AN INFAMOUS CHARGE.

NZ Truth, Issue 93, 30 March 1907, Page 5

AN INFAMOUS CHARGE.

A SOUL-SEARING BRAND.

"Thou Shalt Not Bear False

Witness."

Connor Callously Accused of a

Sodoniatic Sin.

There are times when a, verdict of "not guilty" does not wipe away (the stain of infamy which a charge - leaves behind it. There are criminal charges, the menfbry of which is never effaced. They Yemain grim, gaunt spectres of the past, which even the grave, unhallowed and untended, and levelling all human things, does not shut out. There are criminal charges that are as branding, irons, searing the very soul of the man so charged, and many a man whose soul has been pierced by this red-hot . iron of infamy, has never again lifted his head, and nas, tottered, a battered, forlorn and innocent wreck to a grave tha-t yawned to close round him and give him rest, It is difficult to probe into the innermost recesses of the heart of a man, conscious of his innocence, and capable of proving his innocence, against whom such a foul charge as sodomy, even if unfounded, has been made, even if unfounded, has been made. Even though his innocence is proved from the mouths of his accusers, lie goes forth tainted, a social pariah and an outcast. Though the ■ law accepts his. protests- of innocence MS i availing, or regards the proofs of^SS l accuser as" wanting he is nevertheless to be ostracised from the i&ciety of all men because he may have been guilty. Of what avail then is a verdict of "not guilty.' 1 "It were' better for him that . A MILL-STONE WERE HANGED ABOUT HIS NECK and he cast into the sea." For the man* no matter his station /m life, who has had such a charge preferred against him, there is no such thing as 'forgetfulness of that unhappy period of his life.- Prom 'the moment of his arrest till the time he is sent away free, he is looked upon as a leper. He is immolated from all other living beings. For him there is only bitter solitary anguish, he is guilty till proved innocent, and then to moat people he is guilty all the same. A case m point is that of a man, a,hardworking toiler on the wharves, .named Chas. Connor, who was, at the S.M.s Court last Monday acquitted on ' a charge of, having on March 9 last, indecently assaulted a male named George Freeman, Connor , was acquitted, not because he disproved the charge, but because his, accuser failed to prove it, afrd consequently Magistrate McArthu'r dismissed it. This offence is alleged to have been committed m a Ghuznee Street boarding-house on the date mentioned. The complainant, Freeman, is a youth of. 17, a "windy" young Cockney, employed on. a coastal vessel.. His story was that he was "outraged" m the house, having been enticed there by Connor, that he screamed for help ; but Mr. Cook, who defended the accused man, proved that Freeman's story of a scream was- a' lie, that if he. had screamed /there were numerous p'e/ople m the house. at Jbhe time, who must have heard it, and moreover it was shown that Freeman had amnje opportunity of making a complaint had he so desired^ but did not do so. it could have been proved tbat ' Freeman was A BARrBUMMER AND A CADGER, that on the Saturday afternoon m question he was cadging money, from men, and that Connor had m no measured terms told the "outraged" youth what he thought of him, and were it at all necessary, Connor had , a complete alibi readyas *an answer. The police must have known very well that the. case was a weak and wat-. cry one. The medical evidence ought to have sufficed to have thrown a tint q! suspicion on the Cockney's yarn, they must have known, or else they are very ill judges of what evidence is necessary to constitute a prima facie case, that no jreasonable-mind-ied Magistrate would have burdened the country with the cost of placing Connor on his trial on the evidence adducted. knowing the nature of the case it is no credit to the prosecuting police to have- brazoned it forth that it was a senous charge and imperatively insisting on extremely heavy bail, which they very well knew Connor could not obtain, and would thus be forced to languish m paol. This he did, .wnile the. police obtained several remands to bolster up a rotten reed that collapsed the mom<emt it left the police hands. This is a bad case of the "hysterical he." The salacious and shameles she hussy is bad enough. But, charges of the nature of that rigged up against. Connor live hi. the memory of every 'man. It is a charge against which thefChfistian mind revolts. It is a brand that burns deep. It is a stain amount of white-washing can nfeve'r. efface. The man guilty of rigging up such a charge should receive swift and heavy punishment. .