A BLACKMAILER.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13520, 15 February 1908, Page 5

A BLACKMAILER.

STATEMENT BY VELTHEIM,

HIS SENTENCE APPROVED

Pres3 Association-By Telegraph-Copyright

LONDON, February 13.

Veltheim stated that he had not intended that the wretched letters signed "Kismet" should have been taken seriously. He was not. euch a fool as to think that such letters would produce money. His conscience wa.s clear on that point. Mr Barnafio w;u« not the principal man in the scheme in which he asked his assistance, but one of a number. He begged Mr 'Woolf Joel's pardon for the Kismet lctteia, and Mr Joel forgave him. He. had been tried for Mr Joei s murder, and acquitted. Thank Cod it was not a British jury, but men who did not measure everything by pounds, shillings, and pence. They acquitted him because they knew he wa.s innocent. He risked his life rather than betray the names of those involved against the Boer Government. Ha had never got money from women. Mr Justice Philimore emphasizing the fact that Veltheim was guilty of one of the most serious crimus, declared that, the punishment must be equally preventive. The prisoner was stunned on hearing the sentence. The. "Times" dmcribes Veltheim as a very dangerous scoundrel, and says that criminals uf his stamp must be suppressed. Other newspapers are equally satisfied with the action of the jury and the judge. The warders at Wormwood Scrubs pii.son dtiscribs Veltheim as a broken man, who is in » dazed and semi-collapsed, condition. . ' ''