WANTED IN TEXAS

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 257, 30 October 1929, Page 10

WANTED IN TEXAS

CASE OF JOHN GREY.

EXTRADITION PROCEEDINGS.

UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES.

OEDER BY GOVERNOR-GENEKAL.

Alleged to bo the man sought by the American police for the past 13 years on a charge of forgery involving a sum of £50,000, John Grey, aged 4S, land agent, of Helensville, who was arrested ill that town on September 24 as a fugitive criminal under the name of A. B. Crouch, alias J. M. Cameron, appeared at the Police Court this afternoon, when the Crown applied for his extradition to Texas.

* Mr. F. Iv. Hunt, S.M., was on the bench, and Mr. V. R. Meredith appeared for the Crown. Mr. G. P. Finlav, with liim Mr. Terry, appeared for Grey.

The case is one of the most unusual which the New Zealand police have been called lipon to investigate. A man known as A. B. Crouch committed extensive forgeries on two banks at Temple, Texas, in 1910, and ever since then the American police have sought him. He is alleged to be identical with John Grey. Crouch was traced to New Zealand, and a provisional warrant was got out for his arrest, but he disappeared from Christchurch, where lie had been living under the name of J. M. Cameron. About two months ago the American policc decided to pursue further investigations i>i the Auckland district, and John R. Bigliam, Sheriff of Bell County, Texas, was sent to New Zealand. The sheriff rcached Wellington on September 21, and the day after his arrival at Auckland ho left for Ilelensville with Detective Sergeant P. Doyle. These two officers arrested Grey.

Grey appeared at the Police Court on September 25, when he was remanded for a week, in custody. A week later he was released on the record bail of £0000 for seven days, but after that time bail was cancellcd. Since then he has been, on remand in Mount Eden prison, appearing at the Police Court every Wednesday. Mr. Justice Herdman dismissed an application made to the Supreme Court for the renewal of bail. Old Act Invoked. This morning the magistrate, Mr. F. K. Hunt, received from the Commissioner of Police, Mr. W. 13. Mcllvcney, Wellington, the order issued by his Excellency the Governor-General, Sir Charles Fergusson, in terms of section 8 of the Extradition Act, 1870 (Imperial), notifying that application had been made by the United States Government for the surrender of Crouch, alias John Grey, as a fugitive offender. The order, signed by Sir Charles Fergusson on October 25, states that in pursuance of an agreement with the United States of America, the Governor-General received a requisition from Mr. Will L. Lowrie, American Consul-General in New Zealand, for the surrender of A. B. Crouch, "accused of the commission of the crime of forgery in the State of Texas, U.S.A." Ilis Excellency required the magistrate to issue his warrant for the apprehension of such fugitive, provided that the conditions of the Extradition Act, 1870, relating to the issue of such warrant, were, in Mr. Hunt's judgment, complied with. The Case Opens. When the case opened at the Police Court this afternoon, Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., read the warrant signed by the Governor-General and the Minister ol Justice, the Hon. T. M. Wilford. Mr. Meredith, before putting in the various acts and documents received from America, outlined the whole proceedings. After the olfencc was enm"mitted in Texas, he said, Crouch absconded, and in November, 191(5, an indictment and a true bill was brought in by the Grand Jury in Texas. The depositions of Mr. Campbell, president of the bank in Temple, would be produced, in. which he identified certain photographs of A. B. Crouch. These photographs, added counsel, were undoubtedly those of accused in the dock.