1934 April - Source Unknown

Edward Alexander Crowley, 58 (known as Aleister Crowley), was found guilty at the Old Bailey yesterday of receiving four original letters and one copy,  knowing them to have been stolen, from Mrs Betty Sedgwick, professionally known  as ‘Betty May’ an artists model, of South Hill Park gardens, Hampstead.

He was bound over for two years and ordered to pay a sum not exceeding 50 guineas  towards the costs of the prosecution. Judge Whiteley warned Crowley that if  anything of the kind happened again he would be sentenced to six months imprisonment for the present offence.

At the previous hearing Mr Melford Stevenson, prosecuting said the letter 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 defence in the action and she was  cross-examined upon them. Mrs Sedgwick alleged that a man named Capt. Eddie Cruze had stolen the letter from her.

GAVE £5 FOR LETTERS

Mr George Mather, merchant of Cambridge terrace W, continuing yesterday his  evidence for the defence, said that when he told Crowley that Cruze had the  letters in his possession Crowley said he would like to see them and see if  they were relevant, and he would like copies.

‘I got copies of the letters in question’ said Mather, ‘and Mr Crowley asked me to secure the originals’.

Mr Gallop (for Mr Crowley): Assume that these letters were stolen. Had you the slightest knowledge or suspicion that they had been stolen? - None.

The Judge: Did you form any opinion at all as to how 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

Mather said he went back to see Cruze and asked him to loan him the letters: Cruze said he wanted the letters returned after the High Court trial.

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 £5 from?" - Mr Crowley.

CROWLEY IN THE BOX.

Crowley was then called, taking the oath in a very deliberate fashion. He described  himself as an author and poet, writing under the name of Aleister Crowley.

Mr Gallop: Is this the first time there has been any charge against you in any place in the world? - Yes

Apart from he criticism justly or unjustly levelled against you for your book, has anything ever been levelled against your character in any court? - Yes

Were you plaintiff in the action constable and Another - I was and I am.

In the course of 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 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 Cruz’s story could be substantiated and  that he had some letters in possession. I wanted to know whether these letters  did prove the plans of Mrs Sedgwick that she was going to commit perjury’.

Mr Gallop: Did you at any time suspect that these letters had been stolen? - No

Mr 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: ‘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.

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.

It is clear that these letters were addressed to Miss Betty May? - Yes.

And you paid £5 for them, or somebody did? - Yes.

Summing up, Judge Whiteley said it had been stated that the letters were security  for a loan. He could not imagine anybody advancing a farthing for any of the letters. Mrs Sedgwick had been cross-examined about her character, and Crowley  was also cross-examined very shortly by counsel for the prosecution.

‘It is quite true the defendant is a man who has not previously been charged with any criminal offence at all’, said the judge. ‘So far as that is concerned,  he comes into this court with a good character. He had to admit that at the close of the hearing of this libel action certain observations were made about  him by the learned judge, but it only comes to this - that is the view which  Mr Justice Swift had after having heard the evidence’.

The Jury were absent half an hour before reaching their verdict of guilty.

SEARCH FOR CAPT.CRUZE

Judge Whitely asked if anyone knew what had happened to Capt.Cruze.

Mr Stevenson: I wish we did.

Mr Gallop: The summons has been in existence for some time, and no doubt the officers have done their best to find him.

Mr Gallop suggested a fine in the case.

The Judge: I do not think I have power to impose a fine.

He asked Mr Stevenson if he knew what were the costs of the prosecution, and counsel replied that he thought fifty guineas would cover them.

Mr Gallop intimated that those costs could be paid as soon as Mr Crowley had access to his cheque book.

Addressing Crowley, the judge said that the jury had found him guilty of receiving the letters knowing them to be stolen.

‘It is quite clear that you must have known that Capt. Cruze had no right whatsoever in dealing with these letters, and if he had no right in dealing with them he must have stolen them’, said the judge. ‘This is the first time this sort of case has come before me,. and I think it its a very useful prosecution, because it has been made clear now that this sort of thing cannot be done.

‘These letters ought not have been used, ought never to have been in your possession,  or handed to your solicitor at all.

However, they were used, and no harm had in fact been done; therefore I am not going to send you to prison’.

Crowley: Thank you my lord.

Judge Whiteley told Crowley that he would be bound over for two years to be  of good behaviour.

‘If anything of this kind happens again you will be brought to this court and  sentenced to six months for this offence,’ he added. ‘Do you understand that?’

Crowley: ‘I do my lord’.