UNKNOWN

Otago Witness, Issue 2650, 28 December 1904, Page 18

UNKNOWN

Of the two .greatest .criminals I ever knew, said Sir Robert Anderson, lecturing the other, evening on- our criminal system at the London Institute, one was the son of a clergyman, a great linguist, in every way a most accomplished and remarkable man. His enterprise and address alone would have made his fortune in honest pursuits. When Mmc Patti first went to America this man boarded the ship with the Customs officials, and persuaded Mme. Patti -in the best of Italian that he had been deputed to welcome her. When the reception commitfpy arrived he made the introductions. The man who stole the famous picture of the Duchess of Devonshire from Agriew's was the other great criminal to whom Sir Robert referred. He was a familiar figure in Piccadilly and West End drawing rooms, drove a pair, and .kept a steam yacht in the Mediterranean. He stole £95,000 worth of diamonds in South Africa and sold them to their owners in Hatton Garden. In the case of such men as these, professional criminals, men with brains, who practised crime because it paid. Sir- Robert urged that our system of punishment was stupid and futile,. To sentence a professional criminal to a term of penal -servitude had the effect not of reforming or deterring him, but of making him " more careful next time." At the present moment, whilst " ordinary " or " accidental "' crime is on the decrease, " professional " crime is on the increase. Sir Robert's proposal is that the man who sets himself to live by crime should be treated as a moral lunatic. He should be liable to a separate charge of being a professional criminal, and if the charge were made out should be sentenced to be detained during his Majesty's pleasure. After serving a term of imprisonment he should be removed to a criminal lunatic asylum, and there made to work for his living. The Whitechapel murderer, known as " Jack the Ripper," was, said Sir Robert, undoubtedly insane, and was ultimately confined within aa ftsyluni.