BUTLER IN AUCKLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2252, 29 April 1897, Page 23

BUTLER IN AUCKLAND.

INTERVIEWED BY REPORTERS. j A DESPERATE MAN. | Auckland, April 23. j Frank Butler, alias Richard Ashe, is in safe j custody aboard the Mtiriposa, which arrived i to-dtvy from San Francisco. Dcteclive3 Roche • and M'Hattio and Constable Ccmoy X.re in : charge of the prisoner. Butler gwe no trouble { on the voyage, but bubaved quietly, road a. 1 little, and was supplied with whatever hi [ wanted in the way of liquor, tobacco, and , food. His guardians took turns of four hours I each watching Butler, and two men were con- ' stantly in his cabin with hfta. i Butler took very little exercise outside the j cabin, preferring to remiiu in his temporary j cell rather than go outbide. He was aofe takeu en to the upper deck, lie made no altocopS to i commit suicide on the voyage. ; Two B'ateroama were sat apart for Butler j p.ud his guardians. Butler's was as bare oE furniture as possible, ouly a stt;«e and clo'hing for two bunks briing left in it. An iron grating j was placed outside the window, and another in j fche doorway. j It was originally intended to take Butler in '. the steerage, but owing to tho opportunities of getting assistance from the Bailors and others • Captain H*yward strongly advised against th&t ; cjurfe : American uews by the aams afcsatner R3 Butler arrived by says thafc since his imprisonment Butler has not been trusted one minuto alone. H»j wae denied visitors. Butleo his raised a • pair of thick brown whiskers wliila in gaol, , which h&va materially changed hi? f.ioial exI prtesion. QCalkiug of h'n return, he said : "If anything I think an accused man has a better chance there than here. Good attorneys are always appointed when a man is too poor to j pay them. He is given every rhauce to defend j himseif. If I go back I tbiuk I will have a ; woman luwy, r. There »re three or four there j [meaning in Australia], I think ib would be ft ; good thing to give one of them charge of this j case." I Butler made 'fen unsuccessful attempt to j destroy himself with his finger nails. The two guardiaiiß in his call, to keep awake, played cards. Busier waa iv bed with his i'sca to the •wall covered over with the blankets, only the top j of his head being visible. Kroni 11 p.m. till la.m. j all was quiet, as though the prisoner was sleep- j ing soundly, save thit occasionally hia body ] twitched At 1 o'c'ock one of the guards,'] j noticing the twitching and wanting to le.irn the ] i cause, threw back the blaukets and aaw blood lon the prisoner's face and pillow. He found : that the blood came from a scratch on Butler's j I temple. Evidently ho was seeking to sever the j j temporal artery, but afcec he bad scratched for j a while the pain \ras so considerable that he could not keep the body from twitching. Butler I toid his guazds that the scratching was an j accident, but an accident it could not have j i been, for he wae at work with bis nails for a j I long lime. Failing in the attempt to gebI morphia, and a piece of glass in a tobacco | pouch having been discovered before be had a [ chance to use ifc, he tried the only means at j j hand to commit auicido. I Tho prisoner's nails were ru'i short, and his j wound covered with plaster. !