YOUNG MARKET LOOTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 250, 19 October 1908, Page 5

YOUNG MARKET LOOTERS.

For some time past the produce auc- I tioneers who occupy the City Markets have been complaining of losses through the depredations of night thieves, whose : operations have of late been of a, pretty active nature, both fruit cases and office tills suffering from these visit 3. Detec- | tive Powell spent last night in watching the immediate neighbourhood of the mar- | kets, and about half-past eleven he saw a very small boy in the act of disappearing into the interior of the-market. Waiting _itil his quarry was fairly inside, the detective ran htm to eartti, and also captured three other boys, the four being haled along to the police station. There one of the lads confessed tnat he and his companions were the fruit and till depredators, and he admitted, further, that he and another had picked the lock of one of the City Council's penny-in-the-slot conveniences, from which they scooped 3d. After the small beginners in crime had been severely lectured, one of the-m was sentenced to receive six strokes of the birch, one was convicted and discharged, and the other two were committed to am industrial school. A WIDOW'S SUSFOBT V HES. A lady of uncertain age, named Christina Stewart, has been occasioning her landladly -lonsiderable anxiety of late owing to her late hours and unsatisfactory habits. Mrs. Stewart," however, declined Ito leave, and likewise to change her various ways, and consequently she appeared this morning under charge of being a rogue and vagabond. The evidence against her was damaging, as were her antecedents, but Mr*. Stewart explained her position as that of a respectable widow and a first-class machinist. When urged to detail her earnings* as a sewing woman, she assured the Court that during the past month she had) done £ 3 worth of -machine work for one gentleman, ami had a little money in the bank at the present time. All she desired now was a ; chance to leave Auckland and repair to , Christchurch. As for her landlord, he had treated her outrageously. Only on j Saturday night he threw her off the ver- } andah, and beat her so that she tras I now black and blue. The lady largely j indicated pretty well her whole anatomy :in evidence thereof, but the Bench seemed little disposed to sympathy, and invited ! her to explain the reason of the conj victions that stood against her in variI ous parts of the colony. She did not explain, contenting herself with an appeal for an opportunity to leave Auckland. " Yes, to become a nuisance somewhere else," said Mr. Kettle, adding, "You have been afforded plenty of opportunity alrearjy, and have forfeited all claim to consideration. You will serve six months i with hard labour in gaol." I ANOTHER MARKET CHARGE. j A young man named Arthur Winter Ludgreen appeared on a charge of having broken into the auction mart of E. Perkins and Co. on or about the sth j inst., and stolen some £12 worth of I pipes and 30 tins of sardines. j Chief Detective Marsack. in asking for ,' a week's remand, explained that a mxm- , ber of the stolen articles had been re- [ covered, and it was desirable to obtain possession if possible of the re__nder. I Bail was fixed at £ 100. j INEBRIATE. i | John Ferguson, who has been locked ■! up since the 16th, was allowed to go - his way. and Annie Sergeant was also - released on her promise to take the first train home. Augustus Leigh, promised ! to abstain for the next twelve months. Four first offenders were dealt with, i one of them meeting with the double »' misfortune of having been pushed ■ through a plate glass window, the cost ' of replacing which was required of him. s James Stockdale was ordered to be der tamed till two o'clock for having com- - tnitted a breach of the proprieties in a l Grey Lynn street between nine and ten | o'clock on Saturday night. ALLEGATION AGAINST AN OLE 5 MAN. , j John Lynch, who is 73 years of age and keeps a coal and firewood yard on the Great North-road, was accused oi , having improperly approached a girl oi 11 years who was sent to his yard or ■J the 9th inst., for some coal and wood ' Chief Detective Marsack conducted foi . the prosecution, and Mr Mahony defend c cd * The girl declared that she had taker ' the coal home and had returned for th< , wood, when the offence was committed She did not cry ont or run away, becaus< * ! she was afraid accused would follow her but she said "that was mean of you" t( accused, who then gave her a piece o: chewing gum, remarking "No; I am not j mean.*' She then went home and com plained to the lady who had sent hei I along. )-1 In reply to Mr Mahony, the girl sai< t! that her mother did not live at home I She was at Tongariro. and had neve: n r lived at home. But she denied tha is she herself was always running abou is ! the streets. | Er>*idenee was also (given by thr c ! wOman, who sent the girt for the wood and by Detective De Norville. l e I Accused elected to give evidence ii j_ his own defence, and stated that th girl, when at the yard, wanted him tr give her a penny, and, in sport, _ causht her by the dress, but denied tha " he did anything that could be in th j least degree construed as impropei c " Before she went away, he gave th w child a piece of chewing g_n. {Proceeding.)