THE SEAMY SIDE

Shannon News, 29 June 1926, Page 2

THE SEAMY SIDE

.— TALES TOLD TO MAGISTRATE. Optical Illusions.

Optical illusions were the downfall of- Richard Lcwins, soldier, tailor, inspector of shells ,and writer of mls»leading advertisements, who told the story of his life at Clerkenwell Police Court yesterday. An intelligent looking man of 64, he said he had served as a young man in the Egyptian campaign .rejoined the army at the outbreak of the Great War ,and otjtained a responsible position anil a pension of 15s. a week at Woolwich Arsenal.

But that was only a sketch -of his career. The gaps were filled by a detective who read out a series of convictions agaist Lewins. including ,a sentence of five years’ penal servitude for fraud in T 898; His last lapse, however, was in 1909. Since that time be had gone straight until recently, when he returned to the evil practices of twenty years ago. In a long speech from the dock the man of many trades attributed his criminal career to the harsh sentences for having been drunk and disorderly. The matter of a £1 cheque, he said, got him five years, and when he came out of prison, ne associated with men who taught him the advertisement trick. By trade a tailor, he set up as an optician, and advertising for an assistant, requested £lO as a security. He got the £lO but failed to provide the job and was arrested in bed at Islington at halfpast six in the morning. Already ne had been visited by bailiffs seeking to enforce orders in two other cases but as he lived'in furnished rooms they returned empty handed. Lewis who promised to refund the money, was remanded for a week to give him a chance to keep his word. Mr. J. B. Sandbach, K.C., the new Metropolitan magistrate, who comes from Manchester, was impressed by the’ vetrean’s story and at the same time influenced by his “shocking record,” and Lewis’s fate is in his own hands, if he keeps his word he will escape prison, which he has avoided for nearly twenty years. The new magistrate has a genial personality and a musical voice, or average height and fair complexion, he is more ready to smile than to frown, and his* fines are on the light' side. Tie has a brisk, business-like manner .emphasised by a pair of horn-rimmed spectacles, and while he welcomes q joke, I should say that he will not stand any nonsense. Yesterday he had a light list of Clerkenwell, but li e soon gave the impression that he knew his job.

Laura Peacock put on her fine feathers to celebrate a holiday, and it was a pity* that she spoiled an at--ti active outfit by getting helplessly drunk, the penalty for which was half a crown. And that is the cheapest charge for drunkennes in the Metroplitan area.

Bill Bailey took a deep breath, and without waiting for the constable in the case to give evidence, announced that he had not touched a drop of drink for eight months and that he was suffering from epilepsy, neurasthenia, three small ports, and a loss of memory. The magistrate returned the broad smile of the constable ,and added another half a crown to the coffers of the court. Alexander Pinkerton also might have been in the half-crown queue bad it not been for bis wife. Mrs. Pinkerton waited outside the court until a constable had told all he Know about Alexander’s had language and intoxication, an dthen she entered the witness-box and added considerably to the court’s knowledge. “I am not a bad woman,” she declared, “ and I can’t stand his ways..”

“No, he does not knock me about: ho never hits mo,” she said in response to an inquiry, “but he wakes up the children and the neighbourse and h says he will swing for me.

She got a summons for threats and her husband had the choice of paying 10s or going down for seven day*.