POLICE COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 27, 31 January 1908, Page 5

POLICE COURT.

YESTERDAYv (Befoe Messrs. E: F: lizard/ and T. . ~' Treyithick,. . "^" COMMUTED FOR TRIAL. Th?, hearing of they charge, against Charles Henry Cpx , and. James William Russell Hunter, of breaking into the dwelling of Chas. Arthur, Stiibbs;, St. Stephen's Avenue, Parnell, and stealing a quantity of jewellery and money, on January 15 last, ,was concluded; When called upon to : plead, Hunter, whose statement of hadv been read in Court, remarked, "I've made that statement, but I think I'll plead, not guilty." Cox entered a similar plea, and both men were committed for trial. The two. accused, were then, charged with: breaking into .Maria Nuttail's house* Park-road, and" stealing a jewel case, and on this count they were also sent uppn their trial, while on a. charge of having stolen a watch and £10 from Thomas Nieholls, of Gisborne, the man • Cox was remanded for a , week, DISMISSED. Thomas Bowden, upon a charge of having received certain goods from Cox, knowing them to be stolen property, was defended by Mr Cotter, "and pleaded, not guilty. The information was dismissed without evidence being called for the .defence, while on a second information the charge was withdrawn. THIS'DAY/ ' (Before Mr. C. C. Kettle, S.M.). PROBATION OFFiCER XOJSEPQKT, John Pearce Baker, charged on four informations with, obtaining sums of money,-amounting in all to £21fodd, by means of valueless cheques, was brought up for settlement, after a.,rpmand quiries respecting certain' claims' byBaker as to- his- statement. Chief Detective Marsaek prosecuted .and Mr.' Pilkington defended. The. magistrate expressed- the,,opinion that accused had wilfully, misted' the Court and wasted a lot of time unnecessarily, while lie had made insinuations against the.police of suppressing evidence which were.; totally without foundation and malicious. Baker was convicted, on all four charges, and on the. application, of' his solicitor was remanded a week for the. report of-the probation; offiqer.. ■(Before Messrs. J. B. canjaa and 1 J. Walton, " CAUTION THAT" ERRED. A middle.-aged" woman named Ellen Shearman came up from Coromandel just before the holidays to see a dentist. She was accompanied by. her little,' daughter, and put' up' at" Mrs. Keain's' boarding•house in The. next day, Wednesday, was Regatta Day, so cided. to" see the. North. Sfioxe which she journeyed with.a friend..- According to Mrs. Shearman, her trpAble dated from this, visit, for, saidshej' "we were standing, on the racecourse- when my little girl ran up with- a gold chain in her hand, which, declared she ljad found near the refreshment tent. L thought it was strange tjjat wa|ch was attached, as the. clasp." was, sound, hut I.knew.it-was no good-looking for an owner on the racecourse/ where, ahnppt met. wj>nld;.haxej as , their p,wn, if,' you!d" askpd-TtUeiD,."so-;i put it in my, purse." ■ It that Mrs. Shearman's .confidents jn;th_e genera} honesty of her fellow" re-, ceived a rude shaking the day befpre while coming up to -.town, wien she.: had surrendered abrowihipund; in itjie, iajin to a. lady, claimed it, and.later discovered that the rightful owner;.was.; Jan. entirely different person. "i didn't ■want to. run the risk of. anybody; saying the chain was theirs- if I said" I; found it," she ingenuously admitted'/ "and' : so when I got back: to;-Mie; boarding-house 1 showed it to tie people there and said it was my husband.'?? , '' Unfortunately for her, however, the chain was recognised as one that had been missed from a dressing table the day before, and as a-, conseqtience, Mrs. Shearman fell into-the siein grip of tne law, charged with, the of.''th€L chain. Her solicitor, Mr. Glaistex, thjs.njprnr ing, agreed that she. hjul a grave folly in claiming it as her hnsr band's, but submitted! tbjit alfitough guilty in fact she. was. not so in .intent. Sub-Inspector Gordon opinion, however, ihat_ tie~v/<iman's account was_diafcinctly unsatisfactory. Bjat she wsis. thft. mpthejC; of a, family, and. so far as he knew,'had nothing previously against her character, so, he. did ppjt press for. heavy punishment. The Bench, decided to» conyiet her, with an order to come up for sentenseLwijeji. called upon. AN tJN^OEpraSA|r% > ll^!tf^BA^ - James Keen, an einaciated-looking young man, whose feeble physical exhaustion of an acute and painful description, was charged with being idle and disorderly, and having insafficient lawful means oi support. Sttb-Inspector Gordon explained that Keen, w-hchad, only/heeniin Ahei polony eight weeks, had spent six of them in hospital. Last.night, hom.ejes3.and ; evidently in a state of he-was found sitting on a doorstep, and taken into custody. Dr. Purdy had been called to ftTfl.Tninp. the. -young tnan, and his advice was. that he be kept under, medical observation for. a week to determine whether- or ; no.t, he was suffering from- consumption, his general appearance showing every indication of ' that disease. If such were found to be the case, he could probably be despatched to a sanatorium, while in the meantime he woujd receive every care and attention. The Bench decided to adopt the suggestion, remanding Keen for a week. INEBRIATE. Alfred Robert Greenway made his fourth appearance this morning, which, as sub-Inspector Gordon remarked, made him a candidate for the "Ishxnd." Greenway strongly objected to ihe airrest that had placed him in so parlous a position, declaring hotly that he. was picked up the same afternoon as ,he was convicted on the previous occasion; "And I wasn't drunk, either," hp cpnv plained. "I was-sober- enough, anyway." Greenwayis complaints- were, cut- short, however, by the" Bench., remanding hijn till tp-mprrow,for settlement by i.Majjr istrate. Henry WMteside,. aniold.offertd* er against sobriety, was given the option of £1 0r.48". hojrcs, a., similar fine, with the alternative ot seven days, being allotted Andrew Nelson, a second time visitor. William Cook, a young man witE a bad record, -was awarded £1 or 48 hours, and two first offenders were called upon for 10/ each. BT-liAW BREACH. John thstfehe jyma, asaeting .t-e cc©. home '?,, geatteinan

inj a,,state of. alc.o)io]dc..exhiiaiatkm; -war fined" 5/ and costs for allowing his cab $H#sf£&l unattended, longer than was ' (Before Mr. C. g. Kettle, SJS£) "THE. ISLAND" AND ANOTHER- "• GHAJfQE. "William Annear, when asked what ha had to-.say about his .third-appearance in six weeks for drunkenness, in addition to being a breaker of his prohibition order,, replied laconically, that he. had nothing to say, and then brightened up sufficiently to inform the Court that he. had . met some bush chaps, who were apparently responsible for all the mischief. A little, investigation into the past history of Annear disclosed the unfortunate telligence that he had. been four times up within the past nine months, a quartet of convictions, making him eligible for the "Island," He made a brave "effort to remember something, that might show; cause.why he should not be despatched ■ to that resort, but the effort was un* .* successful, and he was fain compelled tcT fall back on the extenuating circumstance, of having celebrated his 69th' birthday at Xmas. He has gone to the "Island" for twelve, months. It was decided also to settle Greenway's case to-day, so back be came, and when threatened with the Vernier resort, commitment to the "Islanct" as an habitual, argued that he. deserved another chance, as he was not prohibited: - After listening "to- promises of radical reform his Worship agreed to put a prohibition order to the jprqof, convicting and ordering the culprit to come up #ox sentence when called upon. In tie charge of drunkenness Gfeenway retired with a warning that the first time he is seen drinking again the "Island" -will be big; 'lot. Adam McKeown escaped 'witha 5/ fine for the lapse, and £1 with the.alterna-. tive of 7 days, for bjreakingi the terms of hjs,order.. ~