APOLOGIA OF A CRIMINAL.
Wh;en' Albert Crowther, aged thirty, a labourer, came up at Clerkenwell Sessions to answer the charge of stealing a scarf-pin, worth £80, from tie Earl of Ilchestei while the latter was walking in Jermyn-street early in the evening, ho handed in an extraordinary document, portions of which'were as follows: —
"My Lord,— think it but justice to myself that I should honestly tell you what motives led me to commit the crime. In the first place, I candidly admit that the jobbery was deliberately planned. I saw the earl go into a shop, but I waited till he came out. I had time to reflect on the crime and its consequences. "But the devil was too strong for me. I felt reckless with the recklessness of despair. I snatched the pin and made off, but an unknown, irresistible power made me turn back and walk into the gentle*man's aims.
"My lord, I have no pity for myself, therefore I shall not crave you to temper justice with mercy. I deserve all I get for bringing down my old father and mother's grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. " Hope has sprang up in. my heart, for I do not rogue and thief as I am, think I am past redemption." Mr. McConnell, K.C., passed a sentence of five years' penal servitude.'
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New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12278, 23 May 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)
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224APOLOGIA OF A CRIMINAL. New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12278, 23 May 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)
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