FOR THE TERM OF HER NATURAL LIFE.

White Ribbon, Volume 21, Issue 242, 18 August 1915, Page 7

FOR THE TERM OF HER NATURAL LIFE.

(To the Editor). Madam,—With your permission 1 desire to make an appeal to the readers of this journal on behalf of a young woman, who on the loth of June last was at the Supreme Court, Napier, sentenced to imprisonment for the term of her natural life, i hese are the facts as reported in the daily papers at the time. 1 his girl, Alice Parkinson by name, was attached to a young man who got her into trouble under a promise of marriage, and subsequently refused to keep the promise. She had borne an unblemished character previously- her employers testifying to this at the trial —and had spent all her savings in furnishing a home in the belief that the promise of marriage would be kept The child, born after an extremely painful labour, died, and in desperation she procured a revolver and threatened to shoot the author of her troubles unless he made the reparation desired. Why any woman should wish to tic herself for life to a person capable of such conduct is a mysterv, but the fact remains. He repulsed her in the grossest of language, and she shot him. The juiy evidently did not think she meant to kill the young man, as their verdict was “Guilty of Manslaughter” with a strong recommendation to mercy, on account of the great provocation which she had received. The judge ignored this recommendation, and inflicted the severest sentence in his power. Petitions to the Governor are being largely signed, and there is a strong movement on foot in Napier, Auckland and Wellington to have this sentence reduced, and the jury’s recom mendation put into effect. Will the W.C.T.U. help by making a protest against the severity of the sentence. Alice Parkinson is a woman and a sister, and has already been heavily punished by the laws of nature. Moreover, it is very doubtful if she was in her right mind at the time of the tragedy, or if she intended to kill the man. The worst that can be said of her is that she was the elder of the two by three years, but he was in his twenty-second year and legally a man able to shoulder his just responsibilities had he wished to do so. 1 would simplv ask your readers to consider what the founder of the W.C.T.U. would have thought, and how she would have acted in such a case. Would she have averted her head and allowed stern justice to take its course, or would she not rather have said with Portia —

“Though justice be thy pica, consider this. That in the course of justice none of us Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy, And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy.' I am, madam, Yours sincerely, E. GIBSON, Hon. Sec., Auckland Women’s Political League. P.S. —The petition will be presented to the Governor in September. If each of the Branches would pass a resolution pretesting against the severity of the sentence, and requesting the Government to give effect to the recommendation of the jury, and send a copy of the resolution to the Minister of Justice, it might do some good. On receiving the petition the Governor will naturallv consult the heads of the Department of Justice, and the greater the number of people who have asked for merev the greater the possibility that mercy will be shown.