SENTENCES

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 99, 28 April 1909, Page 5

SENTENCES

* PRISONERS IN THE SUP£E«£( COUBT. FOUR. YEARS' IMPEISOINMENT, v FOR COUNSELLING- CRIME. A MODERN FAGOT. First and foremost of^ the six < prison*. ■ers who came up for sentence before Mr, Justice Chapman this morning was., Charles Baker, whose case formed a% interesting phase of the seEsion of tlie(4 Court of Appeal last -week. ' ■ _ At the beginning of thß year, Bakar^, ! irom Wellington, wrote a letter to.»;i man named William Maurice Scott, a% Wanganui, giving him explicit insfcrues tions in the art of safe-breaking. Thick document, with its lurid side-light oak criminal life, was published at the tim©. the case was hearicL before the Court of ■Appeal. Baker was naturally implicat-v ed _ in the crime of breaking and en 4, tering into "The Economic," Wanganui, *! : which Scott and a confederate, named/*' Way, actually committed immediately^. after the receipt of his Letter. He waftj arrested and stood his trial at Wa-w nganui before Mr. Justice Chapman, win* on account of several unusual features, of the case, reserved ceriain questions) tor the Court of Appeal. The jury hadi«, found Baker guilty of writing a letter;,..' with i*eference to a crime or crimes con-i, ' "templated, but not with reference to a&'> contemplated crime to ba committed ats,| "The Economic." This practically]-,] amounted to a verdict of guilty. The Court of Appeal, after long coni* sidcration, unanimously found Baker} guilty on the eighth count of the in-^ dictment, namely, that on the sth Feb*, ruary, he did attempt on the premises of George and Kersley, Ltd., Wanganui," to steal the contents of certain locked! safes by means of an explosive. Tha conviction was thus affirmed. Baker, who is a swarthy, middle-aged! man of middle height, with a heavy black moustache, remarked, on his entry into the dock after hearing the! charge, that he had! been put to a lotf of trouble. He did not want to appeal, and it would take him twelve months to pay back the money he owed. Ha had not been in trouble for some cota-t siderable time before. He hoped hiafo Honour would be lenient with him. His Honour: He has a bad recor<2>The Inspector of Police tells me thai.-! this man is a.bSut as bad a character^ from the police and the public poinfoi of view as ever came before the conrfc.. He has lived on the proceeds of pros-i ' titution and unlawful gaming even since the inspector has known him, andb^ that is a good many years. '■> Inspector Ellison : Five or six years^i your Honour. I His Honour (to the prisoner) : Yoo'J have not borne a. good character, and? < now jfou are starting on a very dangerous career. It.is my duty to endeavourf to stop that. So far as this parlacuiaflf case is concerned, it seems quite pbinf■that you were willing to dSrect fhesef young men in the art of safe breaking.; One can scarcely read your letter wthV, out teeing that you are familiar wrkbi that kind of thing, familiar generally? •with crime involving raids on the pro-* perty of your fellow-citizens. The case is a very baiefacedi one. It is not likely! these young men. ■would have attempted! that kind of crime -unless they had re-> ceived your letter. The case calls for a somewhat' severe sentence. You are sentenced to four years' imprisonments with hard labour. The prisoner said "Right," and iefffe the dock muttering under his breath. ASKED TO FEEL m§. POCKETS. A novel explanation of a misdeed waa advanced by John Gordon Gooder, an elderly man, when he was asked if ho had anything to say why he should nofc be sentenced on a charge of theft from the person. His Honour had perused the police report and a written statement handed in by the prisoner. "You have been. ,• convicted several times," he said, addressing Gooder. "On two occasions,, your Honour." " And it has been the same thing oa\ each occasion. You got drunk and stolflf^ things from the person." "There was no attempted theft." "I don't know what else it can b#f' called." ( "He invited me to feel his pockets, which I did." (Laughter.) The person was one John Glen, labour-, er, the place Hastings. His Honour advised Gooder, who did nofc have a bad record, and had stolen, only a few shillings, to be more careful in the future. The sentence was threff " months' imprisonment. BROTHERS IN TROUBLE. The brothers Doreen, William Herbert, and Ernest Alfred, .had unfortunately, in spite of their youth, a "past.'" Both were Burnham Industrial School boys,, and in their later crimes had worked together. They were much alike in appearance, small, wiry young fellows. They came up for sentence on three separate charges of theft from dwellings at Napier. They were already servingsentences on recent convictions tii"* a similar kind at Napier. They had no-. thing to say why sentence should nofr bo passed. His Honour warned them against tha impending fate of the indeterminate sentence, if they continued in their criminal course, and sentenced Ernest Alfred, the elder, to nine months' imprisonment, and William Herbert, the younger, to six months'. A VICTIM OF THE RACECOURSE.A youth named Barrow was represented by Mr. Buddie. His offence was that of breaking, entering, and theft atf JUasterton. His counsel said that Barrow up to 12 months* ago ' had led a diligent, honest, straightforward, useful life. Then he lost his employment and' fell among spielers. His bad companions had tended to demoralise their new acquaintance. He had drifted irom racecourse 1 to racecourse. . Ho had been pre* \iously convicted of the theft of a bicycle five years ago, and there could be no application lor probation. His mother had, however, made ' arrange* r.'ents to send him up country, as soon a > hib sentence expired. She "v. as fatisfied that in tuitire he would lead a better Me. .Mr. "Myers (for the Crown) added that' Buivow had come from Australia in 1800. He had during the past few months spent all his money -with liis evil associates, and, most probably, that had led him to commit the offence which had bi ought him before the court. His Honour : It is very desirable' that a young fellow of jour age should ha\ c anotho chance. You are ionteuced to four months' imprisonment. ADMITTED TO PROBATION. William James Joseph Miles, a man of middle age, had ploidod guilty to the theit of a trap and harness at Wavcilcy.He told his Honour this morning that lie \\.as a bricklayer by trade, a married man with three children. He h>id originally worked in Auckland, Inul <oitib I down to Waverley. got hard up, took tile trap to Eltham, and sold it to get money to pay his pjissage back to Auckland. He intended to pay, the owner back, and asked for probation that ha ! might be enabled to do so. There was nothing else against the* man, and his Honour admitted him to piobation for two years, with a pro* vision that he should repay the raoneVj £8, at the rate of 15s a months