" (To Vivie) "Are you David Vavasour Williams?"
_Vivie_: "Obviously not, my Lord. My name is Vivien Warren and my
sex is feminine."
_Judge_, to Counsel: "Well, proceed with your examination--" (But
here the Leader of the prosecution takes up the role and brushes his
junior on one side).
Vivie of course was convicted. The case was plain from the start, as
to her guilt in having organized and carried out the destruction of
several great Racing establishments or buildings connected with
racing. There had been no loss of life, but great damage to
property--perhaps two or three hundred thousand pounds, and a
serious interruption in the racing fixtures of the late summer and
early autumn. The jury took note that on one occasion the prisoner
in the guise of a young man had personally carried out the rescue of
two endangered horses; and added a faintly-worded recommendation to
mercy, seeing that the incentive to the crimes was political
passion.
But the judge put this on one side. In passing sentence he said: "It
is my duty, Vivien Warren, to inflict what in my opinion is a
suitable and adequate sentence for the crime of which you have been
most properly convicted. I must point out to you that whatever may
have been your motives, your deeds have been truly wicked because
they have exposed hard-working people who had done you no wrong to
the danger of being burnt, maimed or killed, or at the least to the
loss of employment.
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