The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-04-19 00:00:00

CHARGE AGAINST A BARRISTER.

At the Central Criminal Court, in London, Lindh Weight-
man, lifty-seven, a barrister, has been charged with stealing
a printed book, the property of the Benchers of the Inner
Temple. in a second count he was accused of feloniously
receiving the book with a guilty knowledge.
Mr. Poland, in opening the case for the prosecution,
said the prisoner was a member of the Inner Temple,
and the charge was !substantially that he bad taken
from the library of that Inn the book in question,
which was the second volume of Siekte Reports, an
American publication, published irtNew York. Three
copies of this book were imported by Messrs. Stevens
and Sons, the well-known thy publishers, one being for
Gray's-inn, another for Lincoln'einn, and the third for
the Inner Temple. They came over in sheets, unbound,
on the Bth of October that. The copy was sent to
Gray's-inn unbound, just as it arrived, but the other
copies were bound before their delivery. The identity
of the stolen book was clear beyond RA questi in. The
two books that were bound by the order of MINIM.
Stevens contained certain advertisement sheets, and it
was the duty of some person in their employ to paste
inside the rover the book-plate of the Inn to which
it ass to be sent, as well is their trade labeL
It snia olow that the lx.oks came back from the
binders b; i.acheojlth of Potober, because on that day
the, were tlip Ouch; of the potter for de-
y.oould be no Alottht that a copy was
delivered at the Inure TeiroPie, 114 fl the ether books

the porter had in his charge that day found their
proper destination. On the 7th of December, how-
ever, when Messrs. Stevens sent in their bill, it was
discovered that the book in question was missing, and
it was subsequently found on the second-hand book.
stall of Messrs. Reeves and Turner, where it had been
sold by the prisoner for 10a Mr. Reeve was certain
that the prisoner sold him the book, and an entry he
had made enabled him to my that he bought it before
the 17th of October. The book was produced ip court,
and it contained a mark on the cover Pilch as might
have been made by the removal of the Inner Temple
label. Up to the present time, continued Mr. Poland,
the prisoner had given no information as to how he
became possessed of the volume. It would be proved
that on the day when the book was delivered at the
Inner Temple library the prieoner was not only a
member of the Inn, but also that he signed his name in
the visitors' book as having been to the library on that
day.
Mr. Turner, a member of the firm cf Reeves and
Turner, Chancery-lane, said he had known the prisoner
between one and two years. He had occasionally come
to their shop. Witness bought the book produced—
the seemed volume of Sickles' American Reports—of the
prisoner, some time previous to the 17th of October.
It was a new and uncut volume, and he would not
have bought it of a stranger. There were no labels
prided in the book. It now contained one of his firm.
There was a mark on the Melds of the cover, from
which he inferred that there had been &label pasted on
It. The Librarian of Gray's inn called to see him, and
In consequence of what was then said he sent the bock
to Mears. Stevens and Sons. Some time in Decem.
ber the prisoner called upon him, and said that he hail
received a letter from Mesprs. Stevens and Sons, and
appeared very indignant. He also said that witness
ought not to have sent the book back, because without
It he could not be certain whether he had sold it.
- -

Further evidence was then given, after which, Mr.
Williams addressed the jury for the defence, urging
the improbability that a member of a liberal profession
for 25 or 30 years would be guilty of the offence im.
putod to the prisoner. He asked whether it was proved
beyond any doubt that the book ever reached the
Temple library. It certainly never reached the hands
of the librarian. The evidence on this point was vague
and unsatisfactory. Then, if the volume was de-
livered, were the jury certain as to the identity of
the prisoner? Not having been successful in his
profession, he had taken to literature. and, having
to review books, they became his property after he re.
viewed them. The works he had thus obtained he bad
from time to time sold at the shop of Messrs. Reeves
and Turuer. Then arose the question whether Mr.
Turner, who bought the volume of Sickles' Reports,
had mistaken the book the prisoner had brought for
sale, and whether the stolen volume bad not been
brought by another person. Mr. Turner could not
state the precise day on which be bought it, and all
that his boy could tell the jury was that he had seen
the prisoner in the shop with that book in his hand.
Asti the prisoner's being in the library on the 12th of
October, that was not extraordinary, for he had been
in the habit of going there day after day. Then, if
be had stolen the book, was it likely that he, knowing
that it was an odd volume of a rare book, would
have taken it for sale to a shop where he was well
known?

Mr. Dowdeswell, Q.('., Mr. Churchill, Dr. Webb
and Archbishop Manning testified to the prisoner's
previous honest and upright character.
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty, with a strong
recommendation to mercy on account of the prisoner's
previous good character.
Being asked if he had anything to say before sen-
tence was passedt the prisoner replied he had some-
thing to say, not in mitigation, but rather in aggrava-
tion of punishment. He asked the Commissioner
totally to disregard the kind and generous recommend-
ation of the jury who tried him. He desired no mercy
at the hands of the court. He had been made the
victim of three anomalies in the criminal law. He
could not pledge his oath against the oath of Mr. Turner,
the only witness who had been the means of condemn-
ing him. He believed this was the only country in the
civilised world where a prisoner was not permitted to
refute, if he could, by oath the evidence given upon
oath on the putt of the prosecution. He was also the
victim of another anomaly of the criminal law; he had
no appeal from the verdict of the jury. There was a
third anomaly—namely, that if Mr. Turner had per-
jured himself he was incapable of indicting him
for that crime, because perjury, as he under-
stood it, most be proved by the evidence of
two witnesses, and in this case it could only be
oath against oath. As it was, it was oath simply
against affirmation. He therefore submitted that he had
been unjustly convicted, or, at any rate, made the
victim of a most anomalous state of the criminal law.
He would say no more on that point. He knew that
his doom was fixed, and therefore he had asked his
Lordship to disregard the recommendation of the jury.
I He would tell him why he made that request. He hsd
I no wish to go out again into the world. He believed
' his Lordship had the power of sentencing him to penal
servitude for five years. He courted that. He could
not suffer more physically than he had euffered. He
had lived for weeks and months without a dinner,
simply on bread and tea, and such nutriment as that.
He had sold the coat from his back and the shirt from
his skin in order to supply his daily want., but he had
never been guilty of dishonesty. Ile had worked herd.
On the shelves of the Inner Temple library there were
now books of which he was the author, which he had
presented to the library, And which were of much
more value than the odd volume which had been paraded
before the Court. He had done all that mortal man
could do to obtain an honest and honourable liveli-
hood; and, as he understood from the witness who
had so kindly come forward on his behalf, he had
gained an irreproachable character as a man of honour
and a gentleman. If that character was now forfeited,
as it undoubtedly was by the laws of his country, and
his means of subsistence, such as they were, utterly
cut from under him, he could not move in the
society to which he had been accustomed, and
he had no desire to return to the associations connected
with his profession. He should, therefore, be only too
glad if his Lordship would inflict upon him the full
measure of punishment he had power to inflEct, in the
hope that before the full extent of the time of the
punishment had elapsed he might find even in a felon's
grave that repo.* which he had in vain sought in the
world, whether in literature or in the daily pursuits of
life. At all events, he sought not mercy. He would
be disbarred; that would follow as a matter of course.
He had thought that he had created some sort of foun-
dation upon which a superstructure might be erected
that would save him for the rest of his life from sheer
poverty and destitution. But even that was now cut
from ender him, and unjustly. The case had been
pressed against him unduly on the part of the prosecu-
tion, and insinuations had been made and inferences
drawn which the facts did not sufficiently warrant.
The correspondence with the Ranchers of the Inner
Temple had been acsually sfippressed by the prosecu-
tion. Under all the circumstances, he had no desire
that judgment should be tempered with mercy, but
that the Court would deal out to him the utmost amount
of punishment the law permitted, and this he desired in
the hope that, before his time expired, in his grave
might be buried all the hopes he once had and all the
shame he had now incurred. Whatever might be the
sentence he hoped he should be able to bear it with the
resignation of a Christian and with the fortitude of a
well-born and, he trusted he might add, notwithstand-
ing the verdict, of • well-conducted English gentleman.
Mr. Commissioner Kerr: I do not intend to take
any notice of what you have said on the subject of
the sentence which it is my painful duty to pane, be-
cause nothing you might say would cause us to alter
the determination which we arrived at before you ad-
dressed the Court. Our decision upon that point has
been arrived at upon considering, as we are always
obliged to do, the circumstances of the case. There
are only two points to which I consider it my duty to
allude. I cannot allow it to go forth, as if I admitted
it, that the charge has been unduly pressed by Mr.
Poland. You may, perhaps, standing in the unfor-
tunate pool ion in which you do, have felt points
brought home to you with greater severity than perhaps
you thought Was necessary. That did not appear to
me, who have had the misfortune to try this came.
Again, you have alluded to the fact that the corre-
spondence with the Bencliers has been suppressed by •
the prosecution. You must have known that, as a
rule, that correspondence could not have been evidence
for the prosecution, whether it bore in your favour or
against you. It might possibly under same circum-
stances have been alluded to, but if there had been
anything in it which could have been brought forward
by the prosecution in your favour, I firmly believe
that it would have been brought forward. I am per-
fectly satisfied that the Ranchers, if they are the pro-
secutors—which I do not know, neither did I know
anything of the correspondence until it was men-
tioned before me today—l am perfectly satisfied that
they would have been only too happy to have advanced
everything within their power to exculpate you.
Mr. M. Williams remarked that Mr. Poland had
offered to put in the correspondence; but, after full
consideration, it had been concluded it would not help
the prisoner.
Mr. Poland said the Benchers had desired to keep
nothing back that might have been of use to the
prisoner.
Mr. Commissioner Kerr :—Mr. Poland's observa-
tion confirms my belief that if there had been any
mode in which the 13enchers of the Inner Temple could
have passed over this inquiry they would have been
but too happy to do so. I express the opinion of every
member of the Bar present, and certainly my own,
when I say that it would have been to us a feeling of
intense relief and of satisfaction if the jury had re-
I turned a verdict of "Not guilty." The jury, how-
-1 ever, are the judges of the facts. I endeavoured to lay
those facts before the jury without commenting on them
in any way, leaving them entirely to judge of them.
They have arrived at an adverse conclusion, the effect
of which to you, it is true, will be utter ruin. Their
verdict must followed by your name being struck off
the roll of the Honourable Society of the Inner
Temple; and henceforth you moot seek in some other
way to obtain a living, which, according to your
counsel, you have for many years struggled to obtain.
I earnestly hope and trust that, if you have that cone-
deuce which you have expressed in your conscience and
heart, you may yet live to overcome the conse-
quences of this deplorable act of which the jury have
found you guilty. You must know, and no one can
tell you better than the gentleman who sits at my side
(Archbishop Manning), who is ever foremost in every
good work, that forgiveness is not limited in any way.
You must know that, and at this particular time it
must have been brought home to your knowledge. I
shall not in the slightest degree alter the sentence on
which my colleague and I agreed before you addressed
us. I cannot shut my eyes to the fact, which you
yourself have stated, that your appearance in that dock
and the ruin which must ensue are much greater
punishments even than would be the full term of penal
servitude which the law permits. I refrain from such
a sentence, because I feel that your punishment other-
wise is so severe. I can only deeply regret that a
person of the great abilities which you unquestionably
possess, and which within the last few minutes you
have exhibited, should never have found an oppor-
tunity of bringing them to the service of the public, so
that you might have been spared the dreadful position
which you now occupy. The sentence of the Court is
that you be imprisoned with hard labour for six calendar
months.
The Times base the following considerate leader on
the case of the unfortunate gentleman .
" The offence :night have been "salted with penal servitude,

but the Court took into account both the recommendation of
the Jury and the rain of the prisoner's professional position,
and sentenced him to sit months' hard labour. Of course,
he will be disbarred, and at the close of his term of im-
prinonment he will find himself, at the age of 57, thrown
upon-the world with his prospects in life wrecked and all
hb means of existence lost.
- • • • •

Ills counsel pressed on the Jury a question which would
at once mile thr reader. What motive would Induce n
man who had Weil a member of a liberal prolemaion to r
twenty-the or thirty years to rob the Library of his own Inn
in order to gains paltryeten shillilngs? The prisoner himself
in his address before sentence gave the answer, and a very
sad one it was. The motive was the simple one of starvation.
The prisoner did not plead It in excuse for the offence, for if
he did not exactly persist in a denial of the theft, he main-
tained that he had been unjustly convicted of it. He tile
played a rather over-strained acuteness in arguing that he
was the victim of three anomalies in our criminal
law. Be had no appeal from the verdict of the Jury ; he
was not permitted to pledge his oath against that of Mr.
Turner, and if that witness had committed perjury It would
he impossible to convict him of the offence, since the oaths
of two witnesses would be required to establish the charge.
A man moat be hard praised when he has no better pleas
than these agelost conviction. But the 'Oaten., of his
address consisted of an entreaty to the Judge to disregard
the recommendation of the Jury. In a tone of despair
he begged the longest term of penal servitude might be
assigned to him, in order that, if possible, ho might never
come out of prison alive. He could not, he said, suffer more
pto ideally than he had suffered already. "He had lived for
weeks and months without a dinner, simply on bread and
tea, sad such nutriment as that. He had sold the coat from
his back, and the shirt from his akin, in order to supply his
daily wants, but he had never been guilty of dishonesty." He
said he was the author of books now on the shelves of the
very Library he had rubbed which were more valuable than
the book he had stolen. He had done his utmost to
support himself, and now that his last hope wralfcruehed
by the aentence which cut him off from his profes-
sion ho only deified the repose of • grave, even in a
prison. There is no lack of charity In accepting these
Ftaternenta with same qualification There can be no moral
douot of his being guilty of the offence he denies, and a con-
sistent Impulse may lead him to aggravate his temptations.
, But there is no reason to doubt that he describes with sub-
stantial justice the motives of his theft. A painful coinci-
dence lends some confirmation to his sad story. It may be
remembered that not lone ago • Barrlsteg died suddenly
In circumstances of extreme distress and privation, and
the story of his life was afterwards told In oar columns
I similar distress,
httbneowve,fiyet maanwowho,
rse faar.fale tww.
men were oem-
panlon., perhaps, in wait and despair. The main fact Is
clear. liere is a Barrister who, after a quarter of • century's
labour—and apparently earnest labour—at his profes-
sion, is driven to steal • book in order to provide himself
with the mean, of subsistence. He had never obtained any
practice, but gained the little support he could by literary
work. He reviewed law books, and after reviewing them he
was accustomed to sele the copies which had been presented
to him. A more miserable existence can hardly be con-
ceived, and it is no wonder if be became reckless at last.
obliged to make a fair show before the world, he had been
struggling for years against failure and want, and no hope
remained to him, even had he abstained from this last error,
but that eta similarly painful old age.

It Is too probable that In most stick cues there is some
penonal Cause for failure beyond the mere force of circus's-
atanoes ; but it is to be feared the case illustrates too semi
rately the sad side of • greet and honourable profession. The
law is not, indeed, so close • profession as Is sometimes lin-
mined. A large number of men poisoning only average
ability do contrive to make& fair income. Possibly they owe
their success in some measure to favourable Introductions
but good work does tell. Still, there is probably no
profession in which the blanks and the prizes of the
lottery offer no conspicuous a contrast. The prizes
In honour, position, and money are magnificent, and • Bar-
rister in large practice is probably the best paid pro-
fessional man In the world. But the blanks are absolute.
In every other profession • man can make nearly sure
of some ',titmice. In the Church he most be very feeble
or very idle If he cannot obtain a curacy on which
he can live as a single man. In the Army he receive, a
certain amount, if small, of pay, and doctors generally
are too useful to be wholly neglected. lint at the Bar
a man may linger for years In silent chambers with-
out ever esusralng • guinea or showing his face In court.
Ho must have gone through an expensive education
nd have paid considerable sums of money to ob-
tain admission to the Bar. But be gets no return for it
whatever, beyond the empty Ulla of Barrister at law. If •
man has no means of hi. own, be would be prudent to think
often before venturing all his prospects on such • venture.
It is impossible not to feel profound pity for a man who haa
been driven t desperation by such circumstances. There is
no reason to think Mr. Weightman did worse than yield to
• sudden temptation under the pressure of grievous want.
We hear of much distress and trouble; bat, perhaps, there
is more suffering in the obscure lives of men like Mr.
Weightm an than in many a We of acknowledged poverty.

The Times bee also published the following letters:—
The case of Mr. Hugh Welghtman, • barrister, of nearly
sixty years of age, whose case you so feelingly adverted to in
your leading uti,le, Is • very sad and • very deplorable one
lie has been guilty of • criminal act, the punishment for
which, to • man of bL education and position, will
be fearfully severe. To submit to the sharp discipline
of a prison, to herd with the brutal and degraded
for sir long months, will be considered punishment
enough when it is remembered that he was driven to the act
by the sheer force of starvation, The point, however, to
which I wish to direct the sympathy of the Christian and
benevolently disposed, before the case puses lute oblivion,
is the lamentable condition into which Mr. Weightman will
be placed when his term of imprisonment is completed.
When he comes forth from his prism he will leave It utterly
lost and ruined, and his professional prospects blighted and
destro) ed. Cannot limo benevolent effort, some provision
be made for this unhappy man when that time arrives—Your
obedient servant, A SUBSCRIBE&
King's Lynn, April 11.

The cue of Mr. Weightman excites my deep commisera-
tion. If the Chaplain of the Prison will take charge of money
and Mr. Welghtman will accept It, I shall be happy ta con-
tribute £5, to be given him when the term of his imprison-
ment expires. I trust that others will give also, and that a
fund may be raised which will enable him to make a fresh
start when the elx months in prison are over.—A BARRISTER.
'

April 10.
I hope a subscription may be made for Mr. Weightman.
I shall he happy to give £lO. and I hope the sentence passed
upon him will not be fully cored into effect —I am, .±c.,
JotcuA WIMBC,II.
Cadi gan place, London, April 11.

The Times has also published the following letter
under the well-known signature of " S. G. 0."

In. long lif e and continued observation of public matters
I do not know that I ever came scram a cage so eminently
calling for public spmpathy as that of Mr. Weightman, now
undergoing imprisonment with hard labour for six months
for stealing a book the property of the Benchers of the
Inner Temple.

Your own leading article on his case will, I am sure, be read
with the deepest gratitude by every humane mind. He was
a banister; as such, none could know better than himself
the CollllPfilltneell 01 the offence he was about to commit
e hen he unlawfully took and sold the book in question. ft
is on record that as a reviewer of books he must have known
that he lull a status In the literary world which would
stamp such an act with more :Ilan common infamy. lire
mind endued with the just balance which true criticism re-
quires was just the last to thus fall to the lowest depths of
dishonesty; and yet he so fell.
I gather from your leading article that the nature of the
palliation of his guilt which he advanced te not disputed.
He was a man of letters, a member of • profession most
jealnue of its honour—but he was starving. No other act
of dishonesty can be alleged against him : the highest evi-
dence was given of his previous honest and upright cha-
racter. Character is not food
Hear him as he pleads against the mercy the jury invoked
In his behalf. He deprecate, that mercy. 1114 nettle of life
hss been up to a point nobly fought, he, a gentleman, pos-
sessed of no common acquirements, " han lived for weeks
and months without a dinner, simply on bread and tea and
ouch nutriment as that He had eold the coat from his back
and the shirt from his elan in order to supply Modally wanta
but he had never been guilty of dishonesty. He craves for a
long sentence—lt might give him a felon's grave, and thus
the repose which he had in vain sought in the world, whether
in literature or the daily pursuits of life."

Got and God alone. knows, Sir, how many of such
strifes for life are for ever going on. None but those who
thus wrestle for bread, held respectable by the world, but
to the world in their misery unknown, can say what this
poor man endured before he perilled his very soul's safety,
risked his We'. hope, for the poor return of ten shillings, the
price of a stolen book.
What—he is there right enough—matters it to him as a
means to the end of living that he has eschanged "Chant-
bore' for the felon's ceU Ile wiU have food, clothing;
true, he must work, but can any labour to which he can be
put be less endurable than that which tasked heart and soul
each day—how to live and not steal? To beg auch a man
was ashamed. .

Be it remembered these cases of respectable famine stand
apart from all others in this—it is no one's business to seek
them out that they may be helped. No district visitor
seeks to lift the latch of the .tarving literary man—the gen-
tleman whose shirt and coat are sold, who lives on the
wretched fare of cheap tea, dry bread, and very occasional
scraps of cheapened meat.

Long experience has taught me that the veriest paupers
who over hang on the skirts of the parish rates or voluntary
charity Dear tar less real suffering than the famishing, Ml-
clad, respectable clan who for ever suffer the wants of which
they are ashamed to tell, and endure • misery they, for their
position's sake, scorn to betray.
I throw no blame on the prosecutor. of Mr. Welghtman ,
I see not how they could have acted otherwise It was to
them, I have no doubt, a sadly painful obligation. I can-
not see that a more lenient sentence could be passed, and
yet, Mr, I feel, I am sure with thousands of your readers,
It Is • case which cries aloud for the exercise of the prero-
gative of mercy, although it be somewhat strained.

It I. for ever said—l hate the cant of it—there is one law
for the rich and the poor. Ido not dispute it is an abstraat
proposition, but I must have lived a blind ilia not to have
seen that in practice thts theory altogether fills; we all
know It daft, although we may hesitate to coulees it. I
could 1111 columns with proof that it does ; nay, I think I
could advance abundant proof that much is condoned, by
the law abetted, In the rich, which in the poor, on the leaser
scale and to less refined manner, is by the Law chastised
Let this be as it may, I feel assured that there is not one of
the muses of this kingdom who has read the trial of this
wretched gentleman woo would not hall with satisfaction a
mitigation of his sentence.

I have known case after case tried of women who have
deliberately murdered their offspring who have got off with
team punishment, or been even acquitted in the face of over-
whelming evidence, because—the temptation had weighed
with Jury and Judge. A. for men who have beaten their
wives within an inch of death, they for ever escape with a
milder correction than Ws, of I starving, utterly Mena- as
—for help—barrister, who, driven to desperation, steals
ten shillings' worth of printed matter to get food.
There is One wno knows whit that poor creature's mind
endured the day he was thus morally blind-stricken. There
will be pardon with him, for he treads not hardly on a reed
BO bruised. I should indeed grieve if I thought there was
lees of mercy to be found where Earth's mercy hews.
illdmonth, April 13.