THE DAILY MIRROR

London, England

26 July 1934

(page 5)

STOLEN LETTERS OF

“TIGER WOMAN”

Aleister Crowley Found

Guilty of Receiving

Aleister Crowley, explorer, author and poet, was at the Old Bailey yesterday bound over for two years on the charge of receiving letters said to have been stolen from Mrs. Betty Sedgwick.

He was also ordered to pay a sum not exceeding fifty guineas towards the cost of the prosecution.

The jury found him guilty after an absence of half an hour.

Addressing Crowley, Judge Whiteley said, “You must have known that Captain Cruze had no right in dealing with these letters, and if he had not that right he must have stolen them.

“No hard has, in fact, been done, therefore I am not going to send you to prison.”

Mrs. Betty Sedgwick, professionally known as Betty May, an artist’s model, is the author of the book, “The Tger Woman.”

She alleged that the letters, which related to expenses she was to receive as a witness in a libel action brought by Crowley against a firm of publishers, were stolen from her by a Captain Eddie Cruze.

Mr. George Mather, a merchant, said he told Crowley that Cruze had the letters. Crowley asked him to secure the originals.

Witness had not the slightest suspicion the letters were stolen. He gave Cruze £5 for them.

Crowley, giving evidence, said: “I wanted to know whether these letters proved that Mrs. Sedgwick was going to commit perjury. I am innocent of guilty knowledge and illegal intent.”