NINE CHARGES LAID.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 122, 26 May 1927, Page 9

NINE CHARGES LAID.

GOODS WORTH £762

THEFT AND RECEIVING. ' Jack Jolnston (29) and Frank Bailer '(24) were charged with breaking and entering nine shops and warehouses during the past three months and stealing goods of a total value of £762 3/10, while each was further charged with .being in possession of explosives without some lawful, proper or sufficient purpose. Johnston was also charged with stealing 20 plugs of gelignite, one coil of fuse and a number of detonators ;r»lued at 7/6. William James Mclntyre (56) and ameKa Bertha Cooper (35) were each charged with being in possession of explosives on May 12, while Herbert Cooper was charged with receiving stolen property. Evidence was given by the various shopkeepers and managers of business premises concerning the details of each Detective Moon stated that on May 16, along with other members of the detective staff he went to Bailer's room at 7 a.m. and found Bailer in bed. He rose and dressed and accompanied witness to the detective office, where he was interviewed by Chief Detective Cummings. On Thursday, May 19, in company with Constable Davis, he saw Johnston in Hobson Street and took him to the detective office, where he too was ' interviewed b 7 the chief detective, < Statements by Accused. ' €hief Detective Cummings spent a eonsiderable time in the witness box. Hβ produced statements made by the accused persons to him. x™ his state ment given to Ctaef Detective Cummings, described himself as a labourer, residing at No 18 Beresford Street, a house kept by Bert Cooper. He admitted going to Dominion Road on Sunday moraine, April 10, arrivrn- at Hughes' mercert shop at 3 a.m. Going round to the back he forced the bar off the back window and forced the window with a bar of n-on. Going inside he sorted out what Be wanted. Leaving this shop he walked through a back street to Kingsland and planted the stolen property under a bridge in a gully, afterwards going home. Later the proceeds of the burglary were taken to his home. He Worked alone at Hughes' shop. On Saturday, February 26, in company with Jack Johnston, Bailer went to Manukau Road just after midnight. They had a leather bag and a jemmy With them, carrying the bag and jemmy in turns. They had set out to break into Davidson's shop between 1 and 2 ajp. Johnston kept watch while Bailer Jttized the back window open with a jemmy. After getting the window open and forcing the bars of the window back, he let Johnston in. Both got as good a load as they could carry and went home to Beresford Street, arriving there about 4 a.m. Later the stolen property was sorted out. Cooper and his wife, he thought sold it, but he was not sure about this, as he did not give it to them to sell. - The next, burglary was on March 7, ■ at Brown's shop in Jervois Road, near the tramway barns. Bailer said he had I the. jemmy and Johnston A he leather bag to carry the stuff away in. "We placed paper greased with syrup over the glass in the window so as to deaden the sound when it was broken, and I broke the glass with the jemmy," said Bailer. Johnston followed through the window. After returning home they had a sleep and afterwards sorted the stolen goods out. On April 8 Johnston and he *eht to Burton's shop, in Cornwall Park ' Avenue about 2 a.m. The bag and jemmy were again taken on this excursion. Bailer got inside while Johnston kept watch. After getting the . bag fall .they both left for home, arriving at Beresford Street about daylight. The eatables stolen were consumed by the occupants of the house. "The Good Old Jemmy." Continuing, Bailer said that on April 22, Johnston and he broke into Walker's shop at Greenwood's Corner, on their *ay out to Onehunga. "We got there . about midnight. Johnston had the bag to carry the stuff away in and I had the good old jemmy. Johnston again kept watch. We got a good load there. The stuff would be worth about £40. We Bet off to carry it home, and the load was a heavy one. The leather kit bag "would not hold it all. A sugar sack was not sufficient either and we pinched a sack off a fence to put some of the stuff into. When we reached home about daylight we were fairly tired out »nd went to bed. Later in the. day we lalved the stolen goods." ' The next "job" done was on March 21» at Forwood's shop in Manukau Road, which was entered in the same manner as the other places. About £10 worth of goods were stolen from this store. Johnston arranged for the sale of the tobacco. Neither of them were forking in the daytime. They had Men out of work for two months. ) Bailer said that the gelignite, fuse ■id detonators found at Cooper's house, *ere not stolen by him. He examined the parcel and saw that there were six wge sticks of gelignite, detonators •nd fuse. "I can use explosives and know what they can be used for. I k»ve blown safes before, and got £87 °ot of it once." Johnston and he opened a window at Pardington's house "> Symonds Street, near Graf ton Bridge. Bailer said he got inside while Johnston kept watch. Bailer stole a gramophone and 24 records. The gramophone was sold in an hotel and .the records to a second-hand dealer in Karangahape Road. After detailing the circumstances of another robbery in Eden Terrace, Bailer described a much v tjgger burglary. >

At the Arctic Fur Company. "Johnston and I were occupying the same room for about three months and left at Eaeter last," he said. Johnston and I sorted out the Arctic Fur Company's premises in Jersey Street, Newton, as a good place to break and get some furs. On Saturday night, qr early on Sunday morning, March 20, we went there with a jemmy and two sacks. I used the jemmy on the side door, wb'le Johnston kept watch. On getting the door open Johnston and I went inside and filled the sacks with furs and fur coats. We took a full sack home and tipped them in a case. We then returned to the Arctic fur factory and filled two sacks again, afterwards carrying them home to our lodgings. It was nearly daylight when we went back for the second load. • The furs remained where we placed them— under Cooper's house, for about six weeks. I then took them away and hid them in a shed in a quarry. On Friday, May 13, I gave the furs to a man named McLean, who is a wharf labourer and who resides in Esplanade Road, opposite the hospital. Hβ told me that he left the furs, which were in one sack, with another sack tied over it, in the left luggage oflSce at the Newmarket railway station on Saturday, May 14. On Saturday night McLean showed me a luggage ticket, which he said was for the bag of furs that I had given him. What Cooper Said. Bertie Cooper, when interviewed, made a statement, in which he said he was a labourer residing with his wife and two children at No. 18, Beresford Street. He knew Johnston, who came to his house early in February. Johnston brought Bailer to the house a week later, and the two occupied the same room. Johnston and Bailer told him that they had been in gaol and had served sentences for crime. At no time while they were at ids house did he take part in any of their robberies. Early in March, Cooper said he knew that Johngtou and Bailer were going out at night with a leather bag and a jemmy, breaking into places. Johnston asked him to sell some tobacco, which he said he got from Ngataha. Cooper agreed and sold it to a shop in Karangahape Road. When selling the tobacco he realised that Johnston and Bailer had stolen it from Davidson's shoD at Epsom. r After stating that he saw both men going out at night with their bag and jemmy, Cooper stated that he saVsome furs in their room and later told Johnston that he had stolen them and that he would tell the police. "Johnston assaulted me and rubbed my face in the dut," Cooper said. "I was frightened of him and did not want hm to "put it over me." Cooper added that he did not sell any of the furs. The proceeds of another robbery, some tobacco, were sold in Freeman's Bay. Cooper did not "get a corner out of this job." They were tight with the cash they received for the stolen stuff. Johnston, on returning home from a "job," arrived before Bailer and threatened Cooper because he had "narked" on him. Johnston asked where Bailer was and thought that he might have been arrested. "However, Bailer was not arrested that morning, and so they went on with the good work." "Good Men at Their Line." i Cooper said he regarded Bailer and Johnston as good men at their work in the burglary line. He did not go with them at any time, but he admitted that he knew they were doing burglaries and bringing the proceeds to his house and that he was harbouring them from detection. "I was afraid that Johnston would murder me. He had .assaulted me on four occasions. On Easter Monday last he floored me and kicked me. I am glad that we are now all in and that there is no more worry, as it was a burden to carry. I know that both men had gelignite, detonators and fuse in their room. I got frightened when I saw it there and told them to take it away. They put it under the house and it remained there for some weeks. I was satisfied that they were doing safes as I heard Johnston and Ballen say that they "missed on the Penrose railway station safe, as it did not completely blow open." "Had Me Frightened." "When the two went out again with their kit and jemmy about 10 p.m. one night, I knew they were going to a job at Greenwood's Corner. They returned about 3 o'clock the next morning," Cooper continued. "I did not see the stolen stuff until two weeks later. 1 found this myself when I was nosing round. I considered that Johnston and Ballen were making it too hot, and told Johnston so, and that I would "clean them up." He got me by the throat and held and tossed me on the bed and made me say that I would not "nark" on him. He had me frightened I can •assure you. They later took the stuff away. The police called one day at my house but did not find anything that was stolen there." Johnston Explains. "I came to Auckland on February 17 from Ngongotaha, Rotorua, where I had been working on John Wylie's farm," said Johnston in bis explanation given to the police. On arrival at Auckland he stayed at Hobson Street from two weeks, when Cooper came to him and asked him to stay at his place in Berestford Street. Mrs. Cooper kept a boardinghouse. He went there and not long afterwards met Frank Bailer, whom he had known at Mount Eden (presumably the prison). Bailer afterwards went to Cooper's to stay, they went out for walks together. On Saturday afternoon, February 26, while they

were in Great South Road they came across Davidson's shop in Manukau Road. On arrival home for tea thev both discussed that it would be an easy place to break and enter. That night they left at 10.30 and broke into the shop. Johnston then went on to describe, much in the same way as Bailer, the other robberies committed by the two. "The Arctic Fur Company's job was the best job done so , far as value goes, for we got a good £500 worth of furs," Johnston said. "We sorted out this place two weeks before we did it." He added that about two months ago, on a wet Friday night he went to the City Council's quarry at Mount Eden and forced the door of a shed and stole twenty plugs of gelignite, a coil of fuse and a number of detonators. "I was alone on this job and took the explosives home with me, I can use explosives, and understand them. About three weeks ago I left Cooper's houee and took the explosives to 122 a Grey Street, where Mrs. Cooper, who had left her husband, had a room. At this address, where 1 also had a room, I placed the explosives at the back of the house. Mclntyre, who was a lodger there, found them and asked me what they were. I {old him that it was gelignite and fuse. I did not see the explosives with Mrs. Cooper, and as far as I know she did not have anything to do with them." In his statement, Mclntyre said he was a labourer and resided at 122 a, Grey Street, at the house kept by-Mrs. Donovan. He knew Johnston, who visited the house to see Mrs. Cooper. Detectives were at the house on May 12. After they left Johnston took two suitcases away a day or sot later. Mrs. Cooper had them in her room, and then Johnston shifted them into his (McIntyre's) room. Johnston gave him a razor and he asked him if it was stolen. When Johnston said it was not stolen property, Mclntyre accepted it. When detectives visited the house on Monday, May 16, Mclntyre said he realised that he had gelignite ana fuse in the pocket of his working coat, so he threw it out of the window. This gelignite and fuse had been given to him by Mrs. Cooper when the detectives first called. She said to mp, "This is jelly—you bury it." Mrs. Cooper Follows. Mrs. Cooper's was the next statement. On the morning of May 6, she said, she told Johnston that she was short of money, so Johnston gave her a pair of boots to sell. Johnston said they were too small for him and that he had two or three pairs. One night in March Johnston brought her two euitcases full of tobacco and cigarettes and asked her to take them to Karangahape Road to a shop. Johnston said he got the stuff from one of the ships cheaply. She received £2 or £3 for the tobacco and gave this to Johnston, who handed her £2 with which to pay the rent. She thought that Johnston's story was true. Mrs. Cooper added that she was at present Irving apart from her husband. She knew Bailer, who stayed with her two months ago. After leaving her husband she went to Mrs. Donovan's house to live. Bailer was on friendly terms with Mrs. Cooper's daughter. "I objected to him keeping company with her as she m only 15 years of age," she stated. Chief Detective Cummings said that, with reference to the indictable charges against Johnston and Bailer, they both told him they would plead guilty to the nine charges of breaking and entering and theft, and that they did not desire that any women or girls should be called as witnesses. The women, they said, knew nothing about the stolen property, and were in no way to blame n implicated. Both Bailer and Johnston then pleaded guilty, and were committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. Herbert Cooper also pleaded guilty, and he, too, was sent on for sentence by Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M. "The man McLean did not go to any jobs with us, and did not know what was in the bag he took to the Newmarket station," said Bailer. "He is quite innocent, and only did me a .favour by leaving it there." Johnston and Bailer then pleaded guilty to the summary charge of having explosives in their possession. Accused's Records. "What's known against these men?" asked the magistrate. Mr. Cummings - then handed up the lists of previous convictions of both men. These showed that Bailer had been seat to Weraroa Training Farm in 1917 for breaking, entering and theft at Auckland; later he was convicted and discharged on five charges of theft. In 1919 he was convicted and discharged for receiving stolen property, while at Auckland in 1920 he was given five years' reformative detention on five charges of breaking, entering and theft. At Gisborne on May 12,1923, he received three months' imprisonment for theft, and the next day, for escaping from custody, he got another three months, to be followed by a further period of three years' reformative. In Gisborne, subsequently, the same year, Bailer was given one month for theft, and not long afterwards he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment on each of four charges of theft and one year's imprisonment for again escaping from custody. Johnston commenced his career of crime in 1918 at New Plymouth, when he was placed on probation for two years for theft, and got 14 days' imprisonment on each of two charges of theft. A year later at New Plymouth Johnston, for housebreaking (two charges) and breaking and entering and theft, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment, and at Wellington in 1923 he got three years' imprisonment on each of four charges of breaking and entering and theft. Mr. Hunt sent each to gaol for three months for having the osplosives in their possession. Mclntyre and the Woman. Mclntyre pleaded not guilty to the charge against him, while Mrs. Cooper, for whom Mr. Selwyn Clarke appeared, pleaded guilty under extenuating circumstances. Detective Packman and Detective Moon described the raid at Grey Street last week. Mclntyre had placed the gelignite and fuse under a rubbish heap in the back yard. Mclntyre at first said that he got it from the City Council yard where he had been working, but afterwards told the truth. "I am innocent of it altogether," said Mclntyre. On behalf of Mrs. Cooper, Mr. Clarke said that the explosives had been handed to her by Johnston. She did not know what to do with the gelignite, and handed it on to Mclntyre, and told him to bury it. Her whole married life had been an unhappy one, owing to the treatment meted out to her by her husband. Mr. Hunt: She has been associating with these criminals anyway. Chief Detective Cummings stated that Mrs. Cooper had looked after her two children very well. Mrs. Cooper was admitted to probation for three years, and advised by Mr. Hunt to be careful of her associates in the future. Mclntyre, whom the chief deteetive said had taken to drink lately, was prohibited and ordered to come up for sentence when railed upon, . '