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THE EVENING EXPRESS Liverpool, Lancashire, England 25 July 1934 (pages 1 & 12)
CROWLEY FOUND GUILTY
BOUND OVER FOR RECEIVING “BETTY MAY” LETTERS
“TOLD SHE WAS PREPARING TO COMMIT PERJURY”
“I WANTED PAPERS TO PROVE IT” HE SAYS
A MAN SAYS HE GAVE CRUZE £5 FOR THEM
Edward Alexander Crowley, also known as Aleister Crowley, was found guilty at the Old Bailey today of receiving four letters and a copy said to have been stolen from Mrs. Sedgwick, known as “Betty May,”—an artist’s model.
He was bound over for two years and ordered to pay a sum not exceeding 50 guineas towards the cost of the prosecution.
Mrs. Sedgwick was a witness for the defence in the recent libel action brought by Mr. Crowley against a firm of publishers, and the letters were produced in the action.
The Judge, in his summing –up said: “It has been stated that these letters were security on a loan. I could not imagine anyone advancing a farthing for them.”
Crowley, in evidence, today, said that a man named Mather had told him that Betty May was preparing to commit perjury in the libel action and that Captain Cruze, with whom she was said to have been living, had some letters in his possession.
“I wanted to know if these letters proved the plans of Mrs. Sedgwick,” said Crowley.
He added that he believed the story of Mather, who was a defence witness today. Mather had told the court that he did not know the letters had been stolen.
Mr. Crowley said that his solicitor had said that the letters might prove useful in his libel action, and that his senior counsel in the action, agreed.
The man Mather, today said that he gave Cruze £5 for the letters and handed them to Mr. Crowley.
Mr. Crowley’s solicitor in the libel action said today that Mr. Crowley told him that Cruze had told Mather that Mrs. Sedgwick had given him the letters and other documents because she owed money to Cruze, with whom it was said that she had been living.
The Judge asked the solicitor if he knew that Cruze and Mrs. Sedgwick had “had a row.” The solicitor declared that if he had known that, he would have inquired more fully into the transaction.
He did not know that Mr. Crowley had given £5 for the letters. It would have affected his opinion on the matter if he had known that.
LETTERS IN CASE.
Mr. Melford Stevenson, prosecuting, said yesterday that the letters disappeared from Mrs. Sedgwick’s attaché case and were later produced during the hearing of a libel action in the High Court in which Crowley was the plaintiff.
The letters referred to the payment of certain expenses by a firm of solicitors to Mrs. Sedgwick, who was a witness for the defense in the action, and she was cross-examined upon them.
Mrs. Sedgwick was questioned at length yesterday by MR.. C. Gallop, defending, about a book she had written called “Tiger Woman; My Story, by Betty May,” She said that pars of the book were untrue but the passage about Crowley and the Abbey were correct. She alleged that a man named Captain Eddie Cruze had stolen the letters from her.
Mr. George Mather, a merchant, of Cambridge-terrace, London, continuing today his evidence for the defence, said that when he told Crowley that Cruze had the letters in his possession, Crowley said that he would like to see them and see if they were relevant, and he would like copies.
“NO SUSPICION.”
“I got some copies of the letters,” said Mather, “and Mr. Crowley asked me to secure the originals.”
Mr. Gallop: Had you the slightest knowledge or suspicion that they had been stolen?—None.
The Judge: Did you form any opinion at all hoe this man came to be in possession of letters not addressed to him?—By reason of their association.
You thought they were given to him?—Yes.
Mr. Gallop: Were you absolutely innocent of any suspicion that these letters were stolen?—Absolutely.
Mather said that after Crowley asked him to secure the letters, he went back to see Cruze and asked him to lend him the letters. Cruze said that he wanted the letters returned after the High Court trial.
“£5 FOR LETTERS.”
Mr. Gallop: Was anything said by Cruze on the subject of money?—He said he wanted money to redeem his luggage. It was held for rent.
Mather added that he gave Cruze £5 for the letters, and handed them to Mr. Crowley.
The Judge: Where did you get the £5 from?—Mr. Crowley.
Mr. Gallop: Were they lent, obtained, or procured for the purpose of being disclosed to the Judge and jury in the libel action?—Quite.
Was it the intention that they should be disclosed when Mrs. Sedgwick was in the witness-box?—Yes.
Did you see anything wrong in what you were doing, and do you now?—Certainly not.
Mather said he was not present at the trial of the action, but it came to his knowledge after the action that the letters had been kept in the possession of the Court, and he tried to find Cruze and tell him so.
MR. CROWLEY IN THE BOX.
Crowley was then called.
He described himself as an author and poet, writing under the name of Aleister Crowley.
Mr. Gallop: Is this the first time there had been any charge against you in any place in the world?—Yes.
Were you the plaintiff in the action Constable v. another?—I was and I am.
In that action, did you hear that Mrs. Sedgwick would probably be called as a witness against you?—Yes.
Did you regard her as a trustworthy person or otherwise?—Otherwise.
Crowley said that in December 1933, Mr. Mather told him that Mr. Cruze knew all about the projects of Mrs. Sedgwick and would disclose the whole affair to him.
“Mather told me,” said Mr. Crowley, “a story which I found perfectly clear and convincing. He said that Betty May was preparing to commit perjury. That I already knew from several sources.”
“Mather said that Cruze’s story could be substantiated and that he had some letters in his possession.
“I wanted to know whether these letters did prove the plans of Mrs. Sedgwick that she was going to commit perjury.”
Mr. Gallop: Was anything said by Mather how the letters came into the possession of Cruze?—He told me the same story as he has told to the court.
Mr. Crowley said that £5 was handed to Mather by a friend of his.
Mr. Gallop: Did you at any time suspect that these letters had been stolen?—No.
Did any legal advisor of yours suggest to you the possibility that they might have been stolen?—No.
COUNSEL AND JUDGE’S COMMENTS.
Mr. Stevenson began his cross-examination by asking Mr. Crowley: Are you representing yourself as a respectable citizen whose word is to be trusted?—Yes.
I want to read what Mr. Justice Swift said about you. He had listened to your libel action and the history of your activities for several days?—Yes.
Did he say this: “I thought that everything which was vicious and bad had been produced at one time or another before me. I have learned in this case that we can always learn something more if we live long enough. Never have I heard such dreadful, horrible, blasphemous, abominable stuff as that produced by the man who describes himself to you as the greatest living poet.” Is that the view Mr. Justice Swift, having listened to your activities for several days, expressed about you?
Crowley: The quotation as far as I know is accurate. He was referring to this book.
“PAID FOR.”
It is clear when you acquired these letters that Miss Betty May was going to give evidence against you?—Yes.
That is why you wanted the letters?—Part of my reason.
The Judge: Did you believe that these letters were offered as part of a security for a loan?—Yes.
Mr. Crowley added that Mather told him a “straight story” and he believed it and repeated it to the solicitor, and he believed it.
SOLICITOR’S EVIDENCE.
Mr. Isidore Kerman, who said that he was senior partner in a firm of solicitors, said that he had the conduct of the libel action Crowley v. Constable.
Mr. Kerman said that he asked Mr. Crowley where the letters had come from and he said that a friend named Mather had borrowed them from Capt. Cruze, who had been, or was, living with Betty May.
“MONEY OWING.”
He asked Mr. Crowley how Cruze got hold of the letters, and Mr. Crowley said that Cruze had told Mather that Mrs. Sedgwick had given the letters, together with other documents, to Cruze because she owed Cruze certain money.
“Crowley said that Cruze had been keeping Mrs. Sedgwick for some time, and she owed him money,” said Mr. Kerman. “I said it seemed a foolish transaction for security of a loan.”
Mr. Gallop: Did you at any time dream of a question of stealing or criminality in this matter?—No.
“A ROW.”
The Judge: Did you know that Cruze and Mrs. Sedgwick had had a row?—No.
Would that have affected your mind?—Yes. I should have felt bound to have inquired more fully into the transaction.
Mr. Kerman said that he still saw no objection to Mr. Eddy’s cross-examination.
Mr. Kerman added that he did not know that Mr. Crowley had paid £5 for the letters.
The Judge: Would it have affected your mind if you had known he was paying £5 for them?—Yes. My view was that they were valueless.
Would you have advised differently had you known that?—I should not have advised the transaction being carried out.
Mr. Gallop, in his address to the jury, submitted that the case was an “utterly silly prosecution from beginning to end.” |