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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Rene_R, post: 9483661, member: 81814&quot;]To illustrate that he was not without conscience, here are some excerpts from the testimony. There&#039;s some impulsiveness here, but more of the kind you have when you&#039;re in distress.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is Thonen, explaining how he committed the robbery:</p><p><br /></p><p><i>I don&#039;t know whether it is of any consequence to state when and how I took the diamonds. I may, however, state that when I went to the office on the Sunday morning I had not the slightest thought of committing this crime. I went there to write letters to my family and friends. While I was there I happened by chance to see the drawer half open, and the key of the iron safe there. I took it out and opened the safe, and took out the parcel. It was a great temptation, but I withstood it, and put it back again, expecting to get a situation at Eastbourne</i> [as a language teacher]<i>. On Monday evening I came again, opening the case, and took the diamonds out; and looking at them, hesitating whether I should take them or not. I said to myself, &quot;No, I will not,&quot; and put them back and left the place.</i></p><p><br /></p><p>He eventually came back on Tuesday (the next day) and took them anyway. And then:</p><p><br /></p><p><i>On Wednesday morning I came to the office, and to my great surprise I saw on the table before the prosecutors the very package I had taken the diamonds from. I was in great terror all the time, fearing every moment it might be opened, and my crime discovered. I went out, and having discharged my lodgings, started by the Eastern Counties railway to Peterborough, that being the first place I could get to by the next train.</i></p><p><br /></p><p>Of his upbringing, he said:</p><p><br /></p><p><i>I was brought up as a merchant, but when I came to London in December last I was robbed of all the money I had in my possession at the time, amounting to £25, since which I have been with the prosecutors. I should not wish this to reach my poor old father&#039;s ears (here tears filled the prisoners eyes, and his voice assumed a most feeling tone) as he is now nearly seventy years of age, and it might be attended with fatal consequences to him.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>A newspaper speculated years later:</p><p><i>Thonen was of a good family in Germany, and in the end of the year came over to London to seek his fortune. It was late in December when he arrived, and by the first day of the year he had not a penny to bless himself with. He had been robbed of everything he possessed – how robbed he never made known; very likely he was thrown among evil company by a weakness of character which his misfortunes made evident.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>Again, I should stress that this &quot;weakness of character&quot; is the interpretation of a 19th century journalist, not a fact. I can see where they came from though.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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