A SYDNEY TRAGEDY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXII, Issue 12437, 9 April 1908, Page 6

A SYDNEY TRAGEDY.

Views of Judge and Jury

SYDNEY, April 1

The last act in the New Year's i)ay tragedy at JNewtown, in which Henry Prince, a well-known shopkeeper in that district, shot a man named Henry Sullivan dead, was pertormed in the Central Criminal Court at Darlinghurst on. Friday, when Mr Justice Cohen sentenced Prince to three years' hard labour. Prince having got into financial difficulties, two men, Sray and the deceased, Sullivan, went to his shop in King Street, Newtown, on New Year's Day, to make an inventory, and while they were there Prince came in, and at once became excited and abusive. He ordered all out of the shop, declaring that he was mabter, and, when Bray refused to go, rushed upstairs and secured a revolver. Returning to the shop, he fired the revolver. The bullet struck Sullivan behind the ear as he was going out by the front door, killing him. Evidence by some of the Crown ' witnesses was to the effect that for at least six months prior to the occurrence Prince had frequently exhibited signs of mental disturbance. His failure in business, added to the fact that he had been uiiuKing to excess, had apparently driven him insane at the time of the tragedy, and the delence was that when he fired the shot he was not responsible for what he did. in a statement from the dock, Prince 6a id he had bo recollection of events on .New Year's Day, and when he" woke up in the police station on the following day, and was told what he had done, he could not believe it, and treated it as a joke. Sullivan, whom he had known in England, was, he added, one of his oldest friends. The jury found the prisoner guilty of manslaughter, with a > unanimous recommendation to mercy, and Mr Justice Cohen; in passing sentence, agreed that they had taken the right view, having regard to the conduct of Prince immediately before and after the firing of the shot. At the same time, he took the opportunity to point a moral against the vice of drunkenness. The two men at whom Prince had fired, said he, were upon the premises disi charging their duty, Bray being there in charge to take stock pn behalf of Mr Borchard, and Sullivan to assist him. It must have been very irritating to the prisoner to find his premises and assets in charge of men representing his creditors, but though his Honor deeireA to &i-ve, ta.lv effect to the opinions of the doctors, he could not- avoid the opinion that the prisoner's present unfortunate position was due to drink. His excessive indulgence in alcohol could not be disassociated from what had occurred on this unfortunate day. Notwithstanding the mental deterioration referred to by the doctors, as being distinct from deterioration arising from drink, it would be hard to avoid the conclusion that drink was a powerful factor in bringing about the dreadful, result they all knew — that this unfortunate man Sullivan, was in a moment hurled into eternity. While he had every desire to give effect to the jury's recommendation to mtrcy, he had to bear in mind at the same time that the public had a right to be protected from those who indulged in the fatal folly of excessive indulgence in alcohol. If too ligfht a sentence were passed, it mi^ht act as an encouragement to oiheiis to indulge in drink, take life, and then trust to the mercy of the Court for a light sentence. It was impossible to understand why men of intelligence, selT-re-fucct, and respectability, with wives and children depending upon them, could freely indulge in drink, and bring themselves to the level of committing crimes, and leaving their wives and children to the nvrcy of the world.. Sullivan was simply doing his duty, and though he had- ir> no way offered offence, he was hurled into eternity in a moment." The sentence passed, three years' hard labour, is regarded as very lenient.