Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1895-12-05
CHAPTER XII.

around me- Soon we all were forced TO
realize there was no escape for any OF US
OF course we were all guilty and de-
served punishment-I need not say we
did not think so then-but the evidence
was most weak and had our trial taken
| place in America under the too liberal
| construction of our laws undoubtedly
we all would have escaped. But in Eng
land there is no court Of criminal appeal,
as with US, and when once the jury
gives q verdict that ends the matter.
The result is that if judges are preju-
diced or want a man convicted he never
escapes. The jury is always selected
from the shopkeeping class, and they
are horribly subservient to the aristo-
cratic classes. They don't care for evil
dence. They simply watch the judge.
IF he smiles, the prisoner is innocent ;
if he frowns, then, of course, guilty.
With us when man is charged with
an offsnse against the laws he engages
a lawyer One is sufficient and quite
costly enough. In England they are di-
vided into three classes-viz, solicitors,
barristers and queens counsel
The solicitor takes the case and trans
acts all the business connected with it
A barrister is the lawyer who is en-
ployed by the solicitor to conduct the
case in court and make the pleadings.
He never comes in contact with the
client, but takes the brief and all in
structions from the solicitor. The
queens counsel is lawyer of a higher
rank, and whenever his serene lordship
takes q brief he must to keep up his
dignity, be supported by barrister.
So my reader will perhaps understand
the raison d etre of the proverb, 1.-The
lawyers own England. " AS no solicitor
can plead in court so no queens coun-
sci will come in direct contact with a
client and must be supported" by a
barrister. Ergo any unfortunate having
q case in court must fee two if not three
legal sharks to represent him, if repre-
sented at all.
We employed as solicitor Mr. David
Howell of 105 Cheapside, and thor
oughgoing, ,unprincipled rascal he proved
to be. He was small, spare, understood
man, with little beady eyes, light com
plexion, red hair and stubby beard, and
when he spoke it was with n thin, reedy
voice. From first to last he managed
our case in exactly the way the prosecu
ton would have desired He bled us
freely, and altogether we paid him near
ly $40, 900, and our defense by our eight
lawyers-four queens counsel and four
barristers-was about the lamest and
most idiotic possible.
We early came to the unanimous CON
clusion that i'll our country Howell
would have nau to face jury Tor ROB-
bing us, and that but one of our eight
lawyers had ability enough to appear in
a police court here to conduct hearing
before an ordinary magistrate.
do not propose to enter into the de-
tails Of our preliminary hearings before
the lord mayor at the Mansion House, or
of the trial Both the hearings and trial
were sensational in the highest degree
and attracted universal attention all
over the English speaking world Full
page pictures Of the trial appeared in
all the illustrated journals of Europe
and America, and our portraits were on
sale everywhere.
After many hearings before Sir Sid
ney Waterlow we were finally commit
ted for trial.
For eight mortal days the final trial
dragged on, and there we were pilloried
in that horrible dock-a spectacle for
the staring throngs that focked to see
the young Americans who had found a
pregnable spot in the impregnable Bank
of England.
The misery Of those eight days! No
language can describe it, nor would l
undergo it again for the wealth Of the
world.
The court was filled with fashionables,
ladies as well, who flocked to stare at
the misery, while the corridors of the
Old Bailey and the street itself were
packed with thousands eager to catch
glimpse of us. The judge in scarlet sat
in solemn state, with members Of the
nobility or gouty aldermen in gold
chains and robes on the bench behind
him. The body of the court was filed
with bewigged lawyers tippling lot
Of sharks and rogues, always after lunch
half tipsy with the punch or dry sherry
which English lawyers drink, jesting
and cracking jokes unmindful Of the
fate Of their clients. Captain Curtin
and a score Of detectives were present.
No fewer than 213 witnesses were
called by the prosecution. OF these about
30 were from America, and by them
they traced our lives for many years be-
fore AS the forged bills were all sent
by mail it was necessary to convict US
by circumstantial evidence. 1t really was
all very weak save only in that re-
markable matter Of the blotting paper.
The jury retired to consider their ver-
dict shortly after z O'Clock, and on re-
turning into court after the lapse of
about a quarter Of an hour they gave in
a verdict of guilty against all Of the four
prisoners.
Judge Archibald proceeded to pass
sentence He began with the interesting
and truthful remark, Il have anxiously
| considered whether anything less than
| the maximum penalty Of the law will
| be adequate to meet the requirements OF
| this case, and l think not. We had in
| formation that few days previously a
meeting of judges had been held and
that he had been advised to pass life
| sentence. What he really meant to say
was that he had anxiously considered
whether anything less would be ade-
| uuate to satisfy the Bank Of England.
| He went on to say that "the sentence is
penal servitude for life, and l further
order that each one Of you pay one-fourth
Of the costs Of prosecution-f49,0 900, or
e249, 900 in all "
And, after all, what aroused so greatly
! his Indignation? 1t was simply this
| because we We're youngsters and Amer
| leans and had successfully assaulted the
fondly imagined impregnable Bank OF
England, and, worse still, had held uI
| to the laughter of the whole world its
red tape idiotic management, for had
they even asked me for reference the
fraud would have been made impossible.
Let my reader contrast this modern
Jeffreys, his savage TRADE, and for an
offense against property the most bruta
sentence, with his treatment of the War
wickshire bank wreckers Greenaway
the manager Of this bank, and three OF
the directors, by false balance sheets
and perjured reports, for years had loot
ed the bank, finally robbing the depos-
itors of G1 900, 900, several Of whom
committed suicide, and thousands more
Of whom We're ruined.
They We're tried, convicted and in
being sentenced were told that, being
men Of high social position, the disgrac'
| in itself was severe punishment