CRIMINAL SESSIONS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 814, 11 May 1910, Page 8

CRIMINAL SESSIONS.

NINETEEN PERSONS.ON TRIAL. ]j£IS HONOUR'S CHARGE. ' "NO LEGAL, DIFFICULTIES." .The criminal sessions wore opened in the Supreme Court yesterday before tho Ciiief Justice (Sir Robert Stout). In charging the Grand Jury, who had been sworn on Monday, • his Honour the Chief Justice said that there were charges against nineteen persons, and against some of them there were several charges. His Honour was .not- awaro of tho numbers *of accused pertons' appearing before the Court.during his recent absence from the. Dominion, hut the present number was larger than ho had previously known to appear. - Some of the charges were of a. serious character, , there, being one' charge-, of murder, three-of , a sexual character, somo charges.of robbery,. '.theft, forgery, assault, and .other- charges .-usually found in' a Supreme - Court 'list 1 The Murder Charge. ' In regard to tho murder charge, the accused, Corlcill, was a man who had been acting as .a bailiff. There was no doubt from the given , in' tire Magistrate's Court that this man had killed the other.. Ho shot him with a revolver, iuilicting a mortal-wound. To begin with, the accused had no right, to bo carrying a loaded revolver in ithe, exercise of his duty." It was not an offence 'in New Zealand to carry in the caso of young people—but it was not. customary here for men to be going about armed, as might be expected'in countries :where there was not. tho same law and order. There might havo been some quar-rel-between the two men, but there could be no.doubt that accused had fired tho shot. He might have two defences. Ho might set,, up a defence of provocation,' and if he' showed that ho -had been provoked. that would reduce the offence from •murder to .manslaughter. ' Accused might say, again, that he fired tho shot in selfdefence, and this might acquit him altogether. But the.Grand Jury had' not,to consider possiblo defences; all they had to do was to say whether the accused in .fact shot the. man. Then it would bo for him to explain his conduct before a jury of his, countrymen.. . • " ' Rutland Hotel Ftro Case, Two men were variously- charged in conncctiori with the lire at tho Rutland Hotel, Wanganui. This was a very serious fire, and one of tho men charged had been found shortly afterwards suffering, apparently, from shock, and with his hair burnt. That ho had been

•in tho fire there could bo no doubt whatever, and he, was charged with having set fire to the building. ■ The, evidence given before the magistrate nvas that lie could not'have'been, (as lie said) simply •in tlie middle of 'the shop lighting his pipe, when a sudden escapo of gas was ignited, and ho was injured. The ex-' plosion- of gas blow out the windows and front door-of the building, and also the windows of buildings on the opposite side of the street, which was' about ,80ft. wide at that • place. Ho hud said that lie went out at tho back, but, after the fire, the back door was found to be locked. The suggestion was'that he was injured in .lighting the fire from , s . ora ® place liear-by. The shop contained valuable jewellery, including watches m it, but tho remains of the watches could hot be, found in the debris. The two men charged had said, when examined, that they knew nothing about the jewellery. -One of them. had. stated that the books of tho business had been left in tho office,'but no traco of■ them could bo found ill the debris, and, somo days afterwards, both the -books and the watches, with some other articles- of tho stock, were found concealed by ono of the accused at his lodgings. His conduct, therefore, was that of *a man who had committed aTson. If the insurance company had paid any sum in connection with' the fire, accused .would hayo benefited considerably. Davis, the other man, liad taken away a largo part of the stock and stored it in Nelson. When he was examined before, the coroner, lie denied having secreted any syock. VIS came back, and was living with the other accused, Haines, and, because of his evidence, he was charged with perjury, becaiiso his story had been disproved. •;Ho might have been charged, with conspifihg—agreeing beforehand that • •.•the crime should „be committed and wmi concealing tho facts afterwards. Both men were charged with having sworn falsely, and the case seemed to bo one requiring- further investigation. Finger Prints:'lnfallible Evidence. A man named Tier was charged with; having committed seven burglaries. On one occasion, detectives saw him come out of a hotel with a tog, and board a. car. The defectives boarded the car also, and examined the bag, finding it to contain stolen boots. Accused quitted the car at the Government Station, and; left the bag on tlie car, whereupon ho was arrested. I'lie fact of his having that bag in his possession was sufficient, to call upon him to explain himself. Another man appeared to have been associated.with Tier, other charges against: •whom-'would be proved by the fingermark system. Finger-prints had been found on a cash-box and on bottles, which coincided exactly with the marks of accused's fingers. Experts had proved that no two -finger-prints were alike in a billion people, in tho whole population of the world.. Finger-marks could not be destroyed, anil, even if the skin on the fingers was peeled off, strangely enough, tho new skin was found to bear exactly the same nrarks. There was no case yet,, within his Honour's knowledge, in which tho finger-marks had not been proved to be absolutely reliable.

• Books of Schapiro's Bankruptcy. , 'Another man, Scliapiro, who had been ■in business in. a fairly''largo way, was charged with failing to keep proper books of accounts, an offence under the Bankruptcy Act. It was alleged that nobody could ; ascertain his' position- from 'the books kept. Prom them, it appeared that one. man, who was not a creditor at all, owed Scliapiro a large, sum of money. It . might be that accused was a bad; bookkeeper, or that lie had desired that hi 3 position shpuld not be disclosed. If the jury found that ho had not kept proper books, they'would-liavo to bring, in a true bill, and allow tlio accused to explain afterwards why he had not complied with the law. Tho cases did not involve any legal difficulties, . and the Grand Jury were not faced by a haTd task in considering the cases.

The Grand Jury returned true bills in overy case, save one: Sidney Diamond, charged with forgery. , !

FORMIDABLE LIST OF FRAUDS,

BY AN EX-POLICEMAN. , An cx-policeman, William. Patrick MDermott, alias Arthur Tlirelfo, whoappeared on • a long series of charges for forgery and falso pretences, was defended by Mr. E. n. Webb. ■ Mr. Myers (Crown Prosecutor) said that accused, it would bo shown, had found but the names of pcoplo with whom certain persons were acquainted, and had. written letters (forging the name of one of these latter) to known friends requesting tlicm to leave money at certain given addresses. Marshall John Donnelly, liconseo of the; Now Healaudor Hotel, s-tatcd that ho knew Roley Eagar, over whoso signature lio had received a letter asking that. .£s' should be left at tho bookseller's shop of Norman Aitken, for one "Charloy Carmont." Witness did not know Carmont, and lie did not send any money.

Norman E. Aitken, bookseller, of Charlotte Street, staled that lie found under his door one 'morning a letter, signed "13. Low," ini'orming him that a letter would bo left at the shop for the writer. Another similar letter' was also received by him signed "C. Carmout." . Roland Jlatch, jockey, denied having written a letter to Dr. Pyfi'o, asking tihe doctor to forward J3 to the Thistle Inn Hotel for "J. Donovan." The letter stated that the writer had been asked to mako the arrangements by ft. J. Jfason, trainer for G. D. Greenwood. Witness denied also having sent a letter addressed to Donovan' at-the-Thistle Irul.

Dr. William Kington Fyffo stated (lint wlicn lie received the letter signed ''Poland Hatch" lie had suspicions that the letter hail not really cotuo l'rom Batch. Ellen Keeney, licensee of tho 'J'hislle Inn Hotel, deposed that a small hoy brought a loiter to her hotel, signed "J. Donovan," in which tho writer asked that any letter that might Imj left at tho hotel should he kept for him.

Mary Quinn, grocer, of Tinakori Road, deposed that accused had boarded with her some time ago. The Rev. Father Hugh MDoilnell, of Sfeanee, was her nephew, a fact with which accused would probably be acquainted. She received a letter, in January, above her nephew's name, asking that she should send .£lO to one Hickey, care of Clyde Quay Post Office. There was also a promise that "the nephew" would forward tho .ClO to "his dear aunt" in the course of a day or two. The money was sent.

Mary Bell, wife of Reginald Wallace Bell, of Westport, stated that prior to her marriage she had been employed in tho Te Aro Post Office. Two children came to the post office with a note, asking for a letter addressed to one Hickey, which they, received. •

George Nash, dairyman, of Wadestown, stated that he received' a letter purporting to como from George Pearce, whom he knew. He canio to the conclusion that the lottor was not by Pearce. ;A request was made in the letter that Nash should leavo .£3 at Sirs. Thomson's shop, opposite the Lambton Railway Station, for "Jim Carney." Witness did not send the money. Oney Higgins, express. proprietor, deposed that ho received a letter from Trentham, purporting to bo. from Henry Cutts, whom ho knew. The writer asked that Higgins should leavo £2 for' one George Chapman at Mowbray's tearooms, Lambton Quay. "Cutts" wrote that he was unable to come to town, and that ho had sent a messenger with tho money to leave at tho shop, but that "the young ass had come back, and said that he had forgotten all about it." The writer also recommended Higgins to havo a bet on ' "Flill Sail." (Laughter.) Catherine Mowbray, wife of J. Jlowbra3% pastrycook, stated that a boy canio in with a noto to the effect that a letter would bo left at the shop for one Chapman. A hoy called, but there was no letter for Chapman. Peter M'lntyre, master of tho steamer Stormbird, stated that, ho- was intimate yrfth William Webb, ex-world's champion sculler. He received a letter, from Aramoho. purporting .to havo been written by Webb. The writer explained that ho desired tho captain to leavo £2 for . one West, care of George Mee, chemist, ■'Lambton Quay,' as tho writer wanted some material sent up urgently, by , the Stormbird. Ho explained that, if he was not in Wanganui when the Stormbird arrived, tho money would be refunded by W. Tuck, of Wanganni, on the writer's behalf. . Witness complied with tho request, inserted tho £2 in the envelope provided, and left it at Atr. Mee's shop. . William Webb denied having written tho letter to Captain M'lntyre, borrowing .£2. , A hoy of nine, William Richard Thomas, said that "tho man over there," whose name ho know to be William Patrick M'Dcrmofct, had on several occa-' sions commissioned him to run errands for him'. . Detective Andrews ' gavo evidence. regarding MTJermott's airest and search of his premises. Sergeant Dart, officer in charge of the Wellington, polico • training depot, stated that M'Dermott had been in the depot from March 20 to May 14, 1908. ■ ■ Mr. Webb, for the defence,' set up an alibi,' and called evidence. After - an adjournment of 35 minutes, the jury brought in a verdict of "Guilty" upon all counts.- . M'Deo-mott was further charged that, on December 11 last, ha-forged the- name of H. J.' Baker, tailor, of Willis Streei., upon a promissory note for £2 10s., presented to the Empire Loan'and Discount Company, Wellington. The witnesses for the prosecution were:—William M'Lean (secretary of .the company), Walter Brook-Taylor'(clerk in tho company's office), Henry James Baker (tailor), —Hobday (of the Corporation staff), and Detective Andrews. The jury, after five minutes' deliberation, brought in a verdict of "Guilty." Prisoner thereupon pleaded guilty to the remaining charges against him, andsentence was deferred until i Saturday, morning. AN ADMITTED HORSE-STEALER. A young man, Charles Johnson,: alias Sweeney, alias M'Guire, committed by the Lower Court at:'Otaki to, stand his trial on a charge of horse-stealing, pleaded guilty. The horse had been stolen from ' one Walter Whiting. > Sir. H. P. O'Leary, on tho prisoner's behalf, said that the young man had .been before his Honour four weeks ago, and ha,d been sentenced to six months' hard labour. On that occasion;, it had • ; b;eon intimated that ,Jie would plead guilty to this charge.

\ ; A sentence of five months' imprisonmnent was imposed. (Prisoner, however, would have to serve only an additional Nfeek.) , ,

. ; A SERIOUS OFFENCE. ,; A. dark-skinned man, named Robert iinderson, 1 aged IG, who had been brought 'Back from Sydney by Detective Abbott, jwas found guilty of having, committed iiv' serious offence. . He was remanded foi; Sentence until this morning. MAORI' SENTENCED.. 1 • A Maori named Matthew Puliipi, alias iMatthows, alias Busby, who had pleaded iguilty in the. Lower Court, at Blenheim, : to obtaining goods under false pretences (four charges), aud forgery (one charge); camo up for sentence. The prisoner admitted that he had already served sentences amounting to four years and six '.months for similar offences. ■ Prisoner was sentenced. to two years' hard labour on each charge, the sentences .to run concurrently.