GENTLE BEGGAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12740, 17 December 1904, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENTLE BEGGAR.

£300 A YEAR FROM BEGGING. Quite a crowd of people battled at the doors of the Guildhall in order to catch a glimpse of Cecil Brown Smith, the man, it will be remembered, who is alleged to have made a comfortable income by feigning..paralysis and begging in the city. The police, however, had not completed their case, with the ."result that; comparatively little fresh evidence was offered, and Smith was again remanded. Still, it was something to be able to look upon a man against whom such remarkable allegations are made, and who. should the statements of the police prove correct, lias lived a life almost similar to that of the "Man with the Twisted Lip," whose fraud was discovered by Sherlock Holmes. '.Dressed re, spectabiy, but by no means smartly, Smith mounted* the dock staircase unaided, and then leaned casually against the rail. He betrayed, so far a* the ordinary, observer could" judge, no symptom of. paralysis. He has a sallow complexion, a dark face, and an aquiline nose divides a pair of close-set and rather vacant-looking brown eyes. His forehead runs back into his dark hair, and his receding, unshaven chin droops so that his mouth is left open in somewhat foolish fashion. But, when it comes to talking, Smith is mno way foolish. He is self-pos-sessed and keen, and he. cross-examined the detectives in an educated voice, and in a manner which plainly left the magistrate in no small degree astonished. In answer to the charge that lie "did go about collecting alms by false pretences," he quietly answered,' '" Not guilty." The two detectives, officially described as "plain-clothes patrols," had their former evidence read over again to them by the clerk. They had seen prisoner moving slowly about the streets of the city, with his head wagging on one side, and dragging one leg painfully along. Pas-sers-by frequently dropped silver into the cigar-bos containing a few matches, which Smith carried. Poor charwomen, too, often stopped on their way to work to give him a penny. One of the detectives then went on to describe how he had followed Smith home in a second-class carriage to the ■ Crystal Palace station, where the ''paralysed" man was paralysed no longer, but tan up the steps two at a time. At a shop outside the station Smith refreshed himself with oysters, and then walked briskly home to his cosy £30 villa, his wife, it is said, knowing nothing of how he came by his money. On the way home he met a young woman to whom he lifted his hat, and with whom he shook hands, using his ''paralysed" arm for the purpose/; It was at this point that Smith took up his cross-examination. , He lifted his hands from the dock rail, revealing a sheer of closely-written notes, and shook a warning finger at the detective. " Now, remember." he said, "you are on oath. Which hand did I raise my hat with?" " The right hand.'' was the reply. "On whiieh side of the lady was I standing?"' asked Smith. "On the right side." Smith with the gesture of a special pleader, threw out his hands. " Gentlemen," he exclaimed. " I appeal to you. How —"' Here, however, the clerk cut him short with, " Never mind about that;,you can make your statement afterwards." And; Smith subsided with a quiet, " Very well, sir." But Smith's statement was not to be beard, for Inspector Penton went into the box and asked for a remand, saying that he had heard that morning that Smith bad been previously convicted, and that he had not found time to go into the matter. At this point, therefore., the magistrate remanded Smith. They told him that if he had any witnesses to "call he should bring them forward then. " I have not asked for- any legal assistance," said Smith, "because I intended to read a statement in which I have written the whole troth; I have written to my wife, asking her to bring my local doctor here, but I have had no repbr." He made an application that such money and valuables as he had upon him at the time of his «rrest should be sent to his wife. and then witu an-;almost graceful inclination of his head to the magistrate lie walked briskly down the dock steps.