Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1902-10-29
R THROUGH PROXIES.
Criminals In England Sometimes
Have Substitutes 10 EndurePu R-
LShmentu for Them

There are few things one man Is
not prepared to do for another, said
q prison official to a London Tit-Bits
writer, and going to prison for him is
certainly not among those at which
he draws a line. Why, it Is not many
days since, as you would read in the
papers, after a man had been sentenced
ct a London police court for six
months imprisonment for q bru-
tai assault, his brother besought
the magistrate, with tears in his
eyes, to be allowed to serve
the sentence-an appeal which was, Of
course, refused. In this case the mar
who proposed to be his brothers proxy
rs a jailbird vas probably actuated by
the highest motives, although 1 am
bound to admit that most of these
prison substitutes have nothing more
noble than money to inspire their self
sacrifice.
In another recent case a nan who
had been arrested on his w confess
sion on a charge Of house-breaking re-
ceived quite a nominal sentence, al it
was his first o%ffense, and he protested
penitence and a determination TO re-
form. Before he had served q week
Of his sentence, however, he found
prison life so little to his taste that
he sought an interview with the gov
ernor and told him that the real cul-
~wsA -, - Ls~.eoI4 b,4 a tt-.1u ~
It appeared that the latter, finding
that the police were uneomfortably
hot on his track, offered the prisoner
a certain sum Of money If he would
take his place and confess his guilt,
He knew well that If he himself were
caught, with his long list of previous
convictions, he would not get OF with
less than from 'seven or fourteen
stretch" whereas his substitute, who
had no such conviction recorded
against him, would be much more le-
niently treated.
There are many cases, too, in which
n convict personates another and
gets his freedom long before he is en-
titled to it. Only a few weeks ago ]
noticed among the prisoners who were
about to be liberated on the expiration
Of their sentence a man whose term.
I thought, was far from having ex-
PRED. detained him so that the mat
ter could be investigated, and the con.
Wet, finding the game was up" con-
fessed that he had changed places with
another prisoner.
It IS no uncommon thing for a mar
out on bail to escape punishment in
this way. Last year q cashier who wai
charged with embezzlement was re
leased on heavy bail. He used his
freedom to such advantage that he
procured a substitute so ike himself
IN appearance that even his friends
might have found Il difficult TO distin.
guish one from the other, and after
installing him in HIS rooms and coach.
ing him in all the facts Of the case be
disappeared.
The proxy was duly tried and sen.
fenced to . long term Of penal servi
tude-much, no doubt, to his amaze.
ment-and It was only By an accident
that he did not every day Of It
AS luck would have It, the real Grim.
inal, who was all the time lying low II
Whitechapel, was run over and takeE
to q hospital in q dying condition. Here
probably overcome by remorse, h'
confessed his identity and his guilt
and before HIS death left a sworn state
ment declaring the entire innocence d
the man who had taken his place.