ney.
A detective of the name of Bain tried to find him employment. Butler
wished to adopt a literary career. He acted as a reporter on the Dunedin
Evening Star, and gave satisfaction to the editor of that newspaper. An
attempt to do some original work, in the shape of "Prison Sketches,"
for another newspaper, was less successful. Bain had arranged for the
publication of the articles in the Sunday Advertiser, but when the time
came to deliver his manuscript, Butler failed to appear. Bain, whose
duty it was to keep an eye on Butler, found him in the street looking
wild and haggard. He said that he had found the work "too much for his
head," that he had torn up what he had written, that he had nowhere to
go, and had been to the end of the jetty with the intention of drowning
himself. Bain replied somewhat caustically that he thought it a pity he
had not done so, as nothing would have given him greater joy than
going to the end of the jetty and identifying his body. "You speak
very plainly," said Butler. "Yes, and what is more, I mean what I say,"
replied Bain. Butler justified Bain's candour by saying that if he broke
out again, he would be worse than the most savage tiger ever let loose
on the community. As a means of obviating such an outbreak, Butler
suggested that, intellectual employment having failed, some form of
manual labour should be found him. Bain complied with Butler's request,
and got him a job at levelling reclaimed ground in the neighbourhood of
Dunedin. On Wednesday, March 10, Butler started work, but after three
hours of it relinquished the effort. Bain saw Butler again in Dunedin on
the evening of Saturday, March 13, and made an appointment to meet him
at half-past eight that night. Butler did not keep the appointment. Bain
searched the town for him, but he was nowhere to be found.

About the same time Butler had some talk with another member of the
Dunedin police force, Inspector Mallard. They discussed the crimes of
Charles Peace and other notable artists of that kind. Butler remarked to
Mallard how easy it would be to destroy all traces of a murder by fire,
and asked the inspector whether if he woke up one morning to find some
brutal murder had been committed, he would not put it down to him. "No,
Butler," replied the inspector, "the first thing I should do would be to
look for suspicious circumstances, and most undoubtedly, if they pointed
to you, you would be looked after."

In the early morning of