A SINGULAR CASE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1585, 15 June 1887, Page 3

A SINGULAR CASE.

A MAN PLEADS FOB IMPRISON. MBNT. Most of our readers probably remember the. case of Thomas Glenn. Some time •go Glenn, whe Is stone blind, was an Inmate of the Old Men's Home, but beooming dissatisfied with that Institution he cleared out on two or three occasions. Why he did this has never been eatfsfaotorlly explained. He complained of the ether Inmates having played praotical jokes on him, bat as far as we can learn the man, Inconsequence ol his Infiuilty, was, daring his sUy m the home, treated with exceptional klndaess. The faot remain*, however, that he oleared cut, and on the leit occasion of his doing so he emphatically refuted to return, raking tbat he might instead be sent to prison. There w&a nothing for it then bat to. bring him before the Court on a charge of vagrancy. Tho Magistrate felt considerable difficulty m dealing with the eaie as the man had committed no crime, 'and by reason of his blindness could not well be regarded as a fit subject (or incarceration m a gaol. He, therefore, reasoned with Glenn and asked him to go back to the Borne, telling him tbat if any of Mi fellow Inmatea troubled him, ail be had to do was to report the olroumitancei and his tormentors would be punished. No arguments, however, wonld eadse Glenn to relax his stubborn determination, and go back he would not, The only way oat of the difficulty was to acoede to the man's request to commit him to gaol, and he was aoocrdlngly sent tup for three months. On coming oat he appealed to the Magistrate to send him back again, being as determined as ever not to retarn to the home. Back to gaol he waa lent; this time for six months. Thli term expired yesterday and the gaol authorities returned him to Ashburton. fie arrived here with elghteenpenoe m hin pocket, and oat of this sttt he hired a cab to take him to the police station, when he gave himself In charge for vagrancy, Sergent Felton tried to persuade him to go to the Old Men's Borne, U OOlj *W » short trial of the Institatlon, bat Glenn declared that nothing bnt force wonld make him go there, and he would run away the first opportunity he got* Of coarse, under these circumstances, nothing could be done except to bring the man before the Oonrt as he desired. He made his appearance this morning before Messrs Scaly and Williamson and cheerfully aisked that he might be sent b»ok to gaol. The Bench, after consultation, said that they supposed there was nothing for it bat te commit Glenn to prison for another six months. to this Glenn replied " Is that all? I am m old offender, and I hope yonr Worships will whip it into me pretty stiff this time." The Bench deoided that Glenn should he imprisoned for six months with inch hard labor as he was fit for,