MAGISTRATES' COURT.

Press, Volume XXI, Issue 2353, 18 February 1873, Page 3

MAGISTRATES' COURT.

CHRISTCHURCH. Monday, Ffrbuaby 17. (Before C- 0. Bowen, Esq., 8.M.) - LAbceny—Elizabeth Atkinson who had been- remanded- from Saturday, was again brought tip charged with stealing certain articles from her employer, Mr C. E. The following additional evidence was produced—Constable Kennedy: I went to the house of the girl's father on Saturday with Mr Briggs, and; Mrs Atkinson gave mc the boots produced. Mrs : Atkinson is nriwell. ,QiE. Briggs, examined by Mr missed the boots and hat when Mrs Steele told toe the property bad "been seen in MrAtkinson's possession. The lace which Mrs Briggs had on Monday was worn by the girl on her dresa the day at a tea meeting. MrT. I. Joynt having addressed

the Bench on htehalf of the prisoner, his Worship 6aid in consideration of the youth of the prison-jr and the punishment she had already received by the exposure and imprisonment, he would dismiss the case, and trusted it would b_ a warning- -to.-her for life. The child wns handed over to her father. Highway Robbeby—Hugh McDonald, alias McKinnon, alias MeCaurey.'ahdjJiimes Morris were charged with having knocked do%vn and robbed a man named James Pursons, on the night of. the 12th instant, in Madras street south. Th-* following evHenoe was taken—J. am a laboring tnan, ha.vi.ng:no fixed place ;o£.-residence. -, I have been staying at Stewart's .since last-Saturday week. On the of the 12th I refyrnt-d to Stewart's after. J1 pm. I had been out with Mr Hossiter. Lhad my hruid ou flit» handle cf the door..lie two prisouera rushed at. mc; from the side of therho-jsc towards -the+ai-way—one of them- knocked mc down and took my watch away. I got up again. To the--best~of my opiniou, the mm who

knocked mc do.wn took;the watch. I think the one who took the-watch was the smaller :of :the- t twp.:: The other; man-, assisted him by closing on mc. They said " What are you knocking/at/my.door for ?"" They tried to knock mc down again, but I kept them off, and ran towards the City. Hotel, by way of Barrett's. I was quite sober. I ran up the street, and, mt eting Coustable Brown, I told him what had happened. I afterwards saw •Hafgeant Wilson. My watch, I believe, is called a hunting lever. 1 told the Sergeant the next morning the number of my watch. The .number is . 17,093, and the maker, Hale's, 'of Lyttelton.. There "was "a'chain attached to the- watch, which was passed through a button hole *of my waistcoat, which got,tqrn when it was taken from mc. I could not swear to the prisoners, but they resemble the men who robbed mc, in height. I don't remember seeing the prisoners before. The watch produced is mine. I know it by the pir I put in myself. It is the one that was taken from mc. Its proper value is £5. Hyam Edward Nathan'—l know the watch produced. 1. first'saw it on Thursday last, the morning of the 13th ; it Was in the possession, of a man who gave his-name as M*F_innon. He brought it to the shop to pledge. He wanted more money than I would advance. I.lent him 30s on it. The tall prisoner is the man. .It was eight .o'clock in the morning when the man came; in."before my shutters were down. He did

not say how he got possession of the watch. I have since handed it over, to the police. Sergeant Wilson—-.Early on the morning of the . 13th,, a man named Parsons told mc in Colombo street he had been robbed. of .a __wa_ch_ at Stewart's boarding-house,, Madras street south. I went with him to the placed and searched about for some time for two men. They were described as a big and a little man. He showed mc where the struggle occurred outside the boarding-house. I examined the place, and saw some drops of blood in front of the door. I remained there about an hour and then went -_. in the direction of Barrett's Hotel. I then'went inside Mr Wilson's garden,: and found both prisoners there rlying down. lasted the prisoner M'Donald.his

name, and he told mc M'Kinnon. He. then got up and went away. I apprehended them both on Saturday morning on a charge of highway robbery. Icaution them, and; they both denied the robbery. Where I found them is seven or. eight chains away from Stewart's boarding-house. I -.rrested them afterwards from subsequent information. The watch produced was given mc by Mr Nathan ; previous to their arrest he had given mc the ,number. James Parsons, recalled—T bled afc the nose when I received the blow. After receiving the usual caution the prisoners, who made no defence, were committed to take their trial at the next sessions of the Supreme Court. Deunkenxess with Violence—Andrew ! O'Donohue and James Smith were charged with being drunk in the public streetj and the former -with having violently assaulted the coustable Who'arrestedThim, and also ; tearing his uniform. Constable O'Malley ! said he heard bo.th'prisoners' making use of very obscene language on Saturday afternoon, in Colombo street. -He-cautioned them three or four times,__and eventually he was obliged to- arrest them; • • When the constable arrested .Smith, the prisoner O'Donohue became very- violent, and struck him a blow oh'the nose, besides trying to

bite him. and completely destroying his jumper. After being knocked down and kicked, the constable, with the assistance of others, handcuffed the. prisoners and conveyed them to the depSt. Mr Gordon, the town clerk, who v. itnessed what had taken place, corroborated the Constable's statement. Mr H. Oram-said the prisoners came tohis house, but as they were drunk he refused to supply thpm; with liquor, upon which they became '.very abusive. He afterwards saw the row in the street, and corroborated what had been said as to the violence of O'Donohue. Another witness named Collins, was also called, but his evidence was merely corroborative of the others. Inspector Pender stated that the prisoner "*',O'Donohue was _ ' very violent character, and whenever his conduct brought him into collision with the police, he invariably endeavored to beat and abuse thenar :The .prisoner,' o'D6t_6hue : was lined £5 and advised by-his Worship to repair the constable's uniform' which he had destroyed, to prevent further proceedings being taken to compel him, and the prisoner ... Smith s , whose conduct Had hot been so outrageous, was fined in the lesser penalty of 40s. '''■ ' '•'■'■"'■■■ •- '*

Drunk-and D_soRDEBLY.-*-*-T-homas Free)man",' chargedby Constable Haddrell, -being' his first offence, was cautioned and discharged. I. Welstreek, similarly charged, was fined 20s, orin default to be imprisoned for 48 Hours. James 'Maccan.n, charged by Constable Morice with and using* abusive language, was fined 10s or 24 hours' imprisonment.- Frederick Price, who had been Jiberated on bail, failed to make his appearance, arid hi's" Wqrship'ofd'ered anotice to be served upon him, to show cause-why he did not appear when called on. James Wright, charged by constable Gaffny with being drunk'; and .disorderly ;oh Sunday, during church hours,-, was fined 10s, or 24 hours' imprisonment. '■'"" - jVioLEOT"Assault;—- Hugh" M'Clut.hy wias brought up, charged with baying committed a violent.. assault upon Mrs Speary,, the*proprietress of the Mechanics' Boarding*-' house.,. Constable Hughes deposed thathaving : heard there had been a row at the'

Mechanics* Boarding-house, he went there, .arid found Mrs Speary—suffering severely ijErpm the effects of ] the prisoner's violence. ' vVhen he attempted to arrest him, the pi> sober becanje violent, resisted him, and again attempted to assault the' prosecutrix. Mrs Speary, who bore bri-her face maTks of the most brutal violence,, said that, last Satur-. day night she had' a quarrel with the prisoner,., who . : gave ; her a black; eye, crushed her hand in the door, and inflicted other serious injuries about the person, from the effects which, she. was then suffering. ; The ; next day 1 the prisoner again assaulted her-and cut her head open with.a ; broom-handle. Alodgerin the house of thename of Nicholas deposed that he had witnessed the conduct of the prisoner, but did not interfere to prevent it, preferring to smoke his pipe. His Worship, after com-menting-severely upon the brutal and unmanly conduct ,of the prisoner, sentenced him to two months' imprisonment with hard labor.