UNKNOWN

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 98, 15 June 1911, Page 8

UNKNOWN

TAlil KAKA UXTRm’BLFD. MOVEMENT FOil' 11 EUR! i,\ ,U Y\ iam the walls, of Ai (. Kdou gaol Talii Kalia is calmly awaiting 1 1 to tho execution of the death penalty passed on him twelve days ago for the minder at Kaikoho of an old gumdiggor, John Freeman (says the Auckland “Star”). There has as yet been no olik ial confirm;’, tioir received by the sheriff, Mr S. Goring Thomas, that it is not the Governor’s pleasure to interfere with the sentence of the Court. Meanwhile the .Maori hoy passes iiis time in gaoly indifferently, smoking, reading, and writing. Of more than average intelligence as ho is, it seems inconceivable that he cannot realise the seriousness of ids position, yet when intimation was conveyed to him of Cabinet’s decision, he received it with only the indifference which he has throughout shown towards the detaining warders, he has expressed no desire to see friends or relatives. The only person with whom he has communicated since the death sentence was passed is a brother, who is laid up in hospital, and these two maintain a regular correspondence. So smoking and reading, and willing to his brother, with occasional intervals of exorcise, Tain Kaka awaits the day unconcernedly, missing no mealtime and losing no sleep, apparently cn .’less jf the fact ilia i i ■• y clays pass he will add another line to the gruesome execution record of Aft. Eden gaol, and one grave more to unhonoured burial spots within the precincts of the prison. There in greater anxiety in official circles, where reluctance to proceed with the rigging of the fatal scaffold is naturally shown. The sheriff is legally hound to have the penalty enforced within a week of official intimation that it has to lie carried out, and suspense in a matter of such serious import is not calculated to make the office an enviable one, though doubtles time is a consideration in the rather delicate business of arranging for the provision of a working substitute at tho scaffold. PETITION FOR REPRIEVE. Tho announcement that tho death sentence on Kaka will be carried out, has resulted in a movement to circulate a petition for presentation to his Excellency the Governor, praying him to reconsider his decision. Bishop Crosllcy, who since his arrival has taken a keen interest in the iiitm i.ice, is giving tin mt cone Lis hearty support, and has announced his intention of heading tho list of signatories. The Rev. H. H. Hawkins (of the Maori Mission) and E. C. B • : 1 (chaplain to the public institution) are busily exerting themselves in the matter, and it is expected that a largo number of clergy of all denominations will also give’ tho petition their support. The time at the disposal of Kaka’s well-wishers is short, and it is intended to have the petition printed, and, if possible, ready for circulation to-morrow. Tho Petition is to ho placed iu all loading offices and places of business, and if sufficient help is forthcoming, tables . will be set down at as many street corners as possible. In the meantime those willing to help are asked to inform the Diocesan Secretary (Mr W. S. The petition dwells on Kaka’s youth and the nearness of tho Corona con ;> a suitable occasion on which to grant a reprieve. The counsel for the prisoner (Mr W. E. Hackett) is also taking part in the agitation against tho death ; penalty. PREVIOUS EXECUTIONS. A GRIM RECORD. , The first man executed in Now Zealand for murder was a Maori named Maketu, who was hanged at Auckland in 1842, for the murder of a white woman, several children and a man at tho Bay of Islands. The woman was his employer, a Mrs Robertson, and Maketu, after killing a fellow-servant, murdered Airs Robertson her two children, and a halfcaste child, set fire to the house, and puddled off in a canoe to join his tribe. He afterwards confessed his crime, and was executed in Auckland. Tho first offender to suffer the extreme .penalty of the law in Mount Eden gaol, then new, was a butcher named Richard AI. Harper, who murdered his wife in Edwards Street Auckland, and was hanged on 3rd October, 1863. Since then there have been eleven executions at Alt. Eden. Alex AleLean, for the murder of his wife at Pokcno, was hanged on 21st October, 1864; James Stock, for the murder of his mother-in-law (Airs Finnegan), and throe brothers-in-law at Otalmliu suffered death on 7th April, 1866 ;for various murders five Hauhaus, including Solomon tho Pro phet and the notorious Koreopa, wore hanged on 17th May, ISGu; seven years later, on 29th July, 18/3, Joseph Eppwriglit, a sailor, suffered the death penalty for tho murder of the third mate of the whaling barque. Rainbow; Charles Dyer was hanged on 30th October, 1874, for the coiifesed murder at Pakiri of a young woman named Eliza Battersea, by pouring kerosene over her and Imi ning her to death; on 19th February, I •'. *> '■■ii.ma suffered ibe p- •; i’rv . m haying killed ,a Alaori girl at Drake!; Martin Curtain, a settlor at Ararimu, Wairoa South, ended a longexisting feud with a neighbour named Shanaghan by killing the latter, and ho, on Gth February, 1877, expiated the offence ; three mouths later To Paid, a Alaori, went to the scaffold for having tomahawked a fellow-prisoner (Morgan) in Ngaruwhaia gaol; Hare Winiata (Harr-" Wynyard), a Alaori, went to tho gallows on Ith August, ISS2, for having murdered Edwin Packer on a farm at Epsom; John Caffrey and Henry Albert Penn, both seafaring men, wore on 21st February, ISS7. executed for tho murder of Samuel Taylor, of Tryphena Harbour, Great Barrier Island; and on 21st Alay, 1893, Alexander Jas. Scott, was hanged for poisoning at Waikumete a man named Thompson. Thus there have boon enacted twelve executions in Alt. Eden gaol, and thirteen altogether in Auckland, eighteen men having suffered tho extreme penalty—nine Alaoiis and nine white men.