COLONEL BAKER'S CASE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 262, 4 October 1875, Page 4

COLONEL BAKER'S CASE.

i% : <6ar English telegraras fofdrioa^d c« somß time sgo that Colonel Valenline Baker, of the 10th Hassars, had been convicted oil indecently assaulting o ■ Mißa Eale Pickinson in a railway oarfSage, and aeoteooed to one ysar's im«^riib^FJieiit wtthoat hard labor and to lioce beea diimjssed from her Ma ; jeoty's eervioe. The j udge,' Mr Justice - Pje% ia aenteGoiog the prisoner, is - reported by the Home News to have t addrewsd him m follows s— at v thp ri .bar--When this ; , story was first toH a thrill of dishonor peeeed through the whole country. ,-:Whaa it waa iold ithatla yoitog and . ionocent girl, travelling by the ordinary Conveyance of this coantry. had been IjbHged to risk her lire it order to save '' V^eri^lf^ifrom,' a gross outrage, every * hobsehold $n England^ felt as though ' it hjkd received a peraphal iojary. And t (£iitii&ni it -was heard that the assailant «& wa^ft abldier, an officer of high rank, a ;-. gentiemao, the news was received with astonishment, and, I may say, with . Yoo have had the closest and j^jnoat* dispassionate .. consideration of /ease by a jury which has shown ', itself able to discriminate between the : obargea made agaiost you. They have \ fearlessly and properly acquitted you of the gravest part of the dsjdJbaUgey and found you guilty .of the minor- offeoce, and of that guilt no man can:.ha?e the slightest doubt. It has been acid that this yonng lady ought nqft ttihfeve remained in the railway long alone with a man; ausgesta a state of society c jwhicfe l/'aaaert does not esist in any y-^art/ot: England. It seems to suggest ■""• that a .defenceless woman cannot travel i' { alone'witfa i a man without expecting an Jl upon her^ That is not true of , any iiarfci of society, from the higheal to ;..th;9 lowest irj. this, land. There may have been cases in which men have . *^' given v %ay "to" vile passions, bat it is ?: wrong to say that the law will not in T «ndD3 eases with outstretched arm avenge such outrages. It has been 7 ; said f tfiat it was wrong for this you og to/enter intaa prolonged, cobver--1 satiba with the defendant; but I can. ,f ;-jß(pit;a"groe With that. Snch a. statement >^^a^ejlaA.^r'arieni'fear which the selfi f Arelip^ct of every innocent, woman never .^1 al^yyß |eir to entertain in her heart for 'a moment, it may be suggested that : H this abominable outrage on this lady haa^.' delated'"- her, , butt pronounce that v ; 9hevieWes this court as pure, as ia-*-:-aocentj-• and 'as uudefited as ever she : ; was iijMr life— nay, mbreVthe courage l^Bh^baa^disp(ayed has added a glory to -ner* ydutn^ and her ipnocence acd her ;- basuiy. You, prisoner at the bar, not only held the position of a gentleman, , ■ butof an.ojScer, and of an officer high in ; command^, and of all people who :■ trav^/led in that train that day yoa ~^l : f PS' th ®. ;bband to statid byland *f~ de&nd ; . »v defenceless womao, \ even if she had acted wish indiscretion, fl£iydU£QUght, considering besides the d|fW;s<e*eoce*of your ages, to have protected s sfcbersVan against herself. Bat there ' is . nothiegi iu^ her conduct to justify the A coarse you took. Your crime is as bad "as" it could be; but there are circum--85 -'ataadea -in r your casedf which the law C': aiwiya takes notice, and of which I am iiiliouu'd to take notice in the discharge of : Tity duly. Thia must have been, from itha toharacter yoa have received, a ,'^^3addeooQ&break of wickedness on your .aßfEparti - - '>! have: heard from' two officers '&p : j at the greatest distinction (Sir "Richard ; ' v ;Aifey and Sir Thomas Steele) 'the high ■ positiqc which syou held; and that u p to thkfacal day they believed yoa to -^bWerybeen, an honorable m.an.^: That e9/ - higb'poaition yoa have not owed to the i^^jS^Mt of birth, bat have Won it by S^-yoW 4 individual exertions arid by : !h. brilliant services, by v which you ; have so*, ffiiadd ydor country, so far as your •bareeraaa^ soldier is - concerned, your ol debtor. I flel^ therefore, I ought to consider this outrage as a 'sudden ojutbreak^in a man who up to that time w ;-Bo>ne a character which would appearlo blive rendered, it impossible. If the jury had convicted you of the grayer .charge, I should have felt it my ,-^ao'ty to bavV passed upon you ihe full the law imposes, which ; is— (wo. pears' hard labor; but the iury * . Ipayjs^rigjbitty r feud truly, not ; made' u p their miuds that you bad arrived at ffftn tb«e of wickedness, but bad i^iSSS_**_A 8^ vW «f •«!» greater 1 crime, which you are charged of having Si^ff^iil^ «> *Ma .young, woman. .Therefore, I shall not pass upon you a = Se^tetice which will carry with it all th,?:pbyßical degradation which would follow an ordinary seaSD;Jehc(SifdrTthrs offence.' If I jpaeTsed s^ch a sentence, I feel that it would subject a penalty far greater^han; it SV^M?^?'fe-- ;Jw - t0 P* rßon ß differently J siti^ied who might be found guilty of ?^| : auc^ an offeace. If that sentence was psaaadupoa you I am aware that day by" day yoa would be subjected to a rljx^ntliiuoos torture which would poa- ':-},'? '*$is\j prevent you from the result which , ; I hope will follow for you, that after a &&?^rida;qf long repentaaca you may be rainstated in the eyes of your fellows in some position somewhat like that you li MW Q M97^ j shall. therefore spare yoa these physics! degradations, hoping ['■■.^'4&s-\ui¥4 isid, after a long repen tance, -^vy'-bWiioi isly- by- some brilliant aer vice, of ,;;;;• wb.ioh\yo\jr past life. ahowa that yon. are ;:^^jDO'/doAbi capable, wipe out the injury n e *9 your'couiatry, bat the Will be h U that y<ou ;bo im« '$ : /-.i-v : \p£&[ V ■.-■- ■ .-.. ' ■ • "*

pf fsoadd in this (somsioa &w& of thU cooatj, wUffoni •abjaobiflg yen iotbe physical degradfetiono ta vrbf«h X hum jtltaddd, int K^elvai. -»li»e<ler E*oE*h§; thiit yog phj a floo «f £500, end to be further irnprisoacd oaiil thai fine be paid; tnftt you pay tha costs of ibis proseouiioo, find be imprisoned still farther (ill those ooste be paid, for a period not eaceadiog three months." A eubdued mormar of approval suffused the coarf; and after a tnomeDt's pause the prisoner, who did not move a muscle or display the least sign of emotion, was summoned by the gaoler. He stooped for his umbrella and hat and descended at onoe by the stairs 'within the dock to the prison beoeath. . ,