The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-11-12
MRS CASTLE OF SAN FRANClsCo
TOOK HER SENTENCE VERY
HARD.
LONDON SHOPuFT|NG Case SETTLED
Mrc Castle Sentenced for Three Months
without Labor-Castle Released, as
There Was No Evidence Against
Him-Thc Trial.

Nc Castle of San Francisco. charged
with shoplifting, took place today ana
resulted in Mr.. Castle being acqui''c'
and Mrs. Castle being sentenced 10 thiee
months Imprisonment without nara III
| Dor. Aha
There was much interest taken III 'le
case, especially among the members oi
thc American colony, and several Iaaies
arrived in court together about j:t"'
They included among the number til'
wife Of Chairman O'Connell of the Clerk
cnwel sessions, and Miss Chapman oi
| Kentucky.
| If was noticed there were quite num-
Der of Hebrews present, and during 'he
| morning Il goodly number of artists, rep
resenting different newspapers, put IN an
appearance for the purpose OF making
sketches of the Castles in their strange
surroundings. The jurors were OF WHAT
is known as the middle class, mainly
shop keepers. -,
At 1O:3O a. m. the case opened with
the names of the Castles being called
by the clerk of the court to surrender
the bail of 100000. Then counsel Tor
| the defense took the floor.
The decorus quiet of the court room
was broken by the sound of hysterlcal
sobbng by Mrs. Castle, whose husband
supported her in the dock. Both PRISON
| ers were attircd in black and seemed 10
be weighted down with sorrow. Traces
of deep suffering were visible on tnelr
faces.
Mrs, Castle, especially, appeared to
| have AGED considerably since her arrest
| n month ago at the Hotel Cecil, on the
charge of having stolen various articles,
such as furs etc, from different stores
| in this country.
When Mrs. Castle had become COM
posed the business of the day was com
menccd.
| Mr.. Castle stood up calmly rs the clerk
read the Indictment and called upon the
male prisoner to plead.
Not guilty" answered Mr.. Castle, in
Il strong voice, as Il flush passed across
his face, only TO leave him palcr than
ever.
Mrs. Castle was then called upon to
plead, but Mr.. Clarke arose and said that
his client, Mrs. Castle, would plead guilty
to all the indictments, which were then
read, Mr.. Castle pleading at the same
time not guilty to each separate charge
The scene was distressing one. The
| sobs of Mrs. Castle were heart-rcnding
in spite of the effort made by her hus-
band to soOthc her distress. She was
heavily vailed and rocked TO and fro
moaning and hysteriacly sobbing. She
! kept II handkerchief up to her face
throughout, conccaling her features from
| the inquiSitive searching glances of the
newspaper artists and others present in
court to illustrate or describe the pro-
ceedings. After the wcarisome work of
reading the indictments had been com
| pletcd, Horace Avery opened the case for
the prosecution. He said that after care
full consideration, there appeared TO be no
evidence against the male defendant. ad-
| ding: Il shall proceed on that assump-
| ton and shall not offer evidence against
| him. At the police court we were obliged
to proceed against both prisoners. but
now the wife pleading guilty permits Il
withdrawal of the evidence against her
| husband"
The Judge thcreupon replied: II have
read the dispositions and can see nothing
in them inconsistent with the husbands
innocensc. L am, therefore. prepared to
accept prosecuting counscIs view of the
case"
| The judge thereupon directed the iury
that they could not convict man against
whom no evidence was presented
Sir Frank Lockwood said: 81 must
touch upon the position occupied BY the
wife,
| Counsel described the European tour of
| the Castles from the time of their leaving
San Francisco, and said the court was
crowded with men of high commercial
positions who were ready to testify to the
| Castles integrity.
Later Mr.. Avery, for the prosecution,
recounted the case as it presented itself
against Mrs Castle, and in doing so. he
rehearscd the general statement as il
was made at the Marlborough street DO
nee court. He described the articles
stolen and gave the details of the arrest
not emitting what Mrs. Castle said ia
the officer who arrested her.
Continuing, Mr.. Avery described tho
artlclcS round IN the rooms of the Castles
ut the Hotel Cecil as being 'nerfcct
museum of valuable things" and hid
stress ON the fact that many of the ar
tlclcS had upon them their original ticket
| He added 1t is not unreasonable to
assert on this fact, that while MANY of
the Things were bought during the Eu-
| ropean tour, there is intrinsic evidence
that. other things were stolen from time
to time. The police have evidence that
one fur article was stolen in Vienna.
am also impclled to say that while she
Mrs. Castle was going about doing these
thefts, in not single instance was she
detected in the act, which also tends to
snow that her husband also could not no.
tlce, SO skilfully were the thefts made,
Sir Edward Clarke then made n strong
plea for Mrs. Castle. After taking tho
testimony, the magistrates, who nun.
bered twenty-five, at 11:45, retired.
AT Il, O'Clock promptly the magistrates
returned and silence one more fell upor
the court.
Mrs. Castle was again brought IN from
the cells, with difficulty, sobbing violent
~. She staggered to the front of th,
dock and touched the rail- while the clerk
of the court read the indictment TO which
she had pleaded guilty. The unfortunat,
woman then sank exhausted upon th,
chair placed in the dock for her accom-
mediation.
The judge then summed up. He saii
that the court had great trouble in deal
ing with this difficult case, in which SYM
pathy was almost interfering with ms
tice, and knowing that whatever sen
tence he might pass would be carefull,
reviewed elsewhere, so that any donpc,
to the prisoners mental health would h,
carefully guarded against.
The judge then passed sentence of thro,
months Imprisonment without hard labo
| Inc 10 L,