A WEIRD CONFESSION

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11046, 1 November 1921, Page 5

A WEIRD CONFESSION

“ CRIMINAL AT HEART ” CONSCIENCE-STRICKEN MAN’S * REMORSE. A WELLINGTON INCIDENT. CHRISTCHURCH, October 31. A man named Frederick James Blandford Bennett pleaded guilty at the Magistrate’s Court to the charges of stealing sums aggregating £4lO from four persons on representations that they were to be invested in a “patent royalty company.” “A DOUBLE, DECEITFUL LIFE.” The following strange statement was appended to his confession, which was handed to the bench:—“The enormity of my sin has burdened my conscience and compels me to surrender myself into your hands. For some time past I have been living a double, deceitful life. I cannot endure the agony of this guilty conscience any longer. Friends have placed every confidence in me. I have abused that sacred trust, and misappropriated money to my own use. “From Alan Gilbert, People’s Palace, Wellington, I received £59, giving a guarantee to pay him £IOO for an investment covering a period of two months. This is only one of several whom I have deceived by my lie-telling and dishonesty in actions, but, above all, I have deceived one of the best, purest, and noblest of girls, who trusted and loved me, leading her to believe that I had money of my own : when I had none, promising marriage and a trip to England, which in my heart I knew to be an absolute jm.possibility. This trouble and deception on my part I know will crush the very . life out of this poor girl. I appeal to' my friends and the sympathetic public to feel for this poor girl and help her in this great trouble. "A ROGUE AND CRIMINAL.” “I am guilty of all badness possible, am a rogue in every sense of the word, and not fit to be at liberty to trade on the confidence of the trusting public. I am really not responsible for my actions, a-criminal at heart and a disgrace to the community, and I trust when sentence is meted but to me it will be one of life, so that I may never have the opportunity again of defrauding people. I ask for no leniency or consideration whatsoever, save that loving and considerate feeling he ex-. tended to this girl, also to her dear father and mother.” Here followed two eight-line verses of poetry, the first verse of which had a reference to “the curse of the gipsy blood,” while the second verse ran: — He has failed, he has failed, he has missed his chance, He has just done things by half; Life’s been a jolly good joke .to him, And now is the time to laogh. Ha. Urn! He is one of the legion lost, He wa® never meant to win; He’s a rolling stone and its bred in the bone, He’s a man who Won’t fit in. “I am one of the above victims of circumstances, an insane man who tried his hardest, but has failed, and made a complete failure of my. life. Since t heard the sermon of the Bishop of Christchurch on Sunday, October 22nd, on ‘The Difference of Sin,' I have been miserable, and have had no peace of mind ever since. I shall go mad if I don’t do something. I cannot continue in this disturbed state, so must give myself up to justice.”.