The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-08 00:00:00

PRISON LABOUR.

HABITUAL CRIMINALS.

The Recorder of Birmingham, Mr. Adams, spoke veil
strongly at the Warwickshire Quarter Sessions agaillr
some of the provisions of Lord Kimberley's bill. As I'l4l
example of the severity with which the proposed la
would occasionally bear upon particular cases,
Adams mentioned that of the number of persons tri
before him and the Assistant-Recorder of Birrainghl
last year, no less than twenty-five must have receiv
sentences of seven years' penal servitude if this bill 00
been in force. He had prepared a list of those cases, Old
of which he mentioned. In one instance, a boy 11
stolen 51b. of beef, for which he was sentenced ;„
imprisonment and ordered to be whipped. He next sOi
a pound of tobacco, and had one month. The next ti
he was caught stealing a few slices of fried fish, of tils
b,
value of 2d. For that he (Mr. Adams) sentenced him
nine months' imprisonment, believing that was what
justice of the case demanded. If, however, this bill 0;1
been in operation, he must have given seven years' PeAriA
servitude. He cited another case of a lad convicted j"
stealing four packs of cards, for which he had seven dal'
A •
----a n. similar natty
he had a sentence of two months. The third ti,l*
he was brought up on a charge of stealing a Pe,
of boots, for which he had a sentence of nine months.
this case, too, there must have been penal servitude mid'
the new bill. He moved that a petition be drawn °C.',
pointing out the obk2ctionable character of the clause
named. Mr. T. C. S. Kynnersley, stipendiary magistrat°
of Birmingham, seconded the motion, and said he
sure the bill, if it became law, would result in ma 0):
the Secretary of State's official life a burden, 0"
account of the number of petitions which would be Pre:
sented when the severe sentences were apparent. 0.
motion was carried.

THE MYSTERIOUS TRAGEDY IN PARIS

The tragical and mysterious event which occurred 0010,
days ago in the barracks of the Rue de Tournon 061'
occupies attention. When the report of a pistol was heal
in the rooms of Commandant Thevet, the soldiers rushei,
to the apartments. They found the commandant dead in
bed with a revolver lying beside him. Beside the heuf
with no dress on but a chemise, was a female, who turned
;
out to be a lady of rank, and one of the leaders of
fashionable world of Paris. This lady was arrested °1;
suspicion of being a murderess, but her husband Or!,
shortly came to claim her, and the commissary of policy
being-satisfied that the officer had committed suicide, 011'1
was set at liberty. The story goes that the commanda°°
who had carried on an intrigue with the lady for the ihsl
six months, had in that time completely ruined himself
by ministering to her extravagance. It was remarked
that on the shoulders of the lady were some recerlb
scratches, and these, it appears, were occasioned in the
attempt which she made to prevent Commandant Thevet
from committing suicide. M. Thevet's son, a young WO.
of 18, was at the races, and had arrived at the house PIP
as his father was about to expire. He was prevented froth
entering, and taken to the house of a military man, where
the sad news was broken to him. The occurrence tea
place on Sunday week. M. Thevet was buried on Thurlll
day last, without the usual military honours.

Owing to the depressed state of trade the West
Lancashire Coal Association have resolved to reduce th..
wages of the colliers ten per cent., and notice of this deter'
mination will be given immediately. The step is not ilea'
pected, and the men, who are still suffering from the effects
of the strike of last year, will, it is said, accept the raduc4
tion without resorting to another contest in which they gra
pretty sure to be defeated.
A sum of £47 has been subscribed by the ill habitants of Uxbridge and the neighbourhood to reward tho
police sergeant Mason, who a few week ago stopped a cart
driven by four burglars, captured two of them, and recovered
a quantity of stolen property. Two-thirds of the sum hag
been given to Mason, and the remainder to a policeman who
came to his assistance and secured the two burglars. TO
presentation was made by the chairman of the bench Of
magistrates on behalf of the subscribers.

The steps to procure economy in the Government
offices are being taken one by one. The clerks in the Civil
Service are (says the Manchester Examiner), by an order
just issued, required to provide their own pencils, knivegf
and other office materials, excepting stationery. It is said,
that the recent order about pen mending and waste paper:
which caused some amusement when it was published, ba
resulted in a revenue of about £lO,OOO, paid by contractor°
who purchase the " waste" material.

A labourer has been committed for trial at Guild"-
ford for putting a boy, 10 years of age, into a copper of
scalding water, when the boy refused to fetch him some
turnips. The brute dipped the boy thrice in the scalding
liquid despite. his screams. The doctor who had attended MO
since the sth fehruary, when the barbarity was committed,
stated to tiro bench that not a bit of skin remained from the
middle of the thigh to the ty,ea, and that the boy for a 10,1
time lay in a precarious condition.

Sentence was passed on Tuesday at tho West Riding
sessions upon John Firth, convicted some months ago of
stealing 50,000 cubic feet of gas, the property of the llalifa%
Corporation. The fraud was effected by intercepting
the
gas from the mains of the Corporation by means of a pipe,
introduced at a point where the gas could be obtained and used
without the quantity being recorded by the meter. At the trial
certain legal. points were reserved for the opinion of th 4
Court of Criminal Appeal, but the conviction was confirmed,
and tho defendant now came up for sentence. The preside
ing magistrate said the evidence showed that tho
Halifax
Corporation had been abominably robbed by a 83,130;2.7,i
fraud which had been carried on for ten or eleven
years, 4
.4
sentenced the defendant to six months'
vasi. Mar. .

At the Devon Quarter Sessions, on Tuesday,Sir Staffol4
Northcote, chairman, the subject of prison labour agaiii
engaged considerable attention. A special committee of the
visiting justices of the county gaol had visited the gaols
Bedford, Winchester, and Holloway, with the vie 4
of ascertaining the reformatory and pecuniary result'
of prison labour. They had found the labour ronly
iterative, but in some instances not reformatory, sf
the objectionable "shot drill" was adopted. Thel
came to the conclusion that the " separate
system," as adopted at Exeter, is beneficial in the
reformation and punishment of criminals, and recogr
mended that the present use of the treadwheel be cot
tinued. The Earl of Devon expressed his strong cos
viction that before long the system of rerrameratile
labour in prisons, as adopted in so many country
on the Continent and in America, would 171
more generally adopted in England. At the same
time he thought the facts ascertained so far did o°'
justify a change from the present system at the Deo
County Gaol. This was the prevailing opinion, and a re'
solution to that effect was carried, Sir John Bowring,
bad introduced the subject, again and again expressed 13'
great surprise that magistrates could be so blind as to
sanction the plan of " letting buckets into empty Wele
and growing old with drawing nothing up.'