THE WHARF THEFTS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1223, 4 September 1911, Page 6

THE WHARF THEFTS.

LAST STAGE. HADDEN, EHRMAN & GLOYER SENTENCED. WHO WAS THE LEADER? EHRMAN PUTS IN A WRITTEN STATEMENT. (By ToleeraDh.-Prcss Association.) Auckland, September 3; Joseph Ehrman, Arthur Glover, and Alfred Ernest Hadden—the-three persons so far -found guilty, of.ofEenc-es'in connection with tho perpetration of extensive wharf pillaging at Auckland—were brought before Mr. Justice Chapman for sentenco at the Auckland Supreme ' Court this morning. Arthur Glover—Nine Months. Arthur Glover,' who had been found guilty of forging a false telegram, and cf being an accesso-ry after the' fact of theft-with a recommendation to leniency, was first called on. Mr. Lundon, who appeared for him, pointed out that this was the first: occasion upon which Glover had been charged with any offence. Apparently he had not peen the originator or thinker in respect to tho thefts. He was married, and had been trying to livo on small wages until ho. had the opportunity of entering into a species of business partnership with Elu-man. A partnership had been effected under an agreement signed in February, 1010. By this ho was to receive £2 a week. He proceeded'to point out that Glover was merely a tool in the hands of others, ami that he had no control over tho business of which he was a partner. ' His Honour (sharply): I know nothing of that',, and it. is apart from what I must consider of the scheming and carrying out of tho thefts, and of, Glover in forging a telegram- to aid Ehrman, and getting away with tho goods. Mr. Lundon: 1 will ask your Honour to believe .that, in forging the telegram, Glover was not acting on his own volition. . His Honour: Ho was acting on his own volition in'that! Ehrman was <100 miles away.' ~ ■ Addressing tho prisoner his Honour remarked that lie was sorry to see him in the position in which ho was placed. Every-consideration would be given to the recommendation of the jnry, but the only effect' would be t° lessen tho imprisonment to bo imposed. A telegram bad been deliberately forged, and thy jury had found prisoner guilty of becoming an accessory to the theft committed by Ehrman. Tho telegram meant that and nothing else. Having acquired : knowledge that the goods had been stolen prisoner proceeded to aid Ehrman in getting them away, and the goods would never, have been finally and effectively stolen had not the telegram been forged, or had not Glover, discussed the matter with the Union Company, and persuaded them to part with certain cases on -indemnity. For that prisoner could not be exonerated,andhis Honour regarded it as a'very serious- offence for a man to knowingly tako a hand, very extensive thefts, even though' he was innocent of the theft when it was perpetrated. . A sentence of nine months' imprisonment was imposed. A. E. Hadden—Two Years. Hadden. was tho second of the accused to be sentenced. Jlo was represented by Mr. Reed who pointed out that prior to tho theft of which prisoner had been found guilty,' nothing had been charged against hiin. Standing out ■ prominently in the;whole series-of thefts was the perfectly clear indication that thero had been a. master mind—somcono who had organised tho extensive stealing that had come to light. evidence presented it was clear, too'; that Hadden had been drinking heavily;, and,, while that was ho cxchso, the possibility .was suggested that a man who was.addicted to .tho. weakness' was. more 'pliable; in the hands'of. a mas-! ter ; hand'thin - .tho person who resisted 1 ilrink, and; was 'absolutely sober. '• Coun- ; Bel.- suggested-;that 'Hadden' was 'kept in a state' of drunkenness, and was supplied Tvatli drink .from time-.to timo, and wliilo jn.that state (with ,his;-moral force-low-ered) he could fall into the temptation to assist in the crime' of-.theft more readily than the man .with his moral faculties at their best.,-, , , His Honour, remarked that it would bo idle to- suggest that prisoner was unaware of tho wharf thieving that was goon, and that suspicion was falling unjustly on innocent people. With the knowledge in his mind that pilfering was going on—because no one could help hearing ab6ut it, not only: in Auckland, but hundreds of miles away—he ran the risk of taking a hand in stealing the case of goods on which--he had' been- found guilty. Not:only that, but ho had showed himself an.active participant in the matter, and had tempted at least one' other man to tako a h'aod in at theft:'--A term of'two. years'imprisonment was inflicted. ' ' Ehrman's Written Confession. Ehrman was tho last to be dealt with, and he was represented by Mr. Singer. At the outset counsel intimated that, in accordance with tho undertaking given a fow ;days since, a statement had been prepared by tho prisoner, disclosing all that h© knew concerning the,thefts. 'With tho permission of his Honour, Mr. Singer read the statement, which is as follows:— "I am 5G years of age, and have resided in Auckland for 30 . years.. For many years, I was a clothing- maimifacturer and warehouseman, employing over 200 people. Of lato years I have been acting casually as a commercial traveller, until, in tlie month of February, 1910, I purchased the business of A. E. Glover, Island fruit merchant, carried cm by him in Port Street, Auckland, taking his son Arthur Glover as a partner. _ I paid .£2OO as tho purchase price. This business was carried- on by mo with Arthur Glover under the name of Glover and Co. In' the month of July, 1910, Arthur Glover asked ' mo to come with him to bs introduced to a man whom he knew, and wanted mo to meet. Ho did not then tell mo ...his name, or what ho was. Wo. went down -together to Partridge's corner in Queen Street, and there Glover introduced me .to Hadden. A case of drapery goods had already arrived at the store, and had 'bcou received by Arthur Glover, who had told me that he had- to give a certain man some 4!6 for the case. Artlrar Glover got tho £S from mo before wo wont out Wo metl Hadden at Partridge's Corner, and Glover then gare the .£6 or so .to Hadden. I was ni>t told anything that day as to what Hadden .'was, or who tho goods had been procured from. Arthur Glover suggested that I should travel with tho goods, and, at the same timo. get customers for fruit. I went to tho. Islands shortly after that, and returned at the end of August or thereabouts. I only saw Hadden the once, before I returned from the Islands. On my rotu.ni Hadden came to tho store frequently when not tallying. I now knei£ .what Hadden was. The taking of the cases now became fairly systematic, cases arriving at the store aboiut once a mtatli. Hadden used to telephone to the sloro giving information that' tho cases would arrive. As far as I am awaTO Hadden is the only tally olork who in concerned in these matters. It was to Hadden that we looked to get the cases out of tho sheds. Arthur Glover as a rule received tho cases at the store. Hadden constantly received money from mo, and I regularly divided tho proceeds of my sales with Arthur Glover equally, after providing for payments to Hadden. To show me how safo it would be to carry out tho pystem, Arthur Glover explained to mo how, before I came into the business, and while Arthur Glover was working for his father, and, indeed, before ever I became acquainted Arthur Glover at all, Hadden haxl sont hundreds and hundreds of cases of fruit to Arthur Glover in the same way. Tho proceeds of tho sale of these were divided between Hadden and Arthnr Glover. In tho month of July, 1911, I determined to givo up any connection with this system, and sold tho whole business, with somo .-£350 worth of assets, to' Arthur Gkm>r for ',£SO, this sum being sufficient to covor my personal expenses awl a fow Trasiness liabilities. I mysolf havo made _■ practically nothing out of these proceedings. I never oven paid any monies to my wife and family for maintenance. I am a persistent sufferer from sciatic neuralgia, and my general health is now seriously impaired, Tlw above statement is true^aud.

corrcct in every particular, and I make tho sumo voluntarily, being desirous of laying baro tho whole facts, and exposing my connection therewith. (Signed) J. iiiIIJMAN. ' ' "X may add that Hadden's demands for money became so persistent that I had tho greatest ilifticulty in complying with them. On one occasion Hadden demanded tho sum of ,£5 from me, aiid threatened mo that, if 1 did not givo him this sum, ho would go to my son, and tell mj' son all about the business,' anil, in consequenco of this threat, and of my anxiety that my son should not know anything, I was compelled to givo Iladden the .£5. When Hadden came to see mo at Stratford ho demanded money from mo. Ho wanted ■£•!. I only had .£3, and I had to borrow Jil from Sir. Godfrey Phillips to satisfy Hadden. (Signed) J. EHRMAN. Was Ehrman tho "Master Mind"? Mr. Singer remarked that, so far as be could -understand, the statement revealed the true position with regard to ' the system under which the extensive thefts had been carried on for the last twelve months. As far as the conception of the scheme was concerned, Ehrman was not what had been called the master mind." His Honouri How am I to know that. Mr. Singer: I ask you to believe that from his statement. , His Honour: Why should I believe a word of it? ■ Mr. Singer: If you knew Ehrman quite apart from his previous conviction (which I will deal with in a moment) you will find that he is not a man of brains or of ability. His whole life has been a business and mental failure. Counsel suggested that tho only cause for pointing to Ehrman as bciu£ the "master mind/! was the fact that tho cases against him personally were so numerous, but that circumstance was explained when it was considered that he was tho person into whoso possession tho goods went. Tho fact that ho was the party receiving tho goods did not necessarily mean that he was tho "master mind." . His Honour:. Tho "master mind may como in at any'time, hut Ehrman was tho man who disposed of the goods. 11 it i had not been for tho disposal, tho schemo could not have been carried on. Mr. Singer: The original suggestion that tho schcmc should be started did not come from Ehrman. t i | His Honour remarked that tho actual facts were patent, and the patent fact was that tho system could not go on without the man acting as a commercial traveller, and disposing of the stolen property. Mr. Singer declared that a document was in existence showing that Ehrman, in the month of July of this year, and just prior to his last visit to Stratford and Wellington, intended to break himself clear of his-then surroundings. H« disposed of his sharo in the business to Arthur Glover, and tho trip was intended by him to be tlie last. Counsel admitted that the schcme had reached to largo dimensions, but it had not been a financial success. Tlio expenses of travelling and freight charges, and _ tho persistent demands—almost blackmailing demands— made upon bim by others, and the division of. the proceeds amongst all sorts of persons, naturally reduced tho amount of the illicit profits. In fact, Ehrman had made practically nothing out of the stealing and fraud, Mr. Singer mentioned that prisoner had previously been convicted of receiving tho proceeds of stolen property. ' " . Mr. Tolo: Yes, .£soo—a number of ,£SO notes. . 1 Mr. Singer went on to point out that there was only tho one record ■ against prisoner, and explained, the circumstances to show that tho crime was not as heinous as it would appear by the sentence of two years' imprisonment. He stated that Ehrman was well up in years, that he was in frail health, and was not likely tD survive anything in the naturo of an extended term of imprisonment, finally contending that he was used as a tool in the disposal of tlio goods, and his services, ■were eagerly seized lipon by those who originated the scheme. Ehrman's Sentence—Eight Years., "I was careful to sentenco tho other men first before reading your statement, becauso I thought it was not improbablo that you would .say somothin(f;.,to their prejudice," remarked his Honour, in addressing the prisoner. "I did _not_ want to be influenced in my determination of . that imprisopment/.by a fellow'conspira!toy. I am,sure I was'right in taking that ; course because your statement .does incriminate those ,men in numerous crimes, and it would liavo been wrong-to' havo added to tho punishment ■by being influ'encedin my mind, unconsciously .perhaps, by your statement.'- I do .'not. know .how true your statement is. I havo no means whatever of investigating its ti-ut'li, and it is not my duty to do so." His Honour went on to say that so far as Ehrman's version (as shown in the statement of his connection with the thieving) was concerned, it might be true, but it did not mako very much difference whether tho crime was suggested by one or both of the men sentenced that morning. 1 According to the account given by/Ehrman, those, men were the actual perpetrators of numerous crimes—in fact of a whole series of crimes. So far as it affected the . prisoner, ; hjs Honour was prepared to accept his statement that he had taken a moro active part in the four crimes of which he had been found guilty. He , alleged further, however, that the system of stealing fruit was an old-estab-lished one, and had originated before ho joined the business. Tho important fact, on Ehrman's own .showing, was that,-if ho did_ not schemo and originate the system of wharf thieving, he rendered it possible and profitable. Tho system could not havo been carried on without tho assistance of_ a. man who pretended to bo a commercial traveller, who carried tho goods to a,distance, and disposed of them while, standing shoulder to shoulder with honest commercial travellers. It would nave been impossiblo to get away with suitable quantities of goods and sell them.in tlio city, and the system required an active, trained, commercial ifoui. His Honour did not know whether ho had made the venture profitable becauso a man who had to take friends mto his confidence generally found those friends expensive connections, and. no doubt, Ehrman had found it so. From the convictions recorded, and what appeared' on tho statement, it was a fact that Ehrman had been habitually cn»a"ed in pillaging the merchants of the city ■ That was his own character of his doings' It might be that what he had said of tladdeu and Glover was true—that Had den confiscated tho goods, and that Glover was the convenient "fence" for hiding 'thom, while prisoner was nre-' pared to dispose of them. Tho police would probably investigate that"allegation further.. It was a fact that the whole system would havo broken down had it not been for Ehrman's planning, and it was .. therefore quite reasonable to eav that he-was the centre of the system, anil his brains the central brains of tho system, while the other men were merely using their force. His Honour imposed Itlll fircf T y ? a ? 3 ' im Pnsonment on the first connt, and four years on the second, -the sentences to be cumulative with four years each on the third and fourth counts, the latter sentences to be concurrent with tho former, makin" a total term of eight years. At'the same tune Ehrman was declared to bo a habit, ual-criminal. His Honour intimated to Mr. Singer that ho had some doubt as to whether ho could add tho dec aration making Ehrman a habitual criminal to tlie sentence but ho said that he would state a caso for tho Loiirt of Appeal for consideration 'If the Court ruled against it tho declaration would be renewed.