THE BLACK LIBRARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19502, 4 December 1926, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE BLACK LIBRARY.

BOPKS AT THE 01-D BAILEY. GRIM RECORDS OF CRIME. STRANGE,. FANTASTIC TALES. Within the Old Bailey iis the strangest collection of books in the world. It is known unofficially as the " Black Library' and contains a complete record of all the trials that have taken placo within thfise cold! stono wails. From these books it is possiible to trace the march of British, criminal law from ferocious cruelty and barbaric ignorance to the piesent times of enlightened justice, tempered with mercy. Strange and fantastic, gruesome, heartbreaking, are some of the stories told in these musty tomes. Old and dry-looking they are, but their yellowed pages throb with romance:, with the unending diama of human passions, weaknesses, wicked-' uessi, cunning, and, on the other hand, stea.dfast loyalty and indomitable coinage. Nowadays a jury need tear, nothing from the Bench, should it decide that an indicted person must have the benefit of a dubious doubt. That was not always so. For instance, in the " Black Library" one may read how William Penn, the pugnacious (Quaker and Father of the state of Pennsylvania, was tiied with one William Mead and acquitted on a charge of preaching to an unlawlul assembly in Gracechurch Street. This acquittal enraged the judge, who had the jury locked up without food for two- days and two nights in older to coerce them into returning a verdict of " Guilty." But the gallant jury held fast, and William Penn was acquitted. To-day, the infrequent hanging of a woman causes a general feeling of horror and repugnance against what seems an inhuman and terrible punishment. Yet, as the " Black Library" records, during the reign of the fhst three Georges no fewer than 160 offences were punishable by death, and women were shown nn greater mercy than men. Jury Saves a Woman's Life. Some idea of the ferocity of the law of those days may be gleaned from the fact that poor wietches passed from the grim dock of the Old Bailey, condemned to public execution for such trivial offences as stealing goods valued at five shillings from a shop, counterfeiting stamps to be used for the sale of perfumes, or stealing from a dwelling house goods worth fortv shillings. Once, it is recorded, a poor .woman was chaiged with the theft of £2 from a house. The penalty on conviction was death. What was the jury to do? The evidence was overwhelming. They found a verdict of " Guilty," adding a rider that the value of tho £2 was only thirty-nine shillings. A juryns said to be supiemo in the realm of facts, so the verdict stood, the poor woman was saved froth the gallows, and the law, to which attention hud thus been drawn, was amended. There is grim humour in these old records of crime. For instance, in 1623, one William Dominich was condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered for theft. But William was a cook -more, he had cooked for the king! What a waste, to execute a man who could titillate the Royal appetite. So word was carried to the king, and William was pardoned. Here, too, it is recorded that the notorious Jack Sheppard was once a highly-respected draper's assistant. The lull story of his life and of the lives oi many other famous denizens of the underworld is set forth in vivid detail. Michael Davitt's inscription. In the days when the earlier chapter# of this unique. l human document were written, prisoners were kept in Newgate prison itself. It was a clamp, dark, fever-ridden gaol. Yet before its old walls were demolished they yielded evi dence of great interest, shedding light upon the courage with which some prisoners faced their harsh lot. When Michael Davitt was waiting trial he scratched upon the wall of tho waiting room: " M.D. expects ton years for the crime of being 'lrish Nationalist and tho victim of an informer's perjury." • , lri one of the demolished cells was this pity-impelling inscription; 21,000 times have I walked round this cell in a week.' Incidentally, it supplies the key to the i riddle of prjso'n-wall inscriptions—thev are the result of the insufferable tedium of solitary confinement. Many of those old inscriptions were written in " thieves' slang. Thus: ' Fullied for a clock and slang," means, translated into English, committed for trial on the charge of stealing a watch and - chain. While ''Long bil expecs bolt," means that one William, a tall man, expects to be sent to penal servitude. j Witnesses On Hire. A great deal is heard nowadays about the prevalence of perjury. The records ol the " Black Library" show that prisoners awaiting trial in old Newgate often procured by payment witnesses whoso evidence theyyhoped might bring about their acquittal. Witnesses plied for hire openly, making a regular living by. perjury. But if they were caught and convicted they were hanged. But records of modern as well as ancient trials are kept in the " Black Library " Every Session new records are added to this great store-house of drama in the rough. Here one will find tho full story of the crime of Dr." Crippen, of Seddon the poisoner, of Bottomley, of Bvwater* and Mrs. Thompson, and alcove ofThers A London ' writer says:—" How will this library appear to the student of social history a thousand years hence ? Chiefiv he will stand astonished hefore the one supremely interesting central fact, which wilt rise up like a tower amid the ocean of human tragedies. And that fact is • As punishments have hecome more and more humane crime has diminished!"