RAMSAY AND CAIRNS

Evening Star, Issue 11896, 26 May 1903, Page 6

RAMSAY AND CAIRNS

ON TRIAL AT THE SUPREME COURT. CHARGED WITH ASSAULT AND ROBBERY. Mr Justice Williams sat at 10.30 this mormr.g when the trial of Thomas Ramsay and John Cairns began. Prisoners were indicted for that they on or about the 16th r eoruary last robbed Thomas Reid of £291 m money, and at the time of the robbery did wound, strike, and use personal violence towards Thomas Reid. Accused pleaded not guilty,, and were R °t defended by counsel. The Crown Prosecutor (Mr Fraser) did not order any of the persons called as ■jurors to stand asidfr; and the accused challenged only four of those whose namecame out of the bo*. Mr Walter John Untune was elected foreman. On Ramsay’s application witnesses were ordered out of court, and the accused were SU tu 1 o Witil " Titin r r paper and pencils. The Crown Prosecutor, in the course of a lengthy opening address, said that the ir:me took place in broad daylight in a public thoroughfare, and it was naturally a part of the offenders’ plan to take extraordinary precautions to secure a retreat. They did take extraordinary precautions. They obviously could not hire a horse and in Dunedin for the purpose of getting away quickly, so they stole a horse and cart at Outram during the previous night. There was no eye-witness of the actual assault. Reid knew nothing excepting that he was struck down from behind and rendered unconscious. Unfortunately, too, Dr G. P. Brown, who gave evidence in the lower court as to Reid’s wound, had in the interval parsed over to the majority, and fhe community had thereby lost a valuable life, for Dr Brown was a painstaking and able surgeon, and bad often given evidence in that court, always with the utmost fairness. His evidence as given in the .lower court would, however, be read. It was suggested that the weapon with which the blow was struck .was the piece of iron produced. It was a piece of iron such .as would be picked up on the scrap heap at the back of any found it. The learned Crown Prosecutor deta’Ted the evidence as to identity, and said that the case for the Crown was this, that the two men possessed themselves of a horse and cart at Outram during the night, came to town about 4.30 a.m., hung about town until the time arrived for waylaying Reid ; that one of the men either ran ahead and struck - the blow from over the fence, or else simply followed Reid and hit him; and that the man who struck the blow then waited for his accomplice with the cart. These men never expected to escape detection, and to be prepared they collected bjnvy lumps of road metal, so that if the cart had been rushed they could have stoned off any attempt to catch hold of the bridle or arrest the occupants. Archibald Andrew, baker, of Outram, deposed that a Set of harness was stolen from his stable on the night of the 15th February. The police had since shown him the saddle and bridle. To Ramsay: Those articles had been recovered since the proceedings in the lower cnnrt. R'dit. Campbell, farmer. North Taieri, said that about 3 a m. on the 16th February he heard a noise, got up, saw a man in grey clothes walking away from the stable, then heard the clatter of horse’s feet going towards Dunedin, and found his cart had been ■••tolen. The police had since shown him the cart. To Ramsav: It generally took him two hours and a-half to drive to Dunedin, going easy. To Cairns; Could not say whether the man had a bag. Robert Coodison. dealer, Green Island, testified that.a brown horse which ho took to Outram to graze was afterwards shown him by the police. To Ramsay: It would take that horse probably two hours to take a spring cart sixteen miles if allowed to take its time, hut it could perhaps do the distance in an hour and a-half if pushed. Margaret Williams, living at the back of the Grey Valley coalyard, said that she was roused at 4 70 on the morning of the 16th February by the noise of a cart coming from the direction of Rattray street, and she saw a man take the horse out. Then she saw two horses. About 11 am. she saw the horse harnessed up. The man had light mat, dark trousers, and black slouch hat He was a middling tall man with dark hair She did not see his face. To Ramsay; The cart remained till 11 a.m. It went away, she thought, about 2. p.m. It did not go away between ten and eleven. Fredk. W. - Eason, fanner and woolclasser, res'ding at Katea, near Owaka, fold the Court that at 1.10 p m. on the 16th February he was at the corner of Water and Cumberland streets. Shortly afterwards a horse and a spring dray with two voung men in it passed him going south. About twenty minutes later he saw it again, coming from the south. At a few minutes to three he once more saw the horse and cart, travelling south from Rattray street The cart stopped near the Union Company’s office, by the railway fence. The .men alighted, crossed the street, and stood near to witness. They were looking towards Rattray street. They were excited Ihe men were the accused. They gazed towards Rattray street for five or six minutes, when one of them sa d : “ There he is—’here he is.” They then ran down to Vogel street and into Rattray street, turning to the right, and he lost sight of them. Witness returned to his old corner, and then looked at his watch, and it was two minutes to three o’clock. The horse and cart still stood where they had been left Witness went off to keep an appointment, and returning in about ten minutes noticed that the horse ai\d cart were gone! - He had not the least doubt as to the identity of the men he saw and the accused. Ramsay asked witness the distance from where the cart was left to the scene of the assault. His Honor directed that the distance he measured and stated later on. ■ Cross-examined by Ramsay, witness Eason said that the men were not carrying anything. He had said in the lower court that Ramsay’s eyes were grey or blue. Looking now (by request) ho found that Ramsay’s eyes were brown. He did not think ■the suit that Ramsay was wearing was the one he had on to-day. He did not see the men turned to the right on reaching Rattray street, but was sure they did not turn to the left, or he would have seen them. The hat that Ramsay was wearing was a soft greyish hat. It was not a Panama or a cap. To Cairns: When he said in the lower court that the second time he saw the cart it was between 2 and 2.45 p.m he made a mistake. He took more notice o f ■’ ii-oT, n r fiv o ; r clothes. The Court here adjourned for lunch. Ida: “Why are you pouting, dear?” learn to love me.” Ida: “ I don’t see anything awful in that.” May: “But the idea of Ins having to leam.” "Large fortunes have been realised by lucky inventors. See handbook oo patents, free from Baldwin and Ravward, Jotl’a Building* Crawford street—CAdvkJl * *