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Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2459, 25 March 1909, Page 4

THE CASE OF DR, GOODE. The sensational ending of the AVaitara murder case has been freely commented on by Southern journals-, and the special correspondent of Wellington papers have given graphic accounts of what was evidently a dramatic finale to a notable hearing. At. first glance the verdict reads very much like a gross miscarriage of justice, for undoubtedly the unfortunate woman, Airs. Klenncr, •was first brutally insulted and subsequently deliberately murdered by Dr. Goode. Alurdcr is to the ’British mind an almost unspeakable crime, and custom has caused us to look upon hanging as the naturdl penalty for the offender. In a primitive state of society Dr. Goode would have been given a rough and ready trial, and then would have been strung up to the nearest tree. Under civilised methods he receives every assistance to defend himself, and though everyone knows he committed the deed, the prosecution is compelled to prove beyond -a* shadow ol a doubt not only that he did so but also that he was of sound mind at the time. It is this latter proviso which furnishes legal defenders with one of their strongest weapons, and in modern murder trials it is quite the usual thing when all else fails to. plead insanity on the part of the accused. Obviously it would he a barbarous proceeding to bang a lunatic for committing an offence the nature of which was not clearly apparent to his diseased mind, yet for the matter of that is it not barbarous for the. State to hang any. individual for any offence whatever ? I|7- is.hard to conceive of a. really hcnliLv minded idunl dcl'hej .it >l\ mtn

dering another, and it seems difficult to draw the line between the criminal whose mind is partially diseased and one avlio is actually insane. Punishment of this kind cannot logically be defended, for it savors of a bullying, revengeful disposition to utilise the power of the State to physically or mentally ill-use an individual. However, the complex organisation under which we-live seems to make punishment necessary os a tangible deterrent to other possible offenders, and in any case restraint must he utilised in the general interests. Thus Dr. Goode, like Lionel .Terry, must he Kept where it will be impossible i-or him at any time in the future to enforce the desires and impulses of his diseased will. A point- which will strike many is thataccording to witnesses Dr. Goode showed many evidences of insanity during a long term of years prior to the tragedy, yet nothing was done by his friends or the police to have him cared for. As Dr. Truby King pointed out very clearly in the case of a man who was subject- to the hallucinations which affected Dr. Goode, it was quite natural that he should at some time seek a violent method of giving effect to his resentment for what he looked upon as persecution. If it is borne in mind -by the public that this type of man, a victim of chronic alcoholism, who indulges in morbid m amide rings , and sees an enemy in every person he meets, is liable to commit violence at any .time and should be restrained, then some good will- have arisen out of the deplorable tragedy.