DEVIL'S ISLE CONVICT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 15, 18 January 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

DEVIL'S ISLE CONVICT.

GUERIN BACK IN GAOL AT 70,

A Police Court mystery was cleared up at the London Sessions, when Eddie Guerin was sent to prison for 12 months for the theft of a suit case at Victoria Station. Counsel for the prosecution had appealed to the magistrate that the prisoner should be known as ' Edward Edwards," otherwise his trial would be prejudiced, and it was not until after his committal and a verdict of guilty that the identity of his notoriety was disclosed. Guerin, now nearly 70, has had an amazing career. He Was known alike in Europe and in America. First he served a sentence of three months as a "suspected person" in London, and then he crossed to France, where he got into trouble and was ordered to undergo ten years' imprisonment. Later he came into the hands of the Paris police.

Sharks As Guards. Two crimes were alleged against him, and the spoil reached the tremendous value of £16,000. It was _ said he was "the cleverest safe breaker in the world,, and that "no combination of steel could beat him." He was sent to Devil's Island for life. <• One night he and two companions stole away in the dead of night in a. boat and drifted along a shark-infested sea. "The sharks are the real guardians of the convicts," was one of his payings. The two other men would have given way and gone back, but Guerin levelled a revolver at them, and compelled them to row on and on till laud was reached. The French authorities wanted him back. They fought a hard battle in British law courts. Guerin, however, proved his British citizenship, and the fugitive was set free. He always declared thac after this he tried to live honestly. But, in his own expressive words, "The dice are loaded against me. Who will believe that a convicted thief wants to do what is right? Who will trust me?"