Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-09
Londoners Moved by Alleged
Wrongful Imprisonment.
TICHBORNE REMINDER
EVERY LONDON NEWSPAPER FOR
DEFENDANTS CAUSE.
Cars Trouble in Finding Successor to
Won Plehve-Buckingha
Palace Changes.



LONDON, August %, 1904.
Since the prosecution of the Tichborne
claimant public feeling has never been so
deeply stirred by a criminal case as it is
just now over that of Mr.. Adolf Beck, the
story of whose wrongful Imprisonment
doubt has been fully reported in America.
Day by day the interest seems to grow, and
day by day the neeu for thorough impair
tial inquiry grows greater. There are
grounds for fearing that upon one or two
points in the case wrong conclusions may
be formed. a sane and helpful letter APP
peared in the Times, pointing out that
it is an elementary principle in Eng
fish criminal Jurisprudence that any pre-
vious conviction of an accused person
should not be made known to jury until
sentence is passed 1t is for this reason
that lawyers cannot be brought to see that
the common sergeant ruled wrongly when
at the trial of Beck in 1896 he refused to
admit evidence as to the 1877 conviction
and as to whether Beck and Smith were
identical. But now a most remarkable fact
has come to light. In all criminal trials it
Is customary to indict a man for any pre-
v1onS conviction that is known, and such
indictment is always read to the prisoner
after he has been found guilty of the
charge made against him. But it appears
that Beck was not so indicted
There was an indictment for false pre-
lenses framed in ten counts; there were
also four indictments for larceny. In the
false pretences indictment there was no
count alleging the previous convictions;
in the larceny Indictment there such
count. But Beck was tried on the false
pretences indictment, and as there was no
count alleging the 1877 conviction, he
could not plea Not Guilty to that. This
is one of the many matters which will re-
quire calculation; but it is not with re-
gard to any point at the trial that inquiry
is so urgent. The public want to know
why, with all the information the police
must have possessed, an innocent man was
twice charged, was alleged to be John
Smith, and when that was a physical i'm
possibility, and was kept in penal servi-
tude for years after, as alleged, the home
Office had the clearest proofs that at least
one mistake in identity had been made.
Every London newspaper has taken the
case up, many not so much for Beck him
self for the principle involved and for
the terrible possibility of an innocent man
being put away" by the police when
rigid investigation of his case would have
revealed the truth. Englishmen who love
fair play" are up in arms, conservatives
and liberals alike at a department which
so willfully and so unnecessarily sacrificed
an innocent man. They are horror struck
at the idea that British justice, which is
regarded as infallible and is always held
up to foreigners as the type of what legal
administration should be, could so griev-
ouSly err. The government Will not be let
off without an inquiry and the cutting of
few official heads.
Hard to Find q Successor to Plehve.
1 have been shown a letter written by
a very prominent official in the ministry
of the interior in st. Petersburg, describ-
ing the difficulties of the car in finding
a suitable successor to De Plehve.
"Plehve's post" he says, has already been
offered to no fewer than seven men, all OF
whom have refused it for reasons which
may be well understood. the Two men
most suitable for the post-M. de W1tte
and Prince Khilkoff-have not been asked
to undertake it, for their reforming pro-
pensities are too well known to the car
We should welcome either OF them at the
ministry, as they represent an entirely
new school Of thought and political action.
and we can all see that II man or the
type of poor Plehve be appointed our
troubles will increase rather than olmlh-
ish."
In the course Of his latter the writer re-
marks that there is not an official In the
ministry (of the interior) who is not now
Swallowed by police agents, it having trans
pired that the assassin of Plehve was in
close communication with some of the
clerks whose identity has not yet been es-
tablished"
Early Honors for Cars Heir.
The young heir to all the Russias is hav-
ing things done in style for him. Already
he has been made the head man of the
Cossacks and the colonel of a regiment,
and now he is to have a couple of empe-
rors Q<ing Edward and the kaiser and
king Che of Denmark among his sponsors
The czarevitch is a great nephew of both
King Edward and Queen Alexandra. the
czarina is a daughter of one of King Ed
wards sisters, and the car Is the son OF a
sister of Queen Alexandra. The czarina is also
cousin of the kaiser, and the car IS
the grandson of the King of Denmark. The
British royal family and the royal faml-
lies of Germany and Denmark are accord
ingly peculiarly interested in the young
parsonage who has arrived to cheer up
nation not at present too cheerful. They
conduct royal christenings with some cere-
mony at Windsor-considerable practice has
helped to elaborate the effect-but 1t Is
sure that the ceremony at st. Petersburg
will Guido the record in gorgeousness of
any other European court
Changes at Buckingham.
When the king and queen return to town
they will hardly recognize the precincts of
Buckingham Palace Old landmarks are
vanished and at present the dismantled
| forecourt will not please the aesthetic
school, who decline to march with the
times. Some time ago 1 gave a general
description of the great changes proposed
to be carried out at the palace in the sec
| ond stage of improvements in connection
with forming the ground plan of the Ma
| tional Memorial to Queen Victoria Since
| then wonderful progress has been made,
| and it is possible to grasp the funda-
| mental idea of the improvement scheme
| The central gateway, surmounted by the
| lion and unicorn, will not be re-erected but
| there will be new gateway on either side,
and the national coat of arms will sur
| mount one of them. The ratings will be SO
| altered that the forecourt will practically
| form a parallelogram. Certain changes
| are being made in the plots of land now
| enriched with Towering plants. Gorgeous
| groups of statuary representing the extent
| and might of the empire will ultimately be
placed there The supports of the new
| gateways will be of solid granite models
| of which have been prepared
| London Clubs.
| The United States Service Club has now
| followed the example of the Carlton and
| Athenaeum by making provision for the
| time when it will have to renew it's lease
| At the Carlton they raised the subscription
to new members, and at the Athenaeum
| they added a story (spoiling, by the way,
| the effect of their fine frieze a replica of
| the Elgin marbles) and thus increased the
| revenue by providing additional sleeping
| accommodation. Most of the clubs in Pail
Mall hold their leases from the crown, but
| al m nil ne fbair