There is no doubt, whatever, that the three main conspirators swindled Robinson, and the two females. On the other hand, if you believe Newton, the six of them blackmailed Mr. 'A. Even Robinson and his wife in Court skated very lightly over the thin ice of the payment by Mr. They called him a "splendid fellow, and said ¢hat he parted readily.
Unfortunately, in this ease nobody believed anybody except that the whole crowd were a lot of toughs who not merely deserved to get nothing but, all of whom ought to be prosecuted if only Mr. A. had suff. jeiont backbone or dared take the [step. Hobbs, a benevolent-looking fold ruffian, with a white beard, actually turned up in court and pretended he could not produce any ts. Newton, an ex-forger, £3,000 by' the Bank to Jcome over and give evidence, which he did. Robinson and his wife both gave evidence. The A.D.C. never: put in an appearance, and one would ike to know that this man, who was not a Regular Officer, but apparent. ly a Temporary, has, at all events, met with some measure of official disapproval. We suppose, but we }do not know, that he has been fired lout of the Service, but he ought also be prosecuted." Mrs. Bevan was in court, but did not give evidence. The native secretary was also naturally not called, but he seems to have been the only honest man in the Hwhole business.
Finally, Mr. A's. own solicitor turned up in the witness box and related how his client, accompanied by the A.D.C., came to consult him. This solicitor added he was responsible for stopping the second che-Jque, and he told Hobbs "this is a re-Jgular blackmailing plot." Mr. A. was clearly under no illusion as to; [the blackmailing efforts of the band, Jand the soliettor was further told by both the A.D.C. and by Mr. A. that the man who had surprised the latter and Mrs. Robinson in Paris was "the husband," a statement which corroborated Newton's version that Ihe posed as this individual by ar-lugement. It was iso given in ithe evidence that the A.D.C,, before he would give up the second cheque {for the purposes of the trial, tried to secure £20,000 from the ' Bank [for doing so, but failed.
The Jury's Finding There*you have the substance the evidence. Mr. Justice Darling, who handled the case remarkably well, ruled out any question as to the negligence of the Bank, declaring it did not arise in the case and then left various questions to the jury. which included two women and they replied as follows on the essential points:
'There was a conspiracy to catch'
[rs Robinson with Mr. A. in order to blackmail the latter;
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.