KEPT ON DOING IT.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 154, 30 June 1919, Page 6

KEPT ON DOING IT.

WOMAN'S DAYLIGHT THEFTS. BUSY DAY IN VICTORIA STREET. A married woman, Florence Mary Connell (47), came before Mr. J. E. Wilson, ; BM., this morning on several charges of ; chop-lifting in Victoria Street towards | the end of last week. She was charged that on Thursday she stole a pair of ■ slippers and three pairs of shoes from j Miller's, Limited; a sauce bottle, pepper box, and a salt cellar from J. Makovina's . restaurant; an enamel kettle from Pirrit's shop; and that on Friday she stole clothing from G. Ashley's shop. ( The accused, a worn, worried-looking , woman, pleaded "Guilty," and said she was out of her mind with worry at the time. Senior-Sergeant McNamara stated that accused seemed to have been having a day out on Thursday. In the morning , she took a pair of green slippers from the front of Miller's shop in Victoria ] Street, and she appeared in the vicinity : later wearing a green slipper and a black i one. She was then with a man, and the i pair were somewhat under the influence • of liquor. They went into Makovina's ; restaurant, where the waitress refused ] to serve them, and left them at the table, j When the maid returned to the table she | noticed that a sauce bottle, pepper box, , and salt cellar were missing, and accused < was then going out the door. Accused • was followed, and was caught in the act j of trying to sell the missing condiment < receptacles at an adjacent second-hand ( dealer's. The things were .taken from her, and she went on her way, and annexed an enamelled kettle as she was passing Pirrit's shop. A by-stander raised the alarm, and she was followed and relieved of the kettle. Then she

disappeared. Next day Plain Clothes Constable Knight, who had heard of the woman's performance on Thursday, saw her going along Pitt Street with a bundle under her arm. He saw her go into a second-hand dealer's shop, where she sold some new woollen goods, worth 22/6, for 5/. As she came out of the shop, with other new woollen goods in her possession, she was accosted, and arrested, and the woollen goods were found to have been taken from. G. Ashley'e shop, in the vicinity. The seniorsergeant stated that though the woman was addicted to drink she had never before been found dishonest, and it wae believed that a man with whom she had been associating was responsible for her present fix. Early last week she was charged with drunkenness, and had been convicted and ordered to come up for ! sentence on a plea that she had a return | ticket for a Waikato town, where her home and children were. It was true she came from that town, but apparently ehe had been induced to wait in the city, and had become almost penniless. His Worship convicted and ordered accused to come up for sentence if called on within six months. He added that he would not make any order for the restitution of the 5/ to the second-hand dealer, as a man who bought obviously new goods at so much below their price did not deserve consideration. The Senior Sergeant: The woman hasn't a.penny, and will have some difficulty getting back to. her home in the Waikato. At this stage Constable Knight intimated that the Salvation Army authorities would defray the cost of accused's train fare home.