‘THE BLACK LIBRARY’

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10299, 7 January 1927, Page 2

‘THE BLACK LIBRARY’

BOOKS AT THE. OLD BAILEY,

GRIM, RECORDS OF CRIME,

STRANGE, FANTASTIC TALES,

Within the Old Biiiley is the strangest collection of books in the world. It is known unofficially as the “Black Library” and contains a complete record of all tlie trials that have taken place within those cold stone walls. From these hooks it is possible to trace tlie march of British criminal law from ferocious cruelty and barbaric ignorance to the present times of enlightened justice, tempered with mercy . Strange and fantastic, gruesome, heart-breaking, are some of the stories told in these musty tomes. Old and dry-looking they are, hut their yellowed pages throb with romance ; with the unending drama of human passions, weaknesses, wickednesses, cunning, and, on the other hand, steadfast loyalty and indomitable courage. Nowadays a jury need fear nothing from the Bench, should it decide that an indicted person must have the benefit of a dubious doubt. That was not always so. For instance* in the “Black Library” c-ne may read how William Penn, the pugnacious Quaker and Father of the State of Pennsylvania, was tried, with one William Mead and acquitted on a charge of preaching to an unlawful assembly in Gracechureh Street.-’ This acquittal enraged the judge, who had the jury locked up without food for two days and two nights in order to coerce them into returning a verdict of “Guilty.” But tlie gallant jury held fast, and Wm. Penn was acquitted. To-day, the infrequent hanging of a woman causes a general feeling of horor and repugnance against' what seems an inhuman and terrible punishment. Yet, as tlie “Black Library” records, during the reign of the first three Georges no fewer than 160 offences were punishable by death, and women were shown no greater mercy than men.

JURY SAVES A WOMAN’S LIFE. Some idea of the ferocity of the law of those days may tie gleaned from- the fact that poor wretches passed from the grim dock of the Old Hailey, condemned to public execution lor such trivial offences as stealing goods valued at five shillings from a shop, counterfeiting stamps to he used for the sale of perfumes, or stealing from a dwelling house goods worth forty shillings. Once, it is recorded, a poor woman was charged with the theft of £2 from a house. The penalty on conviction- was death. What was the jury to do ? The evidence was overwhelming. They found a verdict of “Guilty,” adding a rider that the value of the £2 was only thirty-nine shillings. A jury is said to he supreme in the realm of facts, so- the verdict stood, the poor woman was saved from the gallows, and the law, to which attention had thus been drawn, was amended. There is grim humour in these old records of crime. For instance, in 1623, one William Dominich was condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered for theft. Rut William was a cook—more, lie had cooked for the king! What a waste, to execute a man who could titillate the Royal appetite. So word was carried to the king, and William was pardoned. Here, too. it is recorded that the notorious Jack Sheppard was once a highly-respected draper’s assistant. The full story of his life and of the lives of many other famous denizens of the underworld is set forth in vivid detail.

MICHAEL D.WITT'S INSCRIPTION.

In the days when the earlier chapters juf this unique Imman document were written, prisoners were kept in Newgate prison itself. It was a damp, dark, fever-ridden gaol. Yet before its old walls were demolished they yielded evidence of great interest, shedding light upon the courage with which some prisoners faced their harsh lot. When Michael Davitt was waiting trial lie scratched upon the wMI of the waiting room: “M.D. expects ten years for the crime of being an Irish Nationalist, and the victim of an informer's perjury.”

In one of tlie demolished cells was 'this pity-impelling inscription: “21,000 times have 1 walked round this cell in a week. 7 ’ Incidentally, it supplies the key to the riddle of prisonwall inscriptions-—they are the result of the insufferable tedium of solitary confinement. Many of those old inscriptions were written in “thieves’ slang.’’ Thus: “IFallied for a clock and slang,” means, translated into English, committed for trial on the charge of stealing a watch and chain. While “Long bil expecs bolt,” means that one William, a tall man, expects to be sent to penal servitude.

WITNESS ON HIRE, A great deal is heard nowadays about the prevalence of perjury. The records of the “Black' Library” show that prisoners awaiting trial in old Newgate often procured by payment witnesses whose evidence they hoped might bring about their acquittal. Witnesses plied for hire openly, making a regular living by perjury. Records of modern as well as ancient trials are kept in the “Black Library.” Every session new records are added to this-great store house of drama in the rough. Were one will find the full story of the crime of Dr. Crip pen, of Seddon the prisonei. of Bottomley,. of Bywaters and Mrs. Thompson, and a score of others. A London writer says: “blow will this library annear to the student of social history a thousand years hence? Chiefly, he will stand astonished before the one supremely interesting central fact, which will up like a tower amid the ocean of human tragedies. And that tact is • “As punishments have become more and more humane crime has diminished!” ;