CHILD SENT TO PRISON

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81909, 21 December 1906, Page 4

CHILD SENT TO PRISON

Til REfJ YEAR OLD BOY AS S Til IKK. (ieneva, Oct 25. 11l - Swfss mililic ami I're-s are around ;it t!it' extraordinary action "t a ;U;i^rir>tr:j 11■ inesiiling at the erimat Weinfel !en, in Hi' 1 en.llimillC of TlllilgoilS, w'lO ll;IS SI'!! tenreil a cliilil has -ly tlnvr y:!r.. oi' age to tl:ree am! a half month-' i::i----p. imminent for tlii't't. The child. ulio U 111.- son of a In - tuiiin-r. saw some pinny iny.s dangiinir from 11'j- tluonvay of a shop. He il iw.i of tin in, ami took them ho;ec, ami an hour later was arrested liy a .tall gendarme on a charge of theft. When I .(lie rase was ca'led at Wein ' felden the child had to lit: carried hv I a gendarme, as lie could not he seen i| over the top of the dock. ' 111 response to tile magistrate".; 1 questions the little fellow Inughindv admitted that he took the toys. He could not -.jieak plainly, ami it was with difficulty that the gendarme, who 1 acted a« intermediary, was made to 1 understand that he wanted them 'as ] he did not lave any toys like other bovs.

"Three and a half mouths' imprisonment," slid the magistrate sternly. The boy's parents fell on their knees before the magistrate, anil pleaded with him to remit the sen tence on account of his tender age and his inability to distinguish be tween right anJ wrong. The magistrate declined to revise the sentence, however, and said: "Remove the prisoner." The gendarme, who was much af fected, carried the child out of the dock and placed him in the arms of an astonished warder.