A BLACKMAILING CASE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8192, 22 April 1898, Page 4

A BLACKMAILING CASE.

&&EB YEARS FOrI THREATENING P&-.< : : ■ letter. i#S -i.U ■"' • : - i - Kp HBKtenOT was passed by Mr Justice Hood S^fiii'fM'qlb^wee 6n the 30th ult. on a young pjsni&ii&rflwl Charles Henry Brown, who was jp^entljfvcoriyidted oft a charge of sending a jv|; thttatening .letter with a view to extorting jpcmpney,,VlTie prisoner stated that he waa 25 gi'-yearij of 'age, and s a driver By occupation. •,' . Jtistioe llood said it appeared from evidence Thation the doath of a man ? •£ named '•'. Snell ifc^ewfie to the prisoner's Iff, Knowledge that the woman, he ' had been with was not his wife, and that a t-pduffate hid' arisen between her and Snell's ,'vV- relatives, as to the validity of deceased's fy iwitiJ ' Taking advantage of that knowledge, jr, he began. to extort money from the woman \ by sending her letters threatening to expose ; the fact to her daughter and the latter's . intended husband that the mother had never , been married. Then he went further and l\i wrote another letter threatening to accuso ' .her of uttering a forgery in regard to tho Will unless she sent him money. His - conduct showed him to be entirely unscrupulous and very cunning. It was an • extremely serious offence, and the Legislature was evidently of that opinion, inasmuch as it had fixed the maximum penalty at 15 years hard labor. Testimonials had been submitted by prisoner v to bis previous good character, but - ;-: his conduct in. this instance showed them to be_ undeserved, for a man who would commit such an offence could have very - little right feeling. He would be sentenced to three years' hard labor.