A MAGISTRATE'S NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 55, 5 March 1904, Page 10

A MAGISTRATE'S NOTES.

Mr. Acholo CJuchelo, in hi 9 "Autobiography of a London Police Magistrate" (Unwin) writes:— "Much of the interest of my work I feel to lio in a close scrutiny of the human countertance, whether in tho dock or the witness-box. I made a mental note if a prisoner has abnormal ears. They «ro often significant. And if lam doubtful about a witness speaking tho truth, I direct my attention to his mouth and to his hands. The mouth is, perhaps, the most expressive feature, and the hands of' a liar airo seldom at rest ; but where I often think, much is to bo loarned from a witness is aitor he has given his evidence, and left the box. I continue to watch him as he site unsuspectingly in hia pluco in tho Court, while othor witnesses, especially those that are opposed to him are examined. The expressions that pass over his face on these occasions ore oiten very instructive." A thieving mania is thus referred to: — "A man who has been convicted of stealing an umbrella or a watch will go on stealing umbrellas or watches without anything else tempting him in the least. Quite recently I have hod such a man before me. His mania — for that seemed the right word for.it — was to steal some thing; however worthless, from a publichouse. A eteay article in the bar of a public-house had for him a greater temptation than tho contents of a jeweller's shop. At all events that was his record. Take the article, whatever it might bo, to the window of the 'public' and drop it in the street, and the temptation would end. Lock it in any room of the houso, and tho prisoner would break tho door to get at it. This is, in fact, what he had done, for, ho was charged with burglary, ns well as larceny." "Only once in a Police Court" says Mr. Plowdon), "havo I been on lie point of breaking down, and my sensibility on this occasion was shiired, I think, by all who wore present. It was a case of husband and wife, and tho husband had all but murdered hia wit'o, by striking her repeated blows with a pokor. As the wife gave her evidence, still suffering severely, all her thought was given to the husband in the dock. Her eyes were fixed on him, her arms were sti-etched out to him ; sho could hardly speak for tears, and ho was not loss moved. He had attacked her in the middlo of tlie night, under a strange nnd sudden delusion fcliat there were burglars in the room, and that she was one of them. He had since regained his senses, and w«s transported with grief at what he l*d done. I have never seen a. more tottobing exhibition of human affection. Everybody in Court was affected by it $ it wns so genuine, and so entiroly unstudied." Little Jenie (looking at fat woman) : "Well, I hope Santa Glaus will come to our house before ho fills that lady's stockings."