K.C. — For The Defence

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 237, 5 October 1940, Page 4 (Supplement)

K.C. — For The Defence

IT was Sir Frank Lockwood who defended Charles Peace, certainly the most spectacular burglar and star criminal of the last 80 years. It is said that Peace once attended a trial to hear a man condemned to death for a murder he himself had committed. If ever a man lived a double life he did, being looked upon in the suburbs where he resided as a quiet inoffensive and pleasant little man. On Sundays he seemed to like nothing better than to spend the evening playing the flute or violin to any of his neighbours who were musically inclined. But at nighttime . . . what a demon! It was then that he sallied forth to rob, always armed, and was one of the most dangerous burglars with whom the police ever had to deal. He had a sallow mulatto-like face and a trick of being able to dislocate his jaw which enabled him to disguise himself completely. For years no burglar was more successful and less suspected. When in London he used to dispose of the proceeds of his burglaries to receivers who met him at a public house in the East End called "The King of Prussia," kept by one Alice Joel, an aunt of the late Solly Joel. In the end he was caught. He shot ■ dead a policeman who had surprised him on one of his housebreaking expeditions, and for this he was hanged. During his imprisonment at Strangeways Gaol visitors always inquired if they might have a look at him, and this many of them were permitted to do through the hole in the cell doors used by wardens to keep a watch on their charges. Becoming aware that this practice was being indulged in, he lay in wait and as the little iron disc was pulled aside spat with astounding accuracy into a woman's eye.

By Sir Seymour Hicks

w ai The famous act r, who has attended gi every famous trial for the past 50 u pears. He is ?iow chief organiser of entertainment for the troops. —— ti After his client's execution Lockwood was in his chambers one day when his clerk informed him that several o ladies in deep mourning wanted to see P him. 1 They were Peace's widow, his daughter, ail aunt, and some other relatives. P Lockwood was a little perturbed, but " told his servant to show them in. When they entered he bade them be J seated and at once addressed them sayincr, "Ladies, I am extreme,lv sorry. I d can assure you I did my best, but you see " . Here one of the women broke in upon ] him and said: "I am afraid, sir, you mistake the object of our visit. We have come to a offer you our <rrateful thanks for the c verv satisfactory results of the trial. We are all most relieved." t The Chieftain Lockwood was an expert caricaturist g and a more than ordinarily witty man. t His wife was the sister-in-law of the McLean of Lochbuie. This old Highland chieftain, whose estates were in the Isle of Mull, was justly proud of its ] ancestry and always insisted on being introduced not as Mr. McLean but as "Lochbuie." At a party he attended, accompanied 1 by the Lockwoods, he and his wife were announced by the footman as "Lochbuie and Mrs. McLean." Lockwood, lived in Kensington, whispered in the* footman's ear and walked with his wife at his side to be announced as "14, Lennox Gardens and Lady Lockwood."

The laughter was long and loud. A great contem|>orary of Lockwood'a vas Montage Williams, who had been tn actor before going to the Bar. His ( rreat forte was the way he could play lpon a jury in his final address, and on >ne occasion when defending a labourer charged with killing his wife, spoke for wo hours. He used every artifice at his comliand and entranced even those of his )wn profession. At the end of his impassioned peroration he sat down exhausted, to well-merited applause. On the jury retiring the prisoner, pointing to Williams, said to one of the warders, "Who's him 1" The warder replied, "That is Mr. Montague Williams, the great advocate." "Oh, is it?" said the labourer. "Dull devil, ain't he?" He was hanged. The Bowler Hat Williams often told a story of an acquittal he obtained for a prisoner charged with murder. The case for the prosecution depended entirely on proving that a bowler hat found near the victim's belonged to the man in dock. This the defence strenuously denied, and the battle for two day 9 raged round this piece of evidence. Mr. Williams, in his final address, holding the hat in his hand, so convinced the jury that no shadow of evidence had been brought to prove that the owner of the headwear was the accused man that they brought in a verdict of "Not guilty." As the man left the dock, free, he turned back and said, "Thank you very much, Mr. Williams—l'm much obliged to you. "And oh, by the way," he added, pointing to the hat on which his life had depended, "do you mind handing me my hat?" _<3>