Profit from Being Imprisoned.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2902, 17 January 1911, Page 2

Profit from Being Imprisoned.

Risks Run in Making Arrests. There are coincidences that stagger belief, and one of them recently occurred Id a certain provincial town. A man was badly "wanted" for committing a series of swindles. After he had lon« been hunted for high and low, a detective ran against somebody who answered to the description of the slippery rogue in every particular. Confident that he had made a.n important capture, he took his man into custody. Hardly had he had time to get to the counter before a brother officer walked in with the arrested man's " double"—the real culprit. The two, who had been taken simultaneously miles apart, were strangely alike, and yet in no way related.

This incident demonstrates how easily a man may be wrongfully incarcerated. It is quite 'possible for any one of us to he laid by the heels for a crime of which we know nothing whatever. We need not, however, repine much on this score; for if we are unjustly imprisoned we can get a handsome solatium from the police or others who may be at fault.

Sometimes, in fact, it pays to undergo an ordeal of this nature. While the police of a certain town were watching the railway stations with a view to warning off undesirable visitors, a passenger was pointed out to them as an old criminal. In consequence of this information they requested the man to depart forthwith, and on his refusing to do so took him into custody. The step cost them dear ; for it was afterwards proved that the man wae perfectly respectable, and to settle matters they had to give him £2O, representing compensation at the rate of more than one sovereign for every hour he was imprisoned. In another case a man whose movement! were very suspicious was kept under observation on several successive days. Eventually a woman—one of the spectators at a cricket match—charged him with having picked her pocket. He was therefore arrested. On 'being searched, however, the missing property was not found on him. Now, had the police let him go they would have been safe ; but they did not—they kept him in the expectation that "something would turn up." Something did turn up with a vengeanceclear, indubitable evidence that the man was a retired manufacturer of somewhat eccentric habits, with a mania" for rambling about the country. The police, knowing only too well that they were in the wrong, sought to mollify their victim. But this was a difficult task, and it was not till they had given him a written apology, together with the sum of £26, that they succeeded. The police are not the only members ol the community who have to suffer when they injure the innocent. Paiwabrokers also smart in similar circumstances. " Uncle" has power to detain any article offered to him in pledge that he may have reason to believe is stolen : but he has no legal privileges in so doing. The law does not protect him should a mistake be made in consequence of his action. In many cases pawnbrokers have been obliged to give heavy compensation, owing to the unjustifiable action of the police after they have detained property belonging to the pledgers. A few years back one of the money-lenders of the million had to pay, directly and indirectly, more than £IOO in these circumstances.

The general public, too. are sometimes mulcted in damages when they maliciously cause a man to be imprisoned. A chief constable Tecently told the writer that thii happens a good deal oftener than is generally known. No fewer than three cases in point, he added, had come within his knowledge in the course of twelve months. In one the Grand Jury ttirew out the bill, and afterwards the accused brought an action against his enemy. Before, ho*ever, it could be heard, the foiled prosecutor—a shopkeeper—proposed terms, eventually gave the man he had outraged £2ofl to stay proceedings. It was only with much reluctance that he accepted this amount, and after his legal adviser had pressed him to take a business view ol the situation. Thinking, however, that £2OO would pay him well for the Imprisonment he had undergone, he took the money, and in the following week sailed for Canada.