Many a time did I come
to the verge of starvation in Soho, through not appreciating the
peculiar trend of mind which causes an Englishman to do inexplicable
things--that is, of course, from my Gallic standpoint.
For instance, an arrested man is presumed to be innocent until he is
proved guilty. In England, if a murderer is caught red-handed over his
victim, he is held guiltless until the judge sentences him. In France
we make no such foolish assumption, and although I admit that innocent
men have sometimes been punished, my experience enables me to state
very emphatically that this happens not nearly so often as the public
imagines. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred an innocent man can at
once prove his innocence without the least difficulty. I hold it is
his duty towards the State to run the very slight risk of unjust
imprisonment in order that obstacles may not be thrown in the way of
the conviction of real criminals. But it is impossible to persuade an
Englishman of this. _Mon Dieu!_ I have tried it often enough.
Never shall I forget the bitterness of my disappointment when I
captured Felini, the Italian anarchist, in connection with the
Greenwich Park murder. At this time--it gives me no shame to confess
it--I was myself living in Soho, in a state of extreme poverty.
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