INNOCENT MAN SENT TO GAOL

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 17, 20 July 1921, Page 4

INNOCENT MAN SENT TO GAOL

REMARKABLE SYDNEY CASE,

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

SYDNEY, 12th July. Early in June a good-looking, thick-set young man named Boy Frost was convicted of having stolen £346 from the residence of R6g- Cation, a well-known bookmaker. Ho vigorously protested his innocence, and set up an alibi, but the jury convicted, and he was sent to Long' Bay for eighteen months. He had been, keeping bad company, and his identification as the thief seemed complete. Miss Young, a sister-in-law of Mr. Carton, was alone in the latter's housa on the evening of 30th. April last. She was suddenly accosted by, two men, who had silently entered the house. 1 One covered her . with a revolver,. while the other went straight to the fireplace? and, from a receptacle in tho back,' he took £346. in.notes. This''was where the bookmaker kept his "bag" when he was unable, to get into the city to lock it up. The two men "then rushed from the house and into a motor-car, the engine of which was running, and they got clear away. Oatton- offered a reward of £100 for the detection of the > culprits. , ]?i jost was arrested, and was positively identified by Miss Young us one of the two men. She also identified another man. as his companion—but, as he turned out to be a well-known Kensingtonhairdresser, who had acted as master of ceremonies at a dance during the whole of tho evening in question, ho was not convicted. ' ■ . ■

Th«,n came the curious ' sequel. Frost had been a couple of weeks in gaol' when a short, dark man, resembling him in appearanoe, ..went to a suburban police station, aiul told the police that he was the man who stole the money. ' The police refused to believe him. But he persisted. He detailed the events of the night, and ho gave the police the name and adda-ess of his mate, find of the chauffeur who ia "in on the Job." The little man was confronted with Mr. Cat\x>n and Miss Young. They, also, did pot want to believe him : but he seemed to know so much about the matter, and he contradicted Miss Young so flatly in regard to certain details of the night's happening—and in which he fdrced her to admit she was wrong—that.he convinced tho police. The three men were taken into custody. / .

The lit.tle man told Miss Young she was wrong when she said th« burglars showed their -faces. Their faces, he declared, were wrapped in khaki handkerchiefs and mufflers, and were never un-. covered. Miss-Young then became a little shaky on the point. The little man indicated that- he could not beaa- the thought of an innocent man suffering "for their crime. If no one" had been convicted, neither he nor his mates would hava confessed.

Frost was thereupon released on bail, pending an appeal against his conviction: There was a pathetic scene when hismother learned of the new development. She- had been certain of his innocence, and had been visiting, him every day in gaol. ■ .