The English Defaulter, Forsyth Anderson.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1, 29 May 1885, Page 2

The English Defaulter, Forsyth Anderson.

W° (Post) have to thank Chief Detective Browne for a copy of the Liverpool Evening Express of the 10th April containing the proceedings at the City Sessions, when Alexander Forsyth Anderson pleaded guilty to a series of emhez- | zlements, amounting to £636 13s 9d, of ' the funds of the Liverpool Workhouse, of which institution he was formerly muster. The story of tho prisoner's adventures after he absconded, as told by the prosecuting counsel, wus as follows ; *— On the 27th March the prisoner left Manchester for London, and from thence Went to Paris. Hs seemed to have purchased a diary, m which he made daily entries of his movements up to the time he was arrested. . According to his diary he left Paris, and went to Lucerne and other places inSwitxeriand, then to Monte Carlo,. Genoa, Rome, and Naples, where on the 25th May he sailed on board the Orient to New Zealand. He appeared to have visited Melbourno and Sydney, and finally settled at Otaki, m New Zealand, where he was arrested. Mr Walton, on behalf of the prisoner, said that Anderson was led to take money that did not bolong to him through speculation, into which he was led m consequence of ex penaes which he incurred m providing for certain relatives who were thrown npon his hands m a very destitute and wretched condition. He urged the Court to pass a light sentence, m consideration of the prisoner's previous good character. The Recorder, m passing sentence, said •he had thought carefully over all the circumstances of the case, and had tke greatest hesitation m holding his hand front passing upon the prisoner a sentence of penal servitude, which he undoubtedly ; should have done had he been placed at the bar soon after he absconded. Since the time the prisoner committed these offences, a year ago, ho had been away, and he (the Recorder) could not help thinking that he must have been m a terrible state of mental suffering all this time. It was quite true that he was moving about enjoying a certain amount of external luxury, but he could not help thinking that he must have been m a I terrible* mental agony, aud that could not bo {'omitted from consideration m passing sentence. Ho had been m custody for some mouths, und as it was difficult to see what benefit would accrue to the public from destroying his whole life, which penal servitude might might do, a loni>- term of imprisonment would bo ■substituted, so that he might haw> an opportunity ot! retrieving his character. The pri.si>nor was then sentenced to two yours' imprisonment with hard labor.