The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1887. THE CAIN MURDER CASE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1549, 5 February 1887, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1887. THE CAIN MURDER CASE.

Thomas Hals has been: found guilty qf ; the most- atrocious crime known to the law. He can nothmg ; be has had more than fair play. The' wealth of his friends secured to him the advantage of being defended by >tlie, abiest lawyers in the colony ; his social influence enabled him to change, the place of his trial at will. On the first r occasion,' Wbeti' accused of he Was )rettioved;for tria 1 to CbtistchutehY! as desired by him tb'rbughrhis jlegal 'adviser.' He w«b 'convicted' therej and WbW' again'committed' on the jmore" ■erious charge of 'murder, he Was l at his i desire removed '■<. to■ Dunedin.; ' Tbe> country has beeriput to 1 great expense, j'and the • witnesses 1 to' immense incon-r, ! to giTe ! him.mbre'thin fair yet it did not save him." :?, Wb are tiot at all sure' that this 7 was altogether right.*"' Had hearten an'otdiriflryimany whose friends possessed ndt the 1 power to secure'to him so much consideration,; i ; he"''would : have 1 been'tried 1 in' Timaru, The result would''have 'been 1 the |amu, the country would have been saved 1 thousands of pbundsj'and; the witnesses 1 the trouble and incorivenience ; of a lengthened absence from their homes andbusiness; As it was 5 he was danced, about from Timaru to :Ohristchurcb,, and back again times a week for some time, special juries provided for him at his trials, and every latitude that the best legal advice oonld suggest given him. He was thus exceptionally well treated—far better, we |han he ought to have been, fbr the law ought to have regarded him as' nothing, more than any other man, and ought to have tried bim like other men. However, it is useless to discuss thip point now. Ha has been found guilty, and | the money exponded on putting an end to a' career 10 vicious must be looked upon' as well spent. In the history of crime there have appeared before 1 a Court of Justice few, if any, greater villainp. For the sake of the miserable pittance which the j death of Captain! Cain brought him he hastened hip death by ; the most fiendish means of slow poison. Arid, successful in this, : he jnexjk proceeded to murder the mother ; pf ,fcis ( newly-born son by similar means. Poor mother, and poor soni ! < they are unhappy in their relationship to ; him 1 But we shall not pursue the subject* further, flu 1 has" been stopped I in bisguilty career, but not before it was lime, and now be is condemned to pay the penalty with his life. We have always been opposed to capital punishment; we believe that to take human life under any circumstance is a crime, and that murder should not be punished by committing murder. But we have very little hope that Our view of the ease will ■ be adopted as regards Hall. Capital ; punishment is still the law of the land, and if ever a humftn being deserved to forfeit bis life for bis crimes Thomas j Ball does. If we thought capital I punishment justifiable under any cir-1 cumstances we should not hesitate to gay that in the case of Thomasi Ball it would be quite right to enforce it, for of

all the criminals of which we have read or heard ho was the mosl thorough-going. No punishmenl'.conl/ be too severe for him—hanging is toa'good for-him—and whatever happens J'o.-him few. will regret that thflffeploDy .hacs been rid ot bo great a; : £nmin|l;v Igf/