper thereby; but this coyness was mistaken for the modesty of a noble arid afflicted spirit, and . subscriptions were invited with greater enthusiasm ■ than ever/ arid the^ newspapers arid: the -Mayor .'■ were gratified m that they filled the public eye and acted as vehicles for the public, beneficence. -McCarthy was; plied with questions about the accident which. • deprived him of his sight and about his family affairs/ but shrank from giyitig particulars which he had good ■ reasons, (imperilling the chance of getting I(Ue cornet) for concealing. Finally, he ac-' kriowledged a wife and' three children, two' of which were boarded out at Alfbrd Forest; also, he was > a cabine.tr maker and had . lost his sight by running into a door while carrying a bath. The subscription went considerably rast the ' cornet' stage; as they climbed steadily to over £200, Mark McCarthy betrayed evidence of considerable alarm, which washeightened by the failure to. find the two children m Alford Forest. McCarthy- then intimated that, he didn't /want .the money, and offered to retire m his capacity as , central figure iri the hiin-o advertisement for sundry small persons. " The dignity of these" i^nnle was at stake; however, and McCarthy was simply surrounded by eager questions as to^his. history ,ahd antecedents, and- be wrote calmly' to. the papers,. , deprecating the inquisitive search into 1 his private' affairs, and confirming the published statement .that he couldn't take the moriev\ but if. as had been suggested, the cash wejre invested for his benefit m a small shop, he would have no objection to taking possession of the same.. At the same time, he. regretted that his sufrjrested .purchase of a cornet as a suitable means of obtaining a livelihood bad Tie^n overlooked. Then the police came forward and produced McCarthy's record, v which, reveals him to, be an egg of the most rotten and objectionable kind. . HE HAD DESERTED HIS WIFE AND - .)■■ i. "' : ■•.■'.- CHILD •.-" '■■' ;■■ ■.-•■ : under exceptionally brutal circumstances some years ago, and he, was now thejsubject of at prohibition order issued m. the Auckland district. There were, eight previous convictions m his hame, mostly for serious offences, the last one carrying;, with; it eighteen months' imprisonment m Mount Eden Gaol. It was here that McCarthy lost his eye-sight m a blasting accident, and bis evasive replies and un-' true explanations of his affliction were thereupon explained. It turned out, also* that' the woman consorting- with i McCarthy was riot his wife, but the mother of v. ten.; children who infested, the Auckland district; nor was the young child m the house McCarthy's-. The horror of, the' sordid discovery overwhelmed the pious m Christchurch and Timaru, , arid the newspapers which 'had been using McCarthy to climb into public prominence wore sackcloth and- ashes for several issues 'and' 'bowed m humiliation before their censorious readers; also, they bitterly reproached the Mayor of Timaru for. neglecting to make proper inquiries, and the Mayor blamed McCarthy. Some two or three hundred pounds had been subscribed, but hadnjt been handed over, and those concerned explained to the public, with bitiable eagerness, how fortunate it was that the cash 'had been retained. The reputations of McCarthy and his illicit spouse were held up to the public. gaze and torn' to shreds m the annoyance felt by the subscription promoters;^ at being made to appear ridiculous before the' public they had been bleeding .m - an unworthy cause. Meanwhile McCarthy, who had merely ■ wdrited his cornet, has lost all. and, being eyeless, has /to suffer for the battered vanity of : the ; idiots who would persist m making his affliction a stalking horse to secure public approval of themselves. Amongst, other things, it has ( heen discovered that McCarthy endeavored to get assistance from the Ohristchurch Charitarble Aid Board under the name of Maiher, and also applied f6r relief to tho South Canterbury C.A. Board, but^ m both cases he withdrew his/ application, WHEN INQUIRIES' WERE , . ;: INSTITUTED. The man is being held up as a monster \of deceit by the singular persons 'who neglected to' make inquiries ; but, upon reflection it is difiicult to imagine how McCarthy is to obtain rations under the uaine which; appears on the criminal re--cords, ' assuming: that recipients have to be of good character; The woman is. of course, being villified by the j;ood, but there .must be some excellent trajts m the character, of a female who sticks to a totally blind man m. the manner, that this woman has stuck to McCarthy. In any case it is a disgrace to a democratic country that any afflicted person should have to appeal through the public press ■• for "charity," and the Government's respbnsibility m this particular case is dojibly appaTent. If, as is suggested arid the assertion is not 'contradicted. McCarthy lost his eyesight . while • undergoing" punishment inflicted upon him iby the Supreme Court, the Justicie Department is liable for bis injuries, as his sentence: didn't include the loss ol both the j prisoner's eyes. The man is past crime, of any serious sort at any rate, and the least that might be done for him would be to put him. beyond want- McCarthy will then be deprived of the necessity to cadge for subscriptions to buy , a cornet, arid v tinpot borough functionaries and newspapers will be prevented from poking their microscopic personalities on to the public notice at the afflicted individual's expense. Perhaps the Government will buy. a cornet for McCarthy, whose mother lives at Port Ahuriri. Napier. Of course,: when the miserable subscription-promqters discovered their bloomer, they blamed McCarthy, ■whom- the Timaru police charged with being a rogue and a vagabond. Singularly enough, the Mayor, had persisted m getting McCarthy a shop when he only wanted a cornet, tried the case, m company with Wray, S.M., and made SOME EXPIATION FOR HIS FOOLISHNESS by convicting and discharging McCarthy on the understanding that he joined his friends m Napier. The Mayor's remorse even went, so far as to induce him to present McCarthy with a whole 1 £1 when the blind man. left Timaru for the North, , a circumstance carefully communicated Ito the * press. Bah! Meantime, the subscribed cash is being diverted to other Objects, which is hard lupk for McOar- : thy. who might have been given the I price of a cornet at least.