William John Walker, 41, labourer, was charged with unlawfully obtaining by false pretences the sum of 2s. from Miss Emily Hodgette, on the 27th September, with intention to cheat and defraud.
Mr. Arthur Welch, barrister, instructed by Mr. Belcher, appeared to prosecute.
Prisoner pleaded not guilty, and the evideue, as fully reported last week, was re-taken. The prisoner went to High-house, Speenhamland, the residence of Mrs. Palmer, and represented to Miss Emily Hodgetts, the governess, that he wished to pay a bill he owed to the late Dr. Palmer. Miss Hodgetts looked through the ledgers, but failed to find his name. He then said he was working on a farm at lls. per week, and that he would receive £8 as Michaelmas money on the following Monday. He asked Miss Hodetts if Mrs. Palmer would lend him 2s.. saying he had paid Dr. Palmer a good deal of money in his time. She lent him 2s. herself, believing his statement to be true. In gratitude for the 2s. the prisoner offered to bring her a lark, and she then said she would give him ls for it. On the 4th of October he again went to the house, but then said the cat had killed the lark. Evidence was given by Mr.. Montagu Palmer, who said she did not know the prisoner. She had searched the late doctor's books, but could not find any reference to his name. Prisoner asserted, in cross-examination, that he was a member of the Rechabiite Society, of which Dr. Palmer was the medical attendant. P. C. Frederick Smith, who lived within ball-a-mile of the prisoner, was called to prove that he was not employed on a farm at lls. a week, and that he did only odd jobs, which would not entitle him to any Michaelmas money. Sergt. Borlase proved the arrest, and prisoner called Jane Maria Gore, who, in answer to his inquiry, denied that she knew he had been attended by Dr. Palmer.
Prisoner: Well he did then. He further appealed for mercy as he bad a wife and five children depending upon him for support.
The Recorder having summed up, the jury deliberated for a short time, and then the Foreman said the jury wished to know if when apprehended prisoner bad any money in his possession, as he had asserted that when arrested he was on his way to pay the money. Sergt. Borlase stated that prisoner had Is. 3d. in coppers in his possession, end that he was not going in the direction of Mrs. Palmer's. The Foreman (Mr. Twissell) then said the jury were unanimously of opinion that prisoner was guilty.
Prisoner having pleaded guilty to a conviction at the October Quarter Sessions in 1887,
Supt. Bennett said prisoner was sentenced to two months hard labour for assaulting his wife on March 15th, 1884 ; to 28 days' hard labour on 6th May, 1887, for deserting his wife and children; and three months' hard labour on October 15th, 1887, for obtaining 2s. by false pretences. Prisoner had also been in difficulty since that time.
The Recorder said the evidence was very clear, and he quite concurred in the verdict of the jury. It seemed that prisoner had been previously convicted of precisely the same offence, when he was sentenced to three months' imprisonment. He then bore a bad character, having ill-used his wife and deserted his family, and received a comparatively mild punishment. Under these circumstances it was his duty to inflict a second punishment, and it would be idle to inflict the same again. But he would give him another chance, and he hoped the sentence would satisfy him that he could not again commit these offences with impunity; and that if he did so after repeated warnings and imprisonments, he would find himself subjected to a different species of punishment in order that he might be deterred from committing crime in the future.
He would be sentenced to six months' hard labour. |
