DAVID WINKLER GOEL FREE

NZ Truth, Issue 1030, 22 August 1925, Page 7

DAVID WINKLER GOEL FREE

■ WAS FOUND GUILTY AND SENTENCED TO DEATH %JL t, l^j o NhJre V™ 3 b *S&&J&J9 &JLJL\* &o JL CL^VL JL«& *s A, JL \A (L/JL &.• Releases '.Youth. Froisa Felon's Prison Cell

DAVID FRANZ WINKLER (who, for supplying a revolver to his suffering father, received the death sentence, now remitted) has had an experience that he will not forget m his life time, and which will never be forgotten m the records of the criminal law. ..■.-..•

ON August 8 it was announced from Sydney that the Appeal Court of New South Wales had dismissed the appeal of Winkler from the death sentence. A couple of days later the New South Wales Labor Government came to the rescue. Cabinet decided to release Winkler. BUT a month before that Sydney "Truth" had emphatically asserted not only that ' Winkler ought to : go free, but that he MUST go free. "TRUTH" wrote: "David Fra.ns Winkler, whose passionate affection for a parent racked with torment led him to purchase, at his stricken father's request, a revolver, so that the latter might end his own sufferings, was sentenced to death at the Darlinghurst Court, Sydney. . . . ; . .He must not die!" >

Young Winkler's father, aged over 60, committed suicide at his home m Wentwbrthville, Sydney, on the evening of March 26 — his method, a bullet from a revolver supplied by the son m answer to his frantic implorings to help him end his earthly misery. The boy was charged with murder. A jury of Winkler's countrymen, almost inarticulate m their grief, pleaded for the extremist mercy, and the Judge "hoped, believed, and felt confident" that mercy would be shown by the Crown. Probably the boy simply forestalled the Grim Reaper by a few short months, but, through finishing Nature's work by artificial means, he came under the brand of Cain, and was called upon to answer for his offence. The story of the law is told, below, but, apart from what, the law says, the question arises: Was young Winkler justified m helping to end. a life m which his father'was suffering the torture of the damned simply because Nature was slow and callous m completing her work? For years Franz Joseph Win Icier, the elder, has been suffering untoi'.l agonies from ' Bright's disease and heart disease. On top of that, almost the whole of his organs were m a •frightful state from various causes — there were deposits 0n... the arteries and valves of the heart, the whole of the system was gradually being filled .with toxic poisons, and dropsy was setting m. ' : WANTED TO DIE. His future was a nightmare, made decidedly more hideous by the dreadful uncertainty' of when it would end, how, and m what way. His mental stale must have been like that of a man being gradually dipped into a vat of boiling, tar, with the burning, sticky mass slowly covering his body inch by inch. Old man Winkler wanted to die, and for months he pondered over ways and means. Once he thought of cutting his throat with a razor, but was afraid to go on lest he would not have sufficient courage to complete the work. Apparently he thought nothing of poison, perhaps with its- long, lingering death, and finally decided that the bullet would be the quickest and "easiest way. So it was that last year he got his boy David, for whom he had a wonderful fondness that was heartily, recir>rocated, to purchase a revolver and somu cartridges at Anthony Hordern's, Sydney.. But some strange objection arose at the last minute, and the old man or- ; dered the boy to take the weapon back and get some groceries instead. Maybe there still flickered within his breast a hope that his incurable diseases might be cured; but as the months went by and they grew worse he made a second vow to end it. Another revolver was bought, licensed, and handed to the old man. But again he could, not sro on with it, and the gun was exchanged for some clothing. . And so the agonies were perpetuated — the old man gradually weakening, but still likely to live a long, long time. Disease has no pity, and Winkler was being made to pay a dreadful price. Then the boy went to work as a laborer on a dairy farm at Luddenham, m the Camden district, New South Wales, taking with him the memories of his aged father waiting m pain for death to release him^ One can easily imagine wh.it the old man suffered, and can easily understand the letter that he had sent to the boy, written by his daughter Jenny. HEARTRENDING LETTERS. "Dear Dave," the letter said, "I received your letter this afternoon. We are pleased to hear you are getting on so well. I am looking forward to seeing you. You know what a terrible existence mine is, and how lonely and melancholy I feel. It is all destroying the pleasure that I may otherwise have. . . . My head is going round at present, and I am unablq to tell Jenny any more what to' write." Then the letter significantly added: "We can talk the matter over when

you come to see us. I am, your loving father." A postscript was added to this by little Jenny, palpably ignorant of the veiled meaning of the sentences. She wrote: "Dear Dave, the mission is just starting, and I only wish you were here, for it is a lovely priest.—^Jenny x x x." ' The old man, racked with pain, almost too weak to write, nevertheless scrawled on the back m writing that could hardly be read, a pathetic call to his boy. , "Davie, for God's sake get one of those sent up from Hor.dern's. I cannot bear this agony any longer." "One of those," undoubtedly, was a. revolver, and, the boy. reading, knew. He did not answer for a while, and another letter was sent m the same pleading strains, containing the same veiled meanings that only the old man and his son knew. This time Davie came — with a revolver and cartridges. His mind was made up how he would act, regardless of the consequences for himself. He came on March 26, m tho night, when all the family were m bed, and> his mother m her own room across the passage from that of the father. Then he went into the room, showed his father how to use the gun, and went out into the kitchen. A crashing report — and old man Winkler had gone, released from his agonies of his own free will. THE FATAL SHOT. There was no flurry about young Dave, nor was there any attempt to cover his tracks or cloud the whole matter with a tissue of lies. He immediately hurried to the Wentworthville Police Station to report the matter, to Constable Constable. The constable examined the body and> the room. Then he asked a pertinent question that was answered readily by the boy, an answer that subsequently raised the issue that Dave might have done it himself. "My father had it m his left hand," he said. "My father, told me to go out of the room, and I went to the kitchen, .where I heard the shot go off." / Perfectly candid, Winkler answered all questions, and admitted even at that early stage that the means of his father's death had' been supplied by him. But there is a law that says "Thou shalt not kill" — or help to kill — and the law of the land, re- • cognising not the unwritten law, ordered that Winkler should be arrested. • The following day at the Pnrramattn. Police Station, questioned by Sergeant Walsh, ho willingly made a statement admitting everything. "My father was going to commit v suicide some months ago," he said, "but changed his mind. . . . Father and I had talked the matter over. ... I went into the room, showed my father how to work it, and he told me to go out into the kitchen so that I could' clear myself." So the law ran its course. The boy was duly committed for trial, and stood m the Darlinghurst dock accused of murder. THE COURT SCENE. Winkler m the Court presented' a pitiful sight, and' there was not one person m that room who did not give I him their "sympathy. Fair-haired, with intelligent face, he stepped into the iron-railed enclosure to face the jury m the Criminal Court who were to try ; him. His general appearance was clean, and he wore a light grey tweed suit, arid carried a light brown x felt hat m his hand. His eyes were l-ed-rimmed, as though from crying, but his voice was firm and his manner confident. Of all the hundreds of murderers who have gone from that dock, young Winkler did not look like any of them, and there are many who will say that he is not a murderer, though the law has branded him as such. '

Rather had he the appearance of a boy that any business man would readily employ m a position of trust. His features were clear and open, and even the morbid surroundings failed to cloud him with the sinister appearance of

crime that most men seem to adopt when they enter there. Obviously ho had gone m, firm m the belief that he would leave the dock a free man — but the law was there, and the jury had to administer it Facts were facts, and could not be set aside. WHO FIRED THE SHOT? The Crown case was presented fairly by Mr. Coyle, K.C. "This boy had no reason to kill' his father," he said, "but that unfortunate man, I say, gentlemen, had no power to pull the trigger or work, the* weapon. Gentlemen, medical evidence will show that there was no blackening at all. "I am putting it to you, gentlemen, that this lad not only provided the means of his father's death, but went further and did it himself. But that is one of the things for you to consider." This made it look black for the boy, but on the other hand there was the statement by his mother that he was m the kitchen when the shot was fired, and reached the room when she did. Nor did the Crown dispute this — as it might have done under other circumstances and with a different person m the dock. It took the jury many hours to decide whether young Winkler was. guilty or not. They were faced with a baffling problem, whatever sympathies they might have had weighing against the law as it stood. But facts were facts, and when they emerged from the juryi'.oom bearing their verdict of guilty of being an accessory before the fact the worry that they had had was ; plain upon their faces. ■ Sydney "Truth" thus report^ the closing scenes of the trial: . •', • The foreman could hardly speak the words, .and painfully lie jerked out the recommendation of the jury. "Your Honor," he said m a low voice, "the jury wishes, to re com 1 -- ■ mend the. prisoner'to the strongest mercy, and hopes that, if possible, he be given the provisions of the First Offenders Act.". But there- was only one sentence — the one most dreaded of all. And when the Judge acquainted the' twelve' men of that fact, many of them were visibly affected. "So far as that is concerned," said his Honor to the jurj', "the provision is not a matter that I have power to give. I can only pass one sentence. But your recommendation will be forwarded on, and I am sure that it will be carried out." Young Winkler's pale face grew paler, and he choked back a sob when the Judge, Mr. Justice Street, turned to address him. He stood rigidly erect, and listened intently to what was being said. His courage did not fail him for one moment, and his "No, sir!" when asked whether he had anything to say why sentence should not be passed on him, came loud and clear. SENSE OF DUTY. "David Franz "Winkler," said the Judge, "the jury have found you guilty of the crime of having Encouraged and assisted your father to take his own life. '

I see no reason to suppose that you were not on affectionate terms with him, and I see no reason to suppose that m doing what you did you had any other motive than that of helping him at his own request to end a life that was full of suffering, and which m any event was m all probability near its end. Although, however, it is possible to expect that you acted from ,a sense of duty, and felt compassion for him m his suffering-, m the circumstances m which you are placed it is my duty to point out to you that the circumstances of your father's illness, distressing as they may have been to you, offered no justification for your act. Sympathy for his suffering forms no excuse m law for what you did. The law looks upon human life as sacred, and it does not recognise a right m any man to take his life, or the right of anyone else to help him do so. If it were otherwise, if the law admitted the right of any person to be a law unto himself as to whether the circumstances were such to justify him m taking his life, or helping another, a hopeless state of affairs would be; brought about. "An accessory before the fact, that is to say, the person who encourages another, is punishable m the same way as if he had done it himself. "My duty is to carry out the law, and I have no option but to direct that the sentence of death be recorded, the effect of which is the same as if I had pronounced sentence of death. I must leave it to the Crown to determine what your punishment is to be. "Although your right to act as you did cannot be recognised by law, and although my duty is to declare the act on the law, I hope and believe —in fact, I feel confident —that the circumstances of the case, and m view of the jury's verdict, compassion will be shown on .you by the Crown m determining what your punishment is to be." Young Winkler gulped several times, and almost staggered when the Judge had finished, but he pulled himself together manfully, and went willingly when gently led down the steps from the dock to the cells beneath. All the same, nobody It new the effect that it had on him, and.it was noticed that as he wont away his hat remained on'the; seat where it'had reposed r.uring the trial." .'/.''" ■ • : Happen what will, however, young Pave Winkler will •go : down m history as one', who believed m the greater love, and was prepared to suffer for it. . ' ■ . ■ • • It was m this spirit ..that Sydney "Truth" wrote on July 12: "'Truth' appeals with confidence to the State Executive, that no matter what may be the strict letter of the law, it will exercise its prerogative and release this devoted youth from the felon's cell m which he now lies." And now David Franz Winkler has been released.