BURGLAR'S "CHEER UP."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 125, 28 May 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

BURGLAR'S "CHEER UP."

CHILD'S MONEY BOX STOLEN. An elderly woman burst into tears when Archibald Wotherspoon, of 83, Jervistou Street, New Stevenston, was sent to prison for CO days at Hamilton (Scotland) Sheriff Court. "Cheer up," cried the accused man, as he passed the sobbing woman on his way to the cells. Wotherspoon pleaded guilty to a charge of breaking into a dwelling house and stealing 7/, a money box, a timepiece and various articles of clothing.

It was explained by the prosecution that the burglary was committed while the bccupants of the house were out shopping. Access had been gained by unsnibbing the window, and raising the lower

sash. All the drawers were ransacked and various articles of jewellery taken out and laid down as if a search had been made for something special. Among the

"booty" was a child's money box contain ing the money.

Wotherspoon went to a neighbouring house and asked the occupants to parcel up the articles, which, he stated, he had purchased from some friends. One of the children in the hou.se was asked to open the money box and was rewarded with 1/ from the contents. Wotherspoon might have been drunk, but he carried out the operations with great deliberation, and his actions denoted that he was capable of taking care of himself.