Labour Australia

Henry Christopher Scully— one of the most notable figures connected with  the I.W.W. operations in Sydney and the imprisonment and release of the convicted men— died at the War Memorial Hospital, Birrell Street, on Sunday. Scully, who had lived at Alexander Parade, Coogee, was removed to the hospital on Saturday suffering from an acute attack of meningitis.

Scully, who was a chemist, had lectured before meetings of l.W.W. men, dealing with the preparation of fire dope, and his evidence on this point, given before the police court in October, 1916, first brought him under public notice. At the Criminal Court Scully gave evidence again for the Crown, and four days before Christmas in the same year the I.W.W. dozen received their sentences. Two and a half years later Scully sailed from Australia for San Francisco, but on his arrival there he found himself required in Australia, and he came back, surrounded by an atmosphere of mystery and sensationalism, to tender testimony before the commission (Judge Ewing) examining the circumstances of the conviction of the I.W.W. men. The only man of the I.W.W. dozen still in gaol is King, and his sentence expires this week.