TRAPPED BY FATE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XX, Issue 2065, 10 January 1925, Page 2

TRAPPED BY FATE.

MOST ASTOUNDING CASE. The law can be a very terrible tbing to tbe innocent as well ns to the guilty. This truth has been demonstrated tipon many occasions, for there are scores o>f instances in tho judicial history of this and other countries wheie completely innocent people have suffered martyrdom for crimes which jhey never committed. But how really tragically justice can go astray has never been more evident than iu the case of Adolf Beck, whose martyrdom is not only an astounding example of the terrible net of seeming guiltl which ooincidenceo an weave around an innocent person, but also an astounding illustration of the fallibility of human testimony. Much has come tb light within tho past few years regarding the Beck co r ,e. A great deal, however, has been untrue, and it has been left to Mr Brie R. Watson L,L.8., the well-known criminologist, to preseum the full and true facts to the public, which he does in "Trial of Adolf Beck," says a writer in "lit Bits."

"The Beck case will, 1 venture to ohiuk," writes tho author, "remain one of them ost remarkable instances of a genuine miscarriage of justice, resulting neither from want of good faith on the part of those concerned in t<he prosecution, nor from want of skill and experience on the part of those responsible for the defence, but from a singularly sinister combination of unhappy coincidences, such as can seldom happen in the legal history of any country-" The main facts of the case are these: One day a woman named Meissonier was passing along Victoria Street LouSon, when she saw a man whom she recognised as the same person who had robbed her by means of a wick of a watch and some rings some three weeks before. She spoke to him, taxing him with the theft, and the man—Beck—who hue a superficial resemblance to the real culprit, immediately ran to a uear--1)V policeman, to whom he complained about the woman. The latter persisted in her statement and in the end the three—the woman, Beck and the policeman—wctuj to the police station. where Beck was ultimately charged with theft. DRAMATIC COINCIDENCES. Sue was the beginning of the unhappy events which were to have such terrible consequences for Beck. A number olf young women came forward and identified Beck n? the culprit. In each case the adventurer's methods had been the. same. He would contrive to make friends with a girl, would write to her making an appointinoiif>, and then induce her to give him her rings, making the excuse that ho wished them for the size so that he could make her a present of others more valuable. He would also make ~,ut a cheque and, before leaving, oorrow some small change. Two coincidences were to play their part in tlie conviction of Beck. First was Hint the notepaper employed by the vhiof was usually that of wellknown hotels, some of which Beck also had been positively known to use. Secondly, the real culprit was a German, while Beck was also a foreigner —a Norwegian—and both thus spoke with foreign accents, a vital fact when it came to the question otf identifkaion. Beck was brought before the Court and remanded. Then occurred whati was perhaps the most unfortunate inci.ent—excepting the actual conviction an dthe identification by the women—in the whole case. A welkmeaning individual remind* dthe police that in 1877 a series of thefts had been carried out by a man named Smith, who had been convicted, and he suggested that John Smith and Adolph Beck might be one and the same. The police officers who had been concerned in the Smith case were called, and both were equally confident on seeing Beck than he was the man Smith. A hand-writing expert staged that Heck's writing and that in the Smith case were the same. Tho police were satisfied, and Beck was placed on trial and sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. BEHIND PEISON BARS. Now if the previous conviction of 1877 had been charged against Beck hec ould have prove dan alibi, for in 1877 lie"was in Peru and thus obviously could noil have been pursuing a life of crime in London. Hut he was charged upoai a misdemeanour indictment. This meant that the case was considered upon the evidence without reference to the previous conviction, and thus Beck Avas prevented from bringing evidence to show that lie was not the author of the 1877 crimes. Although in Count Beck had not been charged with being the criminal Smith, when he went tb prison his identity with the convict of 1877 was presumed right from the beginning. He was given the convict number DW523, this having been the number of SmiiMi. The "\Y" indicated a previous conviction. In the meantime Heck's solicitor had discovered that Smith was a Jew, and after much trouble he succeeded in getting the prison anthoriitfcs to compare the distinguishing marks of Beck with those that had been recorded of Smith. It wassh own than Beck was a Gentile, and obviously could not be Smith, a Jew. Here, then, was ample oxcusex for further inquiry upon the part of tho authorities. nothing Avas done, it being hold that tho discovery did not affect the propriety of the conviction. Adolf Beck Avas released in 1901. During his incarceration tho frauds had ceased—the fact being that Smith Avas abroad—but a year or two after his reloase Beck was again arrested and convicted. Before sentence Avas passed, however, a clever poilice officer learned vliat a man had been arrested and taken to Tottenham Court Road Police Station on an identical charge to that which Beck had faced. He made further inquiries and discovered (jhat the man Avas Smith. Not only was Heck released, but ho Avas granted a free pardon in respect of both convictions. He was also awarded-idler a great public outcry -—£sooo from the Treasury.