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THE NEWS CHRONICLE London, England 26 July 1934 (page 7)
AUTHOR GUILTY OF RECEIVING
BOUND OVER BUT TO PAY COSTS
Edward Alexander Crowley (Aleister Crowley), the author and explorer, was found guilty at the Old Bailey yesterday on the charge of receiving letters belonging to Mrs. Betty Sedgwick, an artist’s model, knowing them to be stolen.
He was bound over and ordered to pay a sum not exceeding £52 10s. towards the costs of prosecution.
The letters disappeared from Mrs. Sedgwick’s attaché case and were later produced in the High Court during the hearing of a libel action in which Crowley was the plaintiff. It was stated that the letters were obtained from Capt. Cruze, a friend of Mrs. Sedgwick.
NO HARM DONE
Judge Whiteley, addressing Crowley, said: “It is clear you must have known Capt. Cruze had no right in dealing with these letters, and if he had no right dealing with them he must have stolen them.
“These letters ought not to have been used, but no harm had been done; therefore I am not going to send you to prison.”
Replying to the judge, Crowley said that the litigation was still going on.
Judge Whiteley: If anything of this kind happens again you will be brought to this court and sentenced to six months for this offence.
Crowley: It will not occur again.
When the judge asked if anyone knew what had happened to Capt. Cruze, counsel replied: “I wish we did.”
PAID £5
Crowley, in evidence, said that in December, 1933, a Mr. Mather told him that Capt. Cruze knew all about the projects of Mrs. Sedgwick (Betty May), and that he could substantiate his story by letters in his possession.
After his solicitor and senior counsel had been consulted, he told Mr. Mather he would like the use of the original letters, and £5 was handed to Mather by a friend. He did not suspect that the letters had been stolen.
Mr. Melford Stevenson began his cross-examination by asking Crowley, “Are you representing yourself as a respectable person whose word is to be trusted?”
Crowley: Yes.
Mr. Stevenson: Did Mr. Justice Swift say about you: “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”?—The quotation, as far as I know, is accurate. He was referring to this book.
Mr. Stevenson: Had he listened about your work and activities generally for the past 30 years?—Very little.
EXPELLED FROM ITALY
Have you been expelled from Italy?—I have, like most distinguished Englishmen.
Have you been expelled from America?—No.
From France?—No.
Have you been refused permission to remain in either of these countries?—In France they refused to renew my permission on a technical point.
Have you been expelled from India?—No.
After questions about the letters. Judge Whiteley asked: “Why should you give £5 for something you could have got for nothing?”—Crowley: Her consent would no doubt be dependent on some compensation.
Mr. Gallop (for Crowley): Are the observations of Mr. Justice Swift in your libel action subject to an appeal?—Crowley: Yes. |