A NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 18

A NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL.

ONE OF THE WABATAH'S PASSENGERS. - CFeom Oto Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Augu*t 26. Though it has nothing to do with the fate of rhe vessel, it is interesting to note that amongst the passengers on the missing ocean liner Waratah is a dangercus criminal named John M'Laughlin, who is well known to the police in various parts of the world, including New Zealand. His voyage on the overdue vessel (says the Post) is not one of pleasure. He is being conducted from Queensland to Africa under the guardianship of two , constables of the Transval police. For ' nearly 14 years the police of South' Africa had searched for him, and finally he was : arrested last March on a steamer on the Brisbane River, on a charge of having murdered two men in Johannesburg in 1895. The crime at- the time it was perpetrated created a sensation throughout all civilised South Africa. The New ' Zealand police had some dealings with [ M'Laughlin or M'Lach-an. He came j into this country with a reputation of i heing a notorious cracksman and safeI robber at Johannesburg, and as he was t a' miner there Ft was known that he had j a good knowledge of explosives. Special inauiries. were immediately made. He arrived in Auckland from India by the ?o S - Mi.- Birion, and on November 25, r % c w^* sentenced under the name of Thomas Kenny, 'to 12 months' imprisonment for having housebreaking implements in his possession. For a similar .offence he was sentenced in 1897, under the name of Thos. Kenny, alias John DeH, to three .years in gaol.. Again he was^ sentenced ~ in -Lyttelton to 14 days' imprisonment for being a stowaway. He {eft Chnstchurch on November 10 last by a train going south. He had a kit ot tools with him, and intended travelw!S rO ww dd u th . c """Jt'y <*°»*g tinsmith h& had , also heen doin S the backblocks as a cook. Some time afterwards I nX 36 h - ea S ° f 8 bein S an mma *c °f a pnson in Queensland. M'Laughlin, al- ' Svpi? 1 u mmU& °PcP c hand > was «PParently | never hampered on that score in his sometJmL 811 ? "^ *is that sometimes he used m the course of his to p ht e s: ■ fai?e hand — d «

The difficulty experienced by criminal* who are really badly " wanted '^ co Set el? escaping being brought to justice w 11 bl exemplified in the cate of M'Lauriilin whS 7hZuJ'h?ff, , Q"**™^ S .April! committed in Africa nearly 20 years ago. «««*. «nd it was m conducting- one of fST .°P*f»t'o^ that he fa* hi« hand Early ,„ the nineties he was sentenced to a S^i°/- ""T" 800111^*. and. attributing his convichon to the evidence of a man nimed Stevenson, he said when he was beinlr taken away, « When I come ouf l 3 square accounts with you, Steve." The threat was regarded as one of those which . v heard in a criminal court, but are very seldom carried out However, when the eafe-exnloding expert came out it is alleged that he made for Stevenson's houee. knocked at the door which was onened by Stevenson who was «not deacl, and away went the criminal. lull- 1 had H een wit «»«d by a Cane black, who made an effort to stoo the Tl£!a*\ buf L the dark kin - too-" "-as drilled through with a bullet, and the murderer got away. South Africa «a.s T^Zn and u, a - reward of £200 was offered, but M Lausrhhn was heard of no more for >&ars. yuite a surprising number of men were arrested on susnicion of beinp the wanted hunted man. There is in Auckland at the present time a man who was in the police service in South Africa at the time of the committal of the crime and this man was amoner those who searched for the perr>errator. While perusing a New Zealand paper one day, this officer noticed an account of a mysterious man who had been arrested in Auckland and sentenced to four months' imprisonment. The man had been 6een prowling about the cemetery, and the police bad found in & bag he had secreted there an artificial hand and some " cracksman's " implements. The officer guessed at once that this was M'Laughlin, and- he' applied for the reward and gave the information. At that time Dutch rule prevailed in that portion of Africa, and the information was an extraordinarily long time in reaching New Zealand. \Vhen it did come M'Laughlin was out of gaol and far away. He was never heard of again until he was identified in Queensland, and arrested. He stated that the man taken into custody must now be about 60 years of age.