JOSEPH MYRS SENTENCED.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXX, Issue 3785, 6 July 1899, Page 7

JOSEPH MYRS SENTENCED.

THREE YEARS’ IMPRISONMENT. . ; j SERMON FROM-T-HE DOCK. ~l Joseph Myers,' who fed' already heel, friund ■ guilty., of ,p,ne,. charge of forgery, and Jiad, been' .from Jbe previous ,day on u secpiuV. ckarge, the jury having failed to agre<v.;was, brought before ■ .-Mr. ' Justice Denniston ; m -the Supreme.' Court yesterday, morning.- ; |Mr -Stringer,' 'whorepresented ;the Ci'own 1 , announced that’he ; ’did hot propose to proceed -siny ftirtber- ‘ HVifcii L char"cs against '• the'accused'. 1 -- ‘ ■ His Honor: .Call .upon ..the. prisoner.. ■ln reply to the hsufil'question Jiy tht Registrar, the prisoner, who was' deeply moved, addressed His Honor. He said hkving been found guilty by bis Judge; he bad nothing further to say on that sdore. He would like to say that his present position was entirely the result of gambling transactions m which he bar. become involved, and-which began on a small scale when he was.very young, and gradually increased as. his- losses increased. He became.involved and was 'unable, try as he might, to extricate himself from the web that , had spun around him. He tried many times to give it up. He was unable under ordinary .circumstances- to even pay the interest on the money borrowed to meoti his losses. He paid in interest last yeai £’2500, and he also pointed out that during the last two or three years he had paid away to his creditors £4BOO. ’To do this he had sold- everything lie possessed, personal property of all dry seriptions, even tp.the ring off his finger. Pie was a young man with, the best, part of his life before him,.. He trusted, with Hod’s help, to bear his'.punishment manfully, and to endeayour to retrieve his position by living an upright life in the future, arid thus retrieve the mistakes of the past. He.respectfully drew His •Honor’s attention to the. fact that foi nearly eight months he had been ir .custody and'suspense,-and he also asked His Honor to take ’into 'consideration the mental torture he" had been under,going for years—Hint- had been simply indiseribable. He .Concluded with : “I throw myself upon 'Your Honor’s niercy.” • h. | His Honor;"-Joseph: Myers; the sentence of thb Court is .that, t.you he imprisoned for three years on each charge, the sentences to be concurrent. ■ j Myers’ was then removed.