A CLEVER SCOUNDREL.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 53, 5 October 1878, Page 2

A CLEVER SCOUNDREL.

" If is a dreadful thing to pass sentence I upon a man in such a slate !" said the judge at the Wiltshire assizes recently. | His lordship seemed moved almost to ditress at the pitiable object who, with an I injured spin'', was brought into court lying helpless on a stretcher, and who could only feebly plead “ guilty" to the charge alleged against him. " The infliction yeni are suffering under,” said the judge, “ surpasses any punishment I can giv - you!” Had Neale been in ordinary health he would undoubtedly have hn 1 penal servitude, for it was not his first act of felonv : hut who could find tieheart to carry out the extreme rigour ■ •' the case of a poor soul who would, to nil appearance, never again bo able to it -- from th<* pallet on which he lay, writhing iu all the agony of an injured spine? If > . much did his lordship feel this, that having first sentenced him to 18 months his conscience seemed to have smitten and he reduced il to 12. It appears th; : in October last Neale was apprehend' 1 for stealing a mare, the property of Mr John .Smith, of Luekigton, and was lodged in Malmesbury lock-up previous to Ids transmission to Devizes. On tie ■ following morning, when the police visit'd his cell, they found him lying on thfloor, unable to move. His statement was that he had got up to look out of tin • » ? r . r li l l _ - ...

window, when he foil backwards acro<-; the corner of the bedstead ami injured his spine. Medical advice was obtain'.. i nml bis sad condition at once appreciate,; | In fact, lie appeared to be almost in - triovably injured, and to be sutii-riug the greatest agony ; ami to remove a man a distance of twenty miles under snob circumstances would have been the height of cruelty. Ho accordingly remained at Malmesbury for nine weeks, during which time everything which humanity could suggest to mitigate his sufieiiugs was resorted to. A person was kept in constant attendance upon him ; all kinds of nutritious things were ordered for him, such as roast fowl, prog, &c., and his comfort was studied with the utmost solicitude. At the end of nine weeks it was thought that he might bear the journey to Devizes, and in January last a conveyance was obtained (belonging to Mr. Walter Powell, M.P.) long enough to hol'd a bed, and with great care and no iittio anxiety he was brought to the county gaol, and was at once carried to the infirmary. Two men were specially detailed to attend his necessities and minister to his comfort; for the medical oil! cor, and another doctor lie brought with him to see - the case,” were (like tho nodical gentleman at Malmesbury) both of opinion that the poor fellow’s spine was seriously if not permanently injured. In this melancholy state he was brought before the judge on Friday and a genera! murmur of pity, amounting almost to a shudder, ran through the court as those present behold the pallet with the injured man lying helpless upon it. A breathless silence prevailed as the poor fellow was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment, and the pullet with its occupant, was carried back to tho prison. And now comes the sequel. To prove a former conviction, (lie deputy-governor of Gloucester gaol had been summoned to Devizes, and on going over the gaol a closo inspection enabled him to recognise in Neale an old “ invalid" with whom be formerly had to deal. “Halloa!" said tho deputy-governor as he scanned the countenance of the cripple—” Halloa! what! ut your old game ’f" " That fellow (said he) is an impostor. There is no more the matter with his spine than there is with mine." Impossible it was thought. Tho deputy-governor must bo deceived. However, Dr. Clapham, the medical officer, thought it worth while to communicate with tho surgeon of Gloucester gaol, and the reply he received so entirely confirmed the deputy-governor’s statement that ho determined to test the point in such a way as should put it beyond doubt whether Neale was really tho great sutlerer ho appeared to bo, or an arrant knave. Taking with him Dr. Garless and Mr. Waylen, ho went to tho prison on Sunday last, and put tho man through a severe examination, when the previously formed opinion of the doctors began to waver. Still tho man protested that his sufferings nml his injuries were real, and ho seemed totally unable b* move. To put tho matter to n furtb-’r test a galvamo battery was introduced, ami the " shocks" were turned on pretty

strung. All, however, failed to produce the expected result. The man was uo more aide to move during and after the “ shucks ’’ tliau he was before. So the doctors left. The morrow came, and, as it came, so it found Neale lying in thesapic jswition as ho had lain for the six weeks previous—if possible, in greater pain than ever. Regardless, however, of all demonstrations of suffering, the electric machine was again set to work, and so sharp was the effect that the leg which had appeared most affected by the spinal injury began to move, until at last unable to stand the shocks any longer, the fellow jumped out of bed, and in a few minutes afterwards was walking across the court-yard to obtain bis prison clothes, as lithe and agile on his pins as any man within the prison walls. A clever scoundrel! Electricity has produced many wonderful results, but none more wonderful than its effects upon Charles Neale. It is too late to give him the deserts (of penal servitude) which would inevitably have awaited him but for his •' pitiable condition." —Devizes tiazette.