FAMOUS TRIALS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 293, 10 December 1910, Page 15

FAMOUS TRIALS.

SOME MEMORIES BY THE ~-C-c. -^.CBaTOEN.cASE..;/ -:„.;,- j--. •LEFROY, THE PLAYWRIGHT. Dining along, and very varied life 1 •have always been fond of attending interesting trials in the courts of .law.. Like -the theatre, the law court has always forme been something of a minor reflecting Imuran nature. Of course, criminal" trials are the 'most Interesting, for there one gets closer to human nature than in the majority of civil cases, where so often the proceedings are merely concerned with •wrangles and disagreements about properties or financial -transactions.

I have had the good for time, to be present at several well known criminal trials at the old "Old Bailey." I,remember well the trial of •■ Lefrby, who murdered Mr Gould on the way to Brighton ln a railway carriage. Arthur Lefroy- was a weaknatured, good-for-nothing Bohemian, who •was consumed with an almost incredible vanity, and a passion for money without any "desire for work. He was not without talent of a sort, and was at one time connected with the stage. Only the other djy. Indeed, I came across come .Press notices of an old Croydon pantomime, in which there were several references to "Mr Arthur Lefroy's highly polished .and witty lines." There is no doubt that Lefroy wioie pantomimes very cleverly, but he had not the moral stamina to work for his living', - and • being pushed for money, calloryly shot Mr Gould in the raUway carriage, because he was carrying a bag that looked as thongn it contained valuables. VANITY IN THE DOCK, So great was Lefroy's vanity that after the judge (Mr Justice Hawkins) had summed up in deadly- fashion against him, and the jury had retired, he actually posed for the Press artists who were in court to sketch him. Ec posed most elaborately, aud evinced *ie greatest Interest in the. proceedings of those who were drawing his j portrait. He 'had the actor's instinct to the last Lefrjy was defended by the greatest criminal advocate it has ever • b -.en j my good fort,ne to bear, the late Mr Modtague William*.. He made a wonderfully eloquent speech- in defence of his clien., ami waß afterwards fond of relating t ._*. story of how the Attorney-General, who was p-osecnting, offered to make a bet at the conclusion of his oration that Lefroy wotild he a free m<<n. But' Montague Williams refused to accept the wager. He had be a n tirrowly watering the actions of Mr Jjst.ce Hawkins, and had - observed that he made careful notes when the most salient P- a:ts for the delence were brought before the jury.

"Hawkins will hang him," thought Montague Williams, and surely enough he did so next day, with the most deadly analytical summing np I have ever heard. I have heard Montague Williams speak for the defence on many occasions, always eloquently, and occasionally theatrically, bit -If my memory serves mc, it was ln '.he course of his speech for Lefroy that he mixed his metaphors most comically when ordeavourihg to prepare the jury for Mr Justice Hawkins, and trying to minimise the effect of the summing up, which he knsw would be against his client. Ho referred to the renown won by Hawkins as a prosecuting counsel, and observed: '.'Gentlemen, the leopard cannot change. its spots (because the right hand does not lose its cunning." . But Montague Williams was never afraid of mixing 'his metaphors, neither was he afraid of using platitudes." He would hurl platUudes at a Jury with tremendous effect-. I have seen members of a Jury nod approval wben, -with slow ana so'rmn nttera.ice, he -has rolled out such a phrase as "'.ye and let live," as taingh He had made a most' profound observation that had put the case under trial in on entirely new aspect. THE TRIAL OF PEACE. *

Charles Peace, the celebrated burglar, made a most contemptible figure 'n the deck. He was, of coarse, still suffering tioni terrible injuries received in a desperate attempt to escape from a railway train by jumping out on to the line when it was in motion. But he whined and shivered, and generally seemed distraught with ter> ror. Still, he managed to shoW some for titude when ..his dreadful 'end approached, and sent a favourite ring of his as a memento to Frank Loclcwood,, who had defended him. There -is a story that lock•wood's wife was superstitious about this ring, and managed to lose It. ... . , ... " .

Another trial that I remember very vividly was that of the Brothers /Wainwrlght. Henry, It win be remembered, .was,hanged for the murder of Harriet Lane.. He accepted his lot very philosophically, but declared Ms -Innocence. He was another instance of great personal vanity, and while in the dock whispered inquiries to the warders as to what sort of effect they. thought he was making upon those assembled ln court. Many other 'incidents connected with criminal trials come back to my mind, but none so Tlvidly as my first memoTy of crime. This was a newsboy shouting through the streets of London that MuUer lhad been captured. I have never forgotten the tones of that boy's voice shouting through the dark, wet streets, while people rushed out of their houses to buy his papers.—"Old Passenger" in the "Pall Mall."