The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-04-12
BUTLER EN- ROUTE.
Attracts Crowd to the
Mariposa on Saturday.
Doors Closed to the Curious OFF,
GERS Anxious to Reach
Australia.

attention on the MarlpOSa on saturday
was Butler, the Australian murderer,
captured on the bark Swanhilda some
time ago by Detectives Roche, McHat
tie and Conroy of the Australian pO
lice.
Room 81 had been especially pre-
pared for him, but instead OF the steel
cage, graphically described in the San
Francisco papers, Butler had the plain
est kind of a stateroom. The agents in
San Francisco, in compliance with
request from Detective Sergeant Roche,
had stripped the room of its furniture,
washstand and built transom on the
floor next the partition which separ-
ates the room from the gangway. OPP
posite this transom or bunk is a sofa
or upholstered bench. Like the bunk,
it extends the length of the room. At
the foot of the bunk occupied by But
Ter a steel ring is driven through the
floor and fastened on the under side.
Through this a steel chain was passed
and then riveted to the shackelS ON
Buffers ankles. By these shackels the
prisoner is safely kept through the
day and night while in the room. At
3 o'clock in the morning they are taken
off, and the prisoner is then hand
cuffed TO Sergeant Roche and Detec-
tive McHattie, and the three men pro-
ceed to the deck of the Mariposa,
where exercise is taken for an hour.
So anxious are the officers that their
prisoner will be safely landed that the
matter of exercise is made compulsory
and the prisoners wishes are not con-
suited. No chances will be taken by
the officers as to his getting i'll on the
voyage.
For some unexplained reason the de-
tectives and Butler have taken a dis
like to reporters since their experience
in San Francisco. Roche, particularly,
overlooks the fact that but for the
press of San Francisco he and his
men would be as unknown to Ameri-
cans today as they were before they
left Australia, except for the publicity
given them by the newspapers. In
talking with a representative of the
Advertiser on Saturday Roche con-
fessed an adherence of the craft.
There's one on the steamer, and I've
been with him since we left the States
and never knew his business until
three days ago. I've settled him now,
and he will not trouble us any more -
The black whiskered detective SER
geant was entertaining an angel I'M
awares,' and when he walked up the
gang-plank the Advertiser reporter fol-
lowed and passed the numerous guards
without serious trouble. On entering
room 81, Butler, chained like a wild
beast, was lying on his mattress, and
keeping watch on him. The reporter
paused at the door, and Butler. seeing
him, said, pleasantly: Come in. I
amt going to kill you" The usual ci-
Whites passed, and Butler swung him
self around, allowing his feet to rest
on the floor. The room was almost
sitting, and McHattie, complaining IF
the heat, said: But we haven't much
longer to be aboard now; We'll soon be
home"
Butler glanced at him, and, with a
grin, remarked: You'll get me there,
may be; but you'll take me ashore in
a coffin"
Then he smiled as though his threat
would give his captors and custodians
something to worry over. Butler is a
man of moods, and the extreme eau
ton taken by Detective Sergeant
position. Some days he will speak
pleasantly to those about him, and at
other times he will be surly and mo-
rose. Saturday was betwiXt and be-
tween. When asked if Butler could
have a drink, Roche replied: He can
have anything he wishes, within rea-
son, but | am careful always to inspect
it. The food is taken from the galley
and cut in small pieces by myself or
one of my men. He is not allowed
knife or fork, for fear he will commit
suicide. He tried it, you know, in San
Francisco, once with piece of glass
when he cut his wrist, and again, by
cutting an artery in his temple with
his finger-nail; you can see the cut
now. Rather than have him try it
again. we pared his finger-nails just
| before we sailed, and, as an extra pre-
| caution, we muff his hands at night
| before putting on the darbies. We re
alize that our regulations are at stake
and we intend taking every precautiOn
| against suicide or accident.
I'VE divide our watches so that one
man is on duty at night only two
| hours. He sits here pointing to tho
| end of the sofa, near the door, and
! is directly opposite Buffers head. The
only way the prisoner can reach the
| watch is by standing up and theT
throwing himself forward. To proven
an occurrence like this without oul
| knowing it, the officer on watch fas
! tens this linen cord to his wrist; the
other end and piece spliced to it
connects with the wrists of the othe
two officers. The slightest move on thu
part of the watcher awakens thu
sleeping men,
BY this time one of the stewards
had brought in some whisky. Ser
geant Roche emptied the contents y
one of the glasses into a tin cup, tastet
it, and passed it to Butler, who DRAM
it at a draught.
fYou wonder at my tasting tina
when l do not indulge myself? Tha
| is because 1 want to know that he i
! getting whisky; it may not be whisky
| and [ want to make sure that it is"
Just then some one handed Butler
! cigar, but Roche intercepted it, anC
! after nacSiOo a slender OrObe tbrO11 o.