POLICE COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 149, 24 June 1908, Page 5

POLICE COURT.

- ; (Before Mr. C. C. Kettle, S.M.'. '"'" THE SHOP THIEP. Tae man Sidney Halton, con victed last week of stealin. artiefeV o clothing from the shop fronlTof MrJ S DicKson, was _his:_h o brought -up f o. sentence, the probation 3 officers reif ' ed" 1 .1.™ faY ° f Urabl . : . 'Hilton, who'-plLl ed the extenuating circumstance o ' "^- k ,' T 3 / 0 * 111 * b J" themagistrat. ; tha, he had gone about the,perfenc. , in,a very, deliberate and sober manner - He recommended .the culprit to adopt i I . S r^ er '"-istry, .promising .to find hi. J employment when he emerged in thre. ; weeks .time Hal ton having already beer E i a .week in durance i HER WAGES - j A prepossessing, girl of about 20 years named Mary He.ivin, appeared charged | with stealing several smaU,articles oi I jewellery and clothing, to the value ol (about £5,-from, her mistress; between I the early., part of March and the end ol ; Mr. Marsack intimated that | tne girl had admitted ..lie theft/ suspi- \ won having been, directed towards her - i subsequent to her departure to take up . S." 0 " 1 . 1 " sltu ation as a domestic servant The girl herself said she came from Te ' Aroha,.and had been -in Auckland since last Sop-ember. W *hen asked by his Worship the. reason of her dishonesty, in view of the good wages obtained by girls m-domestic service, she iiiqiured with a somewhat cyaioal* droop of the hps, if he called 5/ a week good. Her I people were farmers' in the To Aroha district, she stated, but when it was suggested that they should be communicated with, she Uttered several tense but eloquent "Don't." The girl was remanded for a week to facilitate inquiries, the ■ girl promising meanwhile to remain I with the Salvation Army authorities. j THE WRONG BLANKET. I Annie Isaac, who. was until recently I boarding at the house of' Mrs. Eliza Roj bertson, was accused by that lady of carrying of!' a white blanket and „ towel which did not belong to her. The accused woman protested very indignantly against the "accusation; declaring that she had merely mistaken the blanket for her own, which she had incidentally left behind. The one left behind dm not please the owner of the removed blanket as being a fair and reasonable exchange, and she expressed herself definitely concerning the transaction. But his Worship decided that it was quite possible a mistake had been made, so he dismissed the information. A CAMBRIDGE CASE. i John Preston, a young man from Caml bridge, was accused of having robbed his I employer in that town to thu amount of | 8/2 last month. Sub-Inspector Gordon \ asked for.a remand iov the accused to I appear at Cambridge on Tuesday next, I which was granted. I MISAPPROPRIATING LAUNDRY | MONEYS.'. j James Charles Walters, the employee j of the New Zealand Laundry Company, ! charged with fraudulently failing to account for sundry sums of money collec-. tod by hihi from customers, the accounts \ totalling some 20 in number, and £6 odd in value, this morning pleaded guilty: under extenuating circumstances. Mr! | Lundon, who appeared for liim, explained; I that accused, who was a married man, J . had, previously borne the .most, excellent of characters, and for two years, was .employed as a conductor by the I Tramway Company, which he left to' 1 take "up J nuother appointment. Then one day lie visited the racecourse, put j some money ___' tbe totalisator, lost, pui/j some more on, with the customary luck j of tho average racegoer, and subse- j qnently found himself debited on a book, maker's account, the temptation to clear himself and start again on even terms with fortune tempting him to the dishonest recourse of collecting those bills on his own account. When questioned oil the mutter himself, Walters pleaded his poor circumstances, and the desire to improve them as being largely responsible for his fall. Mr Kettle, however, remarked that there we're altogether too many of these so-called extenuating circumstances advanced now. It seemed that every time a man got into difficulties through gambling, and then mis-1 appropriated other people's money to pull himself up, considered he had an excellent plea of mitigating circumstances, whereas, there were, lis a matter of fact, no extenuating circumstances whatever about such a business. He would, however, remand the accused man for a week, so that the report of the probation officer might be obtained respecting his case. BY-LAWS. George Bodley's employees left a quantity of building material iv Queen-street on the night of June 12 without affixing sufficient lights to obviate trouble to the j passing public, for which Bodley was this morning fined 20/- and coss. Alfred James Lindsay- was fined 5/arul coss for allowing nis horse o wander in Wcllesley-street. AN INCOMPLETE LIST. Ronald Gilbert, a youth of 17 or 18 years, appeared under charge of breaking and entering a place in February last md stealing articles to the total value of ■ about £6 10s. Chief-Detective Marsack I i explained that young Gilbert only arrived j " in custouy yesterday from the South, | whither he had beaken himself, and as I : i number of other similar charges were i in preparation against him a remand till : next week was applied for. ] A CHARGE FROM MANGA- ' WHARE. 1 A thick-set young man of stolid de- < licaiioiu' named George Moss, charged 1 with receiving fl 12s.' from Joseph 1 J'Grady, of Maungawharc, ou terms re- *• [uiring him to account for it to William 1 I'hompson, and fraudulently omitting to ' lo so, was, on the application of Mr. * uarsack, remanded until Monday next, » he chief detective explaining that Moss' 6 lad just arrived from Wellington, where * ie had been arrested on telegraphic ad- • 'ice. 1. INEBRIATE. Annie S. Rillon became so inebriated csterday that, after treating her jm- i nediate neighbourhood with a linquistie . uitburst of prohibited quality, seized a t onvenient bicket and battered fourteen i ianes of glass out of the nearest window t .hich damage, it was announced, had' 1 mcc been repaired. The woman prom- t sed to go straightaway to a situation i -Inch tho Salvation Army officer in i .ourt offered to obtain for her, and i n condition of fulfilment of this promise he was allowed to leave under the ban 4 f a prohibition order. One first offender 1 •as fined o/-, and one other forfeited a is bail. " -\ THREE MONTHS. The young man, Norman F-eginald a mith Wilson, convicted of receiving an SI vercoat and a pair of boots from the j'"

j thief lUingworth, who " robbed a j boarder, , rat : V the? Shamrock \ Hote i.|some two or three weeks back, twuj this morning fsentenced £6 three months* iiri , prisonment, the report of the probatioi officer being of an unfavourable character I Wilson had been previously- convicted fof oiFences, both at Wellington and Aucki land. "' •*..;' . ■ ... I THE ABVENTTTRESjOF A WATCH '• William ReidJ who has been remanded j several times in connection with ;i charge jjof. robbing a man\ named! William -Mcl jdtuiri of-a gold watch, chain, and locket, J valued at about £10, oh the night ol {.May 0, appeared again this niornihs,.Sub- | Inspector Gordon conducting for theJproi secutlon, and air. Skeltoji j ■•.'.ifeldruni, according : io 'the evidence, came across to iiim from Northeote on j the day in , question, wearing , the watch, j chain, and locket, and' by about three ! o'clock or a little later.he began to: lose i tally of hi= surroundings.; He remembered ;seeing the locket pendulating on hisjvest J 'about 2.30 p.m., arid thenceforwaixl for : the space of six or seven hours life lapsed i very near the blank, ; lightened only by hazy Hashes of recollection respecting drinks, tea, more drinks, and a final feei|..ing of ineommodation as ; i;n-----j pelle'd him to measures of relief; and it was >at '•••tliis (momentous interval : that the constable; arrested and haled him to the station. He had no recollection whatever of being robbed, he said, arid according to. Constable Wood, who discovered him recuin.n a doorway in at state beggaring description, Meldrum was not in a condition of mind either to know or ; ;|carewhether the world continued to revolve or, n6t.' Abraham Bowden declared that about nine o'clock on the evening of> May G he was near his cab stand above Wellesleystreet, when a* man named Koss approached and asked if he would like to buy a watch. He (Bowden) explained that ho had no occasion or desire to buy a watch, andi theman went away round the j corner. Presently, however, he appeared again in company with the accused, who held a gold watch, and chain in his hand. ' Keid remarked in a tentative tone that if he had happened to pos- [ sess at the-time the aim of £2 he would have exchanged it for' that watch,' and Ross again urged upon him (Bowden) the advisablenMs of becoming its owner. He, however, .declined to have anything to do with the watch, being suspicious of its honesty, 'and . Dot requiring it anyway, but the other men still endeavoured to persuade him to'a purcha.se. So, at last, knowing in his. own mind that the watch ] was a stolen watch, lie gave them-10/ for f it, intending to hand it over to the police,! and hoping to recover his half sovereign) in due course. He handed it ovei\ and at : this point of. the narrative of t\vc \yatch \ the case was adjourned till later in the j day., . ; /