A MODERN JACK SHEPPARD.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3676, 28 February 1899, Page 3

A MODERN JACK SHEPPARD.

WHY HE BECAME A NOTORIOUS ■ . CRIMINAL. ! HE THREATENS VENGEANCE. A. .prisoner named Joseph Dealing, aged'.. •■s2,. dMivered.a remarkable:speechirecently ‘ d,t the Croydon Quarter Sessions, on hi? appearance there before the Recorder op ‘a charge of breaking and entering a tailor's shop in Station road, at West Croydon, and stealing three coats and a waistcoat. A warder named Hands, of Her Majesty’s Prison, Wandsworth, proved a long list of previous convictions against the prisoner, including sentences df seven years’ penal servitude andXtwo years’ hard labour After his discharge from Dartmoor he .'was, sent for a time to an asylum, and since h? had been awaiting-J:rial on this "charge be had been under close observation by the doctor at Holloway,' but showed no symp toms of insanity. While in prison he was a source of great trouble. On being called, upon t# plead, The prisoner said it did not really troub: r him what sentence the Recorder passe upon him. He was sorry to say it did no.' take the least effect upon him. Had no the late Sir Thomas Edridge,. J.P., mact such a- mistake twenty years ago; in send ing him to prison : fpr one of his'first Defences, he had not the least doubt that a! the present day he.would not be,classed a ; a notorious criminal. He asserted that all the way ’ through his little' crimes ho had never- had any'mercy shown him' When the late Sir William Hardman sen fenced'him to seven years-, penal.'servitude for stealing a pair of boots worth 2s, C ■ he told him that it would be the only chan:;he would have. But it was a very poor chance, and, on coming out of prison he was obliged to redress such an outrageor sentence, and, he would do the same again It all depended upon what sentence w: e passed upon him now whether he should reform or not; if he had a,'severe sentence ■ when-he came out he would do something greater than " burglarising ” in that town He told them plainly to their faces-that hrwould do it He had told the police so all, the way through. When he'was in court last time he did so, and he had told thpolice what he had done, and as far as he was concerned he had assisted them cr this occasion Had ho not pleaded guilty the jury could only have convicted him o' . unlawful possession,-, seeing that ho was nowhere near the place and was not ar rested until some time afterwards, and the ’ about a mile away. .He would own he had the things in his possession, he would soy he stole them; belwould go further and say. that he broke into.the place What •could they do with him?- Only send hir 'back from whence be came, but they coull not reform him in the least. It was not the sentence, it; was his life ,in prison where he got more kicks than halfpence He had had more than^.one....broom-hand!?, broken-over his back, and had had one r.° the; most' outrageous assaults committe 1 upon him. . - The prisoner-was sentenced 'to thre" years' penal..servitude, to be followed Irene year’s police supervision , The Recorder, in passing sentence, said the oijly difficulty he had was to know.wha ■ to do with the prisoner, There was idoubt in his mind as to whether he wasane, but he had a letter from the medics 1 officer of Holloway Prison saying that dur ing his incarceration there he had. bee- 1 kept under close observation, and ther.’ was no reason for supposing that he was insane '. The Prisoner;-No, certainly not; I have been under his observation for five weeks and have,shown not the slightest symptom of insanity. The Recorder said -he-would-be please’’ now to treat him with every possible lent. ency,.if he had the slightest possible horthat he would reform. He - had’.alreadundergone the long sentence of 6oven years’ : penal servitude, and he. could not do lesthan order him to be detained in penal servitude for three years, to be followed ba year’s police'supervision. He tinder .(Stood thgt the prisoner was known ,by the 'soubriquet of " Jack Sheppard.” Was it .not time he changed that name,” • Prisoner: Not in the least. ; The Recorder: In prison you can ask th' - gnvernor to lend you some hooks. Rea' l about Gordon, and see if you can’t make Gordon your hero instead' of Jack Shep ,pard." ; Prisoner: That is verv good advice, and I thank you for it, but I cannot take tha 1 in I’ll do mv three years, and when I come out I will wrealc vengeance. He was then removed.