THE PEDESTRIAN SWINDLE IN TASMANIA.

Auckland Star, Volume V, Issue 1499, 30 November 1874, Page 2

THE PEDESTRIAN SWINDLE IN TASMANIA.

In passing sentence upon Bird, Keene, and Harris, for conspiring to defraud the public, Mr Justice Dobson paid :—" You have been convicted, not on the evidence of witnesses, but on your own sworn statements of a conspiracy to defraud. You agree together that a race to be run should be lost, and yea induce persons to lay bets on the result which you knew would take place. That man Dean was asked to bat two bets at the time as requested by you, Harris, that you knew, or believed that the agreement to lowthe race would be carried out, and with** moral certainly that you were putting yo^ hands into that man's pocket to rob him 01 his money. I have only this moment cc»" tenced two girls to twelve months' imprisonment for stealing money from the per- ' son of a drunken sailor. Those giw»» i without means, and in poverty, ™°» the money out of that man's pocket, ana a have been obliged to send them to gaol. .* find it very hard to draw any distinction™ ; your favour, between the case °ftnosefii!! who took the money from the person of mh» sailor and yours. I must say, to nnd ,m» like you taking the part of conspirators to w that Bort of thing, to get young fellows to bet and then rob them, is to my mind aJ«J serious offence against society. but, wLi an offence, like this, boldly concocted, ano thought over for days, and then the robbery

S-*^ X cannot look on it in any ; o bfl ®Z? tban a justice to the community otier^-ti. it with severity. I wish I coull jo id WJ* oUj Bird, a real determination $ftnie f ], e square,' aa you called it ; and o' iot° a satisfied of that I should have ' difference in your sentence ; '^V^m no*> for *' a(* een £0 > it I*, jj ave found acts done coni with such determination. I stCu have found you going to Harris and . "This must be stopped ;' you would , M x 0 y O nr backer and told him, and fi fie thing would have been knocked on hd Bat nothing of the kind was done a and therefore tbe jury were right in St that you were guilty, like the rest h la be glad to accede to the request ji by the learned counsel to inflict a fine, "ll not to deprive you of your liberty, but I 1 that I should be lacking in my duty to mmunity to accede to that suggestion. Iff'n2 here as I do, to administer justice, 1 not to calculate all consequences ; I '>T to look at the offence, and the punishthe Jaw awards, and to satisfy what I uUve to be a fair and just amount of punishnt I have thought over the matter, and taked at it in the most favourable light in tich I can look at it, and the result is that L sentence I pass on you is that you rtverally be imprisoned for six months."