A BURDENED CONSCIENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 258, 29 October 1921, Page 12

A BURDENED CONSCIENCE.

MIAN'S WEIRD COHFESSION. ASKS FOR A I.TFK SEXTEXCE. rny Telegraph. —Own Correspondent.) CIfUI.STCIIURCII, Friday. A man named Vreilcrick -lames TSlandforil Bennett. pleaded guilty at the Magistrate';. Court to the charges of stealing suniri aggregating .C 41(» from four ]<m'soiis on representations tliat they wen l to be invested in a "patent royalty company." The following strange statement was appended to iiis confession wliieli \va* handed to the bench: " File enormity of niv sin has burdened m- conscience and compels me to surrender myself into your hands. For some time past I have iieen living a double, deceitful life. 1 cannot endure the agony of this guilty conscience any longer. Friends have placed every confidence in me. I have abused that sacred trust, and misappropriated money io my own use. From Alan Gilbert, People's l'alace, Wellington, 1 received :Cs!l, giving a guarantee to pay him .CIOO for an investment covering a period of two months. This is only one of several whom I have deceived by my lie-telling and dishonesty in actions, but above all I have deceived one of the best, purest and noblest of girls, who trusted and loved me, leading her to believe that 1 had money of my own when 1 had none, promising marriage and a trip to England, which in my heart I knew to lie an absolute impossibility. This trouble and deception on my part' I know will crush the very life out of this poor girl. 1 appeal to my friends and the sympathetic public to feel for this poor girl and help her in this great trouble. I am guilty of all badness possible, am a rogue in every sense of the word, and not lit to be at liberty to trade on the confidence of the trusting public. I am really not responsible for my actions, a criminal at heart and a disgrace to . the community, and 1 trust when sentence is meted out to me it will be one of life, so that I may never have, the opportunity again of defrauding people. 1 ask for no leniency or consideration whatsoever, save that loving and considerate feeling be extended to this girl, also to her dear father and mother." Here followed two eight-line verses of poetry, the first verse of which had a reference to " the curse of the gipsy blood, while the second verse ran: He has failed, he has failed, lie has missed liis chance. He has just done ihlugs by half: l.ife's been a jolly pood joke to him. And now is Ihe time to iaiiph. 11:1. ha. lie is one of the lejriou lost, He was never meant to win; lie's a rolliiis stone and its bred in the bone, lie's a man who won't tit in. I am one of the above victims of circumstances, an insane man who tried his hardest, but has failed, and made a complete failure ot" my life. Since I fieard the trillion of the Bishop of f'hristchurch on Sunday, October 22, on 'The Difference of Sin,' [ have been miserable, and have had 710 peace of mind ever since. 1 shall go mad if I don't do something. 1 cannot, continue in this disturbed state, so must give myself up to justice."