DEVIL’S ISLE CONVICT

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 85, 4 January 1930, Page 21

DEVIL’S ISLE CONVICT

POLICE MYSTERY CLEARED UP. A police court mystery was cleared up at a London dourt last mouth when Eddie Guerin was sent to prison for 12 months for tiie theft of a suitcase at a railway station. Counsel for the prosecution hail 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 commital and a verdict of guilty-had been returned that the identity of this 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’ imprisonment ns a “suspected person” in London, and then he crossed to France, where lie got into trouble and was ordered to undergo ten years’ imprisonment. Later he. came into the bauds of the Paris police ... 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. . Guerin tells the story of how at night he and two companions stole away in a boat and drifted along a shark-infested sea. “The sharks are the real guardians of the convicts,” was one of his sayings. 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 land was readied. The French authorities wanted Guerin back. They fought a hard battle in the British law courts. Guerin, however, proved his British citizenship and the fugitive was set free. He always declared that 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?”