Known to the Police

cently given, and made public through the press; though it is fair to say that I know something of the friends in the one case and the victims in the other of

on prisoners, there have been very few-indeed, scarcely any-that I have thought did not meet the justice of the case. I have, therefore, no sympathy with the organized [Pg 75]outcries that are from time to time raised against our judges and magistrates and the police. Judges and magistrates are but human, and that they will err sometimes in their judgments is certain. We censure them sometimes because their sentences ar

ude with regard to degrees of sentence, for a cast-iron method al

ate a public sensation; and this speaks well for the public, for it is good to know that the community is better pleased to hear of leniency than of severity. Nevertheless, an error on the side of lenien

udge, the other by a magistrate: the judge erring, in my opinion, on the side

to have attracted public attentio

a letter receive

"Dea

ng to you about my son, who is a you

, and has a good little business

rtnight after my son was arrested on suspicion. The people-very old friends of ours-

s in the house. My wife and myself are prepared to say that he went to b

obberies, being sentenced to a few months or a year or so. But fourteen years for a young man! Oh, sir, my family have lived in[Pg 77] this old town for nearly three hundred years, and no member of it had ever been in a prisoner's dock till now. I h

I rem

Yours

Taylor had been in custody since January 23, 1906. On December 7 of the same year he received his extraordinary sentence, after being detained in prison nearly eleven months. Everything seems extraordinary about this case-the long delay before trial, the severe sentence, the trumpery character of the articles stolen. I express no opinion about the prisoner's guilt. Some of the

ry appears to have been the acqu

spoons in question belonged to him. It was said that the friends of Vernon wanted the spoons, a

at after the burglary there was a piece of paper left on the parlour table, on which was written in pencil the words, "Mrs. Vernon, after twenty ye

it is true; for in June, 1907, I approached the Home Secretary, begging for a revision of the sentence, and received a reply similar to that sent to the prisoner's father-that it was too early a date for interference. It is only fair to assume that the judge was in possession of knowledge that ju

"He is innocent!" and that the other went into hysterics; but I am surprised to read that an English judge could not allow something for parental feelings, and that he said fiercely: "Take those people away!" and when the prisoner's father shouted, "I can go ou

suspected of connection with any professional criminals. It was, moreover, the first time he had been in the hands of the police. Taylor seems to have been industrious, for at twenty-two years of age he was in[Pg 80] business on his own account. I can't help thinking that there was something wrong with Taylor, some mental twist or peculiarity; for, admitting

is unthinkable, and the responsib

Pauline excellence and "suffer fools gladly." Hundreds of times I have heard the expression about someone who had received a severe sentence: "Well, he deserved it for being such a fool!" Even the public is more prepared to tolerate severe punishments for the men whose crimes savour of crass folly, if not of downright idiocy, than it i

n a domestic servant, but who at the age of seventy had given up regular work, and was hoping to make her little savings suffice for the

ensely rich, and had left her thousands of pounds. In order to pay legal expenses, she said, she borrowed money from her aunt, an old woman of eighty. Having exhausted her aunt'

her solicitors in Chancery Lane. Then he insisted upon her accompanying him to see them; he compelled her to go, and, on arriving, found the address to be a bank. The landlord then communicated with the police, and[Pg 82] she was arrested. The prisoner admitted that the whole story was false, and that she wa

r from the prisoner, whilst under remand in Holloway Prison, expressi

bation Act! I wonder what was at the back of Mr.

uch judgments as this, it would have

and cruel series of frauds tha

ith confidence in her own powers, she proceeded to rob her landlord. A continual succession of lies, deceptions, and frauds, extending over years! And then bound over! Herein is a problem: If ten teaspoons, on

some show of justice, about there being one law for the rich and another for the poor. In this cas

a solicitor to put their case, the law would not have been satisfied by accepting the prisoner's recognizances. Are

t received his ￡300-he never will-but he received what

nity between the two sentences; the one is permitted to go on her guileless way. The other is sent to confinement, monotony, and degradatio

the younger woman is beside the question. I am sure they will[Pg 84] receive

f rogues are to be imprisoned at all, by what process o

red. What will be the effect of a judgment like this? It can have but one effe

have been dealt with at Tower Bridge Police-Court, or at any other court, in

ought to be equality, or something approximat

sition of sentences; but the law and its administrators do not hold this view. I do not remember any case of a man and woma

t, unfortunately for the husband, it considers the male person as that particular one. But, with regar

g

te giving the prisoner six months' hard labour, or sending her for trial before judge and jury. Not that I want either men or women to be detained in prison-I hate the

the course adopted did not uphold the dignity of the law; it did not in the least help those that have suffered; it did not punish the prisoner; neither did it serve to act as a warning to others. But while, as I have previously said, justice is, on the whole, fairly administered, ther

rtially disarm justice and secure for himself more lenient punishment. I suppose we all have a sneaking kindness for the complete vagabond; we instinctively like the fellow who can make us laugh; we do not want to believe that the man who is possessed of humour is altogether bad, and when we have to punish him we let him off as lightly as possible. But the stubborn thick-head does not excite either our risible faculties or our heart's sympat

would steal anything. Several times he had called on clergymen, and while conversing with them in their halls had appropriated their best silk umbrellas. On one occasion he had gone away without booty, but he retu

e: I am not a bad fellow at heart." He saved himself from penal serv

you, Downy, is it?" "Ah, it is me. I say, Holmes, I am starving!" "There is some comfort in that," I said. "Bah! you don't mean it; you are too good-hearted. Give us a cup of tea." I declined his invitation, and told him that I had no umbrellas to spare.

him, and delivered some imaginary messages from mysel

called on him. The magistrate, having had depositions taken, was about to commit him for trial, when the prisoner said: "I have a witness to call." "You can call him at your trial," the magistrate said. "Who is your witness?" "Mr. Holmes." "What can he prove?" "That I was at his house at exactly the same time that it is said I was at the prosecutor's." I declined to give evidence, for I believed the fellow had the overcoat, though he was without a coat when I saw him. He was duly committed for trial, but before leaving the dock he turned to the magistrate and said: "You have made up your mind that I am to get

g

you knew what a lark I have had. I can't help laughing. Why, I have been to old -- and offered to give him back his fur coat for a quid." And the rascal roared at the

d daylight; but Fate tripped him at last, and he got his well-earned five years. As he is still under forty years of age, I have no doubt but tha

seldom furnish bona-fide addresses, or give any proof that they have been doing honest work. Yet they go on from year to year, in and out of prison, undergoing small sentences-first a few days, then a few weeks, f

g

cludes the right and the power to give fourteen years' penal servitude to a young man of twenty-two for a trumpery offence, and that his first offence; when it includes the right and the power to practically discharge a clever and dangerous woman who has lived by fraud, and whose frauds brought

qualities should exercise some influence; but even these faculties require some restraint, or injustice instead of justice will be done. I am afraid there is some truth in what many discharged prisoners have told me-that t

im, and, as a consequence, with everyone who had to deal with him. He was cross, peevish, and rude. The police knew it, for he was not civil to them; witnesses knew it, for he was rough with them. On one occasion when he had been at his worst he caught my eye. After the court was over he said to me: "You thought me very ill-tempered this morning?" "Indeed I did, your Worship, for you were rough to everyone." "Ah!" he said, "I have neuralgia frightfu

themselves when it comes to sentences; for everyone must admit a cruel wrong is done when prisoners a