Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1893-08-19 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

THE RELEASE OF AN HUSH PRISONER. The Times Belfast correspondent writes that considerable excitement prevailed there on Friday when it became known that Joseph Walker, a mechanic formerly residing in that city, had been released from Mountjoy Prison and had arrived home among his friends. His discharge was kept so quiet by the authorities that no one knew of the transaction until Walker himself arrived in B lfast. file offence for which Walker was sent to penal servitude for 20 years was the shooting of Private Hughes, of the West Surrey Regiment, in 1836. The facts briefly are these. The man who has now been released, in company with his son, was proceeding through the bricktields in the direction of the Falls-road. Both were intercepted by the West Surrey Regiment, and, acting under the excitement of the moment and a sense of a supposed attempt to interfere with his personal liberty, the elder Walker drew a revolver arid file f upon the military. The bullet lodged in the left breast of Private Hughes, who fell to the gromfd. As the injured man was being carried into the adjacent police barracks he breathed his last. Almost immediately after Head, Constable Gardner, who was on duty at the place, received a bullet round in the neck, and from the effects of Ova injury he, died about 12 hours afterwards. The funeral of this officer was one of the most striking features of the deplorable riots of that eventful year. The person who fired the second shot was never discovered. The elder Walker was put on his trial, being indicted for murder on three separate occasions—twice in Armagh and once in Belfast. In the former place the jury disagreed. He was then put on his trial at the Belfast Spring Assizes of 1887, and was convicted of the crime of manslaughter, and upon that occasion Lord Justice Fitzgibbon sentenced him to 20 years' penal servitude. Since Walker's conviction four memorials have been sent to the Lord Lieutenant praying for his release, the first being forwarded about two years after his imprisonment. Two memorials have been forwarded during the present year. The first of these was addressed to Mr. John Morley, Chief Secretary for Ireland, and was signed by the 11 surviving jurors who ccnvicted Walker in 1887. The fourth and last memorial was specially drawn up on the suggestion of Mr. H. o.Arnold-Forster, the member of Parliament for West Belfast, and it was signed by himself and the three other borough members, besides several leading citizens. The member for the West Division, on receipt of the memorial, personally presented it to Mr. Morley, and, after several interviews with the Chief Secretary, at last succeeded in accomplishing the object that had been so sought for. Walker has been seven years in close confinement in Mountjoy Prison. His family had received no intimation of his release. Walker is in good health, and speaks highly of the treatment he received while in Mountjoy Prison.  According to the Standard correspondent at New York, the physicians attached to the New York Cancer Hospital officially report that the inoculation of erysipelas streptococcus into malignant tumours hsi proved curative in 25 per cent, of the cases of carcinoma which have been tried, and in 40 per cent, of the cases of sarcoma, and that it is specially applicable to cases in which operations cannot take place, but is generally useful. Caution is advised in the resort of these remedies pending further clinical study. It has been found that the erysipelas resulting from the inoculation is usually mild, and may possibly be wholly avoided by injecting simply the toxic products of streptococcus.  At Camoridge. on maturclay, the Rev. A. ti. Greenwood, a young clergyman. was committed for trial on two charges of obtaining money by false pretences by drawing cheques on a bank where he had no account for six years. It was stated that there was a complete answer to the charge when a witness returned from abroad.