A CELEBRATED CASE

Evening Post, Issue 145, 22 December 1928, Page 21

A CELEBRATED CASE

DETECTIVES IN THE BOX "The Trial 'of; tho Detectives.'' Edited by George -Diln'ot'.. London: Geoffrey Bles.: : ; ;' ■". -: ." Lord Byng has not been very long in the office of Commissioner, of the Metropolitan Police,'but he "is using the now besom on Scotland Yard with a vengeance. A London Press dispatch this geance. A.London Press dispatch last sergeant had accumulated £12,0,00 in bribes from- proprietors of West Bud night clubs —also • that ho owned considerable house .property and possessed ,\a .valuable ,motor-car' /.Ho was also accused of receiving bribes from the keeper of a disorderly house in Soho. The case recalls, but on the surface does not'look quite so" bad as, the celebrated trial of the Scotland Yard'- detectives, John Meikcljohn, Nathaniel :Druscoyitch,. .William Palmer, George Clarke, also Edward Froggatt, a solicitor, who were indicted with "unlawfully conspiring with William Kurr, Harry Benson, and others, to obstruct, defeat, and pervert the due course-of public justice." This remarkable trial took.place on 24rth October, 1877, before Baron; Charles. Pollock. Tho public, mind had somewhat subsided from tho long ebullition of; the Tichborne case, when .Arthur.,Ortonj an exbutcher of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, failed to convince Mr. Justice Hawkins that he was the'.;long-lost Roger Tichborne. .That..case .not only greatly disturbed, the public mind,.-but it assumed a political, complexion. ; The trial of the .detectives likewlso set the public by, the ears, but it possessed no political interest. ■;..-" „- ' . ..-■ . Mr. Dilnot, who is editing an excellent series of great • trials for Geof-frey-Bles (some of which have, already has reviewed .in this column), has doiie Ms ' work well in outlining the trial of the, Scotland' Yard' detectives in" 1877. People well past middle-age will recall tho sensation by this case, which lasted twenty days,; and was remarkable for its brilliant array of legal talent before the Judge. For the Crown t^ere appeared Sir John: Holker, Q.C.,: Sir Hardinge Giffard, Q.C., and threo others; counsel for the.accused detectives included Sir Douglas Straight, Sir' Montague Williams,; Sir : Edwanl Clarke, Sir John Gorst, Q.C., and Sir Charles Mathews before, they were knighted, and Sir Horace ' Avory., Many of'those who ■ appeared for prosecution and dofence are dead, but one of them, in the .person of Sir Horace Avory, survived to take a place among the Judges on tho English Bench,-and there he is today. Sir Edward Clarke,, too, is .stillin the land of the 'living.',,-..-• : The prisoners one and all declined to plead, and the Judge directed" that a plea of, "Not guilty" should bo entered for each, of them. '■' Excepting Clarke, who was - released, on his own recognisances, the other detectives wero found ; guilty 'and • sentenced;, to , two years' hard la'boui', I and. Froggatt was similarly sentenced. ■'' ■ ■ ';.'. ' A PAIR OF SWINDLERS. : The conspiracy ;for which the' detectives : and Froggatt -were punished was a' collaboration in the first in-1 stance of \ Harry, Benson and William Kurr. The master-mind was possessed .by\Benson, son of. a- respectable:-Brit-' ish merchant ofe Jewish extraction, in business .in Paris./ Kurr ' was .ouly'23 when ho met Benson, was the ; son of a prosperous baker,; and began life as a railway clerk. >: But he thought he was meant for better things, and elected to devote • his time and talents to :the Turf. -At 19 he was working with a bookmaker in' a small and commonplaco" betting swindle. But Kurr .felt he was destined for^big business, so he took a partner'and opened an ioffiee in the Strand, ■ whence .he issued invitations to tho, sporting public, to ..engage in,his system of:-"discretionary invest-.1 meut" by means of which in, theory they "could not lose," but by which in practice they, never won. Kurr not only made a big financial success of his scheme while the going was good, but at'the same.! time acquired' a' reputation among the bookmaking fraternity of preternatural: shrewdness.1,:,-■'. Then v. .he met - Detective , Meikeljohn., ■: Neither made any attempt to conceal his identity.-: Kurr admitted he "■ was: a '."bookmaker; Meikeljohn; introduced himself as a detective. The two of- them got along-very : well', together.,. Kurr ■ van-: ished from the Strand and set up a sim-'; ilar business ;-as Philip 'Gardner;; and. Co. in. ; Scotland. : Meikeljohn had -to 'in-'j ves'tigate the affairs' of< this firm, and ■Kurr; took a. hint" from 'him to clear out'to the United States..' When ho ro-. turned Meikeljohn-met .him, and for £100 let him have freedom from interference.;, Kurr; began another betting enterprise in- Glasgow,l and in order-to assist him advertised.for-a'smart writer' of betting .-publicity. '. Benson, applied for; the job, and'got itt ■ ;It- did not take them long to recognise each the talents of-:.,the :other. ■■'' They worked betting swindles together. Benson, who engaged :to' Kurr under the name' of Youge, was^ already "an 'accomplished criminal," although still-a young, man. He; had. done journalistic work; for French papers, : and said :he,.had acted ,as .Brussels correspondent,of the,Paris"Gaulois.'' In London , he; posed. sometimes as tho Marquess Montmorenci, sometimes as Count do Montagu, and under ono of these names; ho hoodwinked the Lord Mayor of London. He was then but 24, buffull :o.f promise of a brilliant career in ■ crime. He managed to impose upon Mr. Alfred Kothschild and Colonel. Stuart ..iWortley, who' were members of the French Relief' Committee, and from them ho obtained a cheque; for ,£1000.;; Two days, later he, was, arrested for forgery, and sent to Newgate. There he set his bed alight and lay, on it until his legs were dreadfully burned, and ho nearly died of the.in juries. Ho received a sentence iof. twelve months on his recovery from the burns. Then, supported", by; 'his -relatives, he lived ' quietly in London until ho recovered the use ; of his legs, and saw Kurr's advertisement, answered it^ andwas engaged. ; „,..;,':,. .;■".' . HEAVY SENTENCES. ■..-' - : Then .the pair ' hunted' together, ,iu-1 .yolying, not /only Meikeljohn, but tho. other detectives and Froggatt, the law-' yer. On one occasion, thanks to their .arrangement with ■ the • detectives, Kurr and.Bonsou made £4000 in six days._ They /brought others into their ingenious ' betting schemes, and coined money, at tho same time rewarding.the detectives vfor intimations. But .the pair were caught in the end, Benson receiving 15 years, and Kurr and his . brother 10 year's. In the hope of miti-! gation; of their sentences, Benson and Kurr betrayed the detectives and Froggatt, whose- conduct: already was : the subject of. Home Office investigation. The, report .; in, .-review is of their trial, not that :of Benson arid Kurr, although their swindles were described in the course of the proceedings./ : Benson served ten of his fifteen yoars, ! and' was released in 1887. He rejoined Kurr and his brother. The three of them'-went; :to the "United States, and there engaged at once in mining swindles. Bensbn'ahd the Kurrs ■ cleared out when the American police got on to' their trails,' and flitted to Belgium, where : they • .instituted another swindle, were prosecuted, and sent to prison forv.two; years. Regaining ■ his liberty, Benson- went' to Geneviv. Posing as an/American banker,- „he there became engaged, to the daughter of a sur-geon-general-in the Indian Army. When, he had fleeced .his prospective, father-in-law of fi'7ooo and .was arrested at Bremen, when.' about to return to'the States. The surgeon-general was lucky enough'to recover £5000 of his "money. ■ But Bensou's gieatest achievement

perhaps was in deceiving Adclina Patti, when she arrived in New York, that ho was a member of her reception committee, came aboard the boat in advanco, and in deluding the committee, ■ when it did arrive, that ho was an intimate friend of the Diva. On the strength of this incident and his amazing effrontery he made thousands of pounds in Mexico by posing as Patti's advance agent and selling bogus tickets for her performances in advance of her appearance. He was bowled out, but escaped to tho United States, and was arrested in Now York. This time ho dicr not get away. When" filing with other prisoners along a gallery on the topmost story of the Tombs Prison, ho made a runuing jump over the rail, and fell with a crash to the floor of the prison, and was picked up dead. The story of the great trial, especially the glimpses it affords of Benson's exploits and adventures is far more absorbing than any work of fiction. The speeches of men like Montague Williams, Sir Edward Clarke, and Sir John Holkcr, Attorney-General, arc masterpieces of their kind. Baron Pollock's charge to the jury is a marvel of directness and sibplicity—Z.