A YOUNG REPROBATE.

NZ Truth, Issue 66, 22 September 1906, Page 4

A YOUNG REPROBATE.

GOOD SAMARITAN'S TAKEN | DOWN. The True History of Cecil Francis. The Young Cripple Proved to be a Shocking Liar. Tlie imaginative youth can occassionallv outrival the prurient-minded imaginative girl, but only very occasionally. The case of the cipple, Cecil Francis, which was narrated m last week's "Truth," and which was widely published, is a case m point. It will be remembered that Francis, who is 'going on for 18 years of age, was .picked up by the Sydenham police and taken to the Samaritan Home. He walked per medium of hands and feet and told the trustees a pitiful story of having been neglected all his life-^so much so that lie was unable to read or write. Also that the people he was boarded out with, by the Timaru Charitable Aid Board treated him cruelly, and made him herd cows and all the rest of it, so he ran away from Timaru and reached -Christchurch. The upshot was "thsqf; the trustees poured out gallons <k Sympathy on him and decided to bill the South Canterbury Hospital and Charitable Aid Board for his keep. The latter body have met since and were very, wroth at having been CHARGED WITH NEGLECT. The other side of the case was stated, and if it is true it points to young Francis being an unholy terror and a red-hot reprobate not fit for the society of human beings. One wouldn't think that one so young was such a plausible, lying blackguard, or that he would be guilty of such atrocious conduct as is attribu- \ ted to him. The secretary of the J Timaru Board asked the police to investigate the statements made : by the boy at Christchurch, and Con--1 stable Lewin presented a most unexpected blushful document m response. The affair characterised the | statement of Francis as a tissue of falsehoods. The lad had been boarded out with.W. Stevens, of South-street for twelve years. When Stevens took him he had been discharged from the Timaru hospital as incurable, suffering from consumption of the joints, and his body was a Ynass of sores. Stevens had been very kind to him. It was quite true that he GAVE FRANCIS A THRASHING a week before he ran away, but he richly deserved it on account of his filths and indecent habits. The constable went on to say that the lad had been guilty of a very bad criminal act, and it was only his pitiable condition physically that saved him from prosecution. There was no truth m the statement that he had been herding cows for Steveais, nor was it true that he couldn't read or write, he could do both very well, but by reason of his evil habits he hadn't been allowed to mix with the other children at school any more than the teachers could help, and finally he wasn't allowed to go to school at all. No doubt the boy's pitiable condition has evoked great sympathy, but he was no thine less than a younc blackguard, and was not the innocent lamb he was pictured to be. He could

SWEAR AND SMOKE

like a man and was a thorough reprobate. J. A. Valentine, headmaster of the school Francis attended, said the boy was a source of much anxiety owing to his bad habits. Had anyone who* knew the lad been present at Christchurch the youngsters well ooncocted story would have been proved false and be utterly undeserving of the sympathy it apparently excited. The secretary of the Board gave a history of the I boy's case and said he was so delicate when young that he had to be wrapped m oiled cloths. It was never anticipated that he would reach his present age, and the Met that he had done so indicated that he had been well looked after by the Stevens family. 'Allusion was made to the young fellow's immorality, and it was stated that he had behaved indecently to Miss Stevens on several occasions. The secretary understood that when Francis left Steven's houso he was going to be kept by his half-brothers, so he assumed that he would be all right. There was some discussion on this extraordinary case and it was generally agreed that Francis had grossly imposed upon THE GOOD NATURE OF THE TRUSTEES of the Samaritan Home, and that his charge of ill-usage on the part of the family he boarded with, and the neglect on the part of the Charitable Aid Board, was quite contrary to j fact, and a motion was passed regretting the strictures passed by the trustees on the Board and that thc boy's story should have been accepted without making emauiries, which would have revealed the true position. It was decided to pay the account forwarded for his maintenance^ This lovely liar, Francis, is still an inmate of the Samaritan Home and now that he is cornered it will be interesting to note how he will exolain away his original pitiful yarns. He is a degenerate of the worst type and owing to his physical state it is a puzzle to know what to do with him.