RAMSAY AND CAIRNS UPON THEIR TRIAL.

Evening Star, Issue 11897, 27 May 1903, Page 4

RAMSAY AND CAIRNS UPON THEIR TRIAL.

The trial of Thomas Ramsay and John Cairns on a charge of assaulting and robbing Thomas Reid on the 16th February was proceeding when we went to press yesterday. Mrs Adelina V. Irvine, further examined bv the Crown Prosecutor (Mr Fraser), said that she was taken to the Pplice Court by one of the detectives. When she saw Ramsay in the dock there she had no difficulty in recognising him, and at the Police Station she had no difficulty in recognising either of them.

Mr Fraser: Have you any doubt about these being the men?— Witness: To the best of my belief they arc the men I saw in Richardson street. Have you any doubt at all on the matter?~l would not swear positively. Mrs Clark said that she saw two men in Richardson street on the morning of the 16th February. She did not look at them closely, and she would not be sure about recognising them again. When she saw the two men in the Police Court she thought they were like the men she saw loitering in the street. The men at present in the dock looked like the men she saw in the street.

Ramsay: Would you swear we are the two men you saw in Richardson street?— Witness: No, I would not swear that. At the Police Station, when you were waiting in th* passage, and before you had identified me, did you see me come through the passage in company with a detective?— Yes.

And previous to that you had seen me in the Police Court?—Yes.

Elizabeth Cranfleld, living in Richardson street, said that on the 16th February last she saw two men outside Sargood's Factory. Ramsay was like one of the men.

Mrs Jane Carter, residing at the corner of Tewsley and Richardson streets, said that on the 16th February last she was in her washhouse. About a quarter to twelve a cart passed, the accused Ramsay driving. About half-past two she again saw the man in Richardson street. She was not iu the .least doubt Witness saw Ramsay in the Police Court before she identified him in the police yard. She had no difficulty in picking him out in the court. To Ramsay: She took notice of the man's face, but not of his hat. She saw only the left side of his face.

Agnea Gooseman, residing in Howard street, said that on the afternoon of February 16 she was sitting at her window, and saw a horse in a two-wheeled trap galloping along. Two men were in the trap. She saw the driver better than the other. In the gaol yard she afterwards identified the one she thought was the, driver; she referred to Ramsay. To Ramsay : She would not swear that Ramsay was the man driving the cart. At 5.5 p.m. the Court adjourned. Resuming at 10.30 this morning, Chiefdetective Campbell gave evidence that the cart then in front of the court in Stuart street was the cart that had been in the possession of the police and identified by various witnesses.

The jury and the accused were then taken bo ono of the rooms overlooking Stuart street in order to see the cart.

Fredk. Silvius, porter at the hospital, gave evidence as to the death of Dr 6. P. Brown, thus preparing the way for the reading of Dr Brown's evidence as given in the Police Court with reference to Reid's injury. •

Alfred Barnes, recalled, said that he identified two hoires shown to him at the Police Station as the two Horses he saw on the 16th February tied to the cart. [The Crown Prosecutor explained that the second horse was found on tho Town Belt.]

. David Crichton, express-driver in Crust and Crust's employ, said that he was in Riihardson street about 3 p.m. on the 16th February. Ho left Sargood's Factory between 3 p.m. and 3.15. He did not know the time exactly. He met a, man on the footpath about the middle of the iron fence. The man was coming towards witness. The man's face was black. He was carrying a sack with something about 3ft long rolled up in it. Witness took him to be a fireman who had been working. Witness spoke, but the man simply turned and smiled. At the same time witness saw a horse and cart coming towards the factory. * It was a two-wheeled trap, with a dark horse, going at a jog trot. It was ten or twelve yuids further back than the man on the footpath. There was one man in the cart. Witness could not tee his fuco. He had a slouch hat drawn down, and was wearing a macintosh. Just after passing the cart witness looked back, and saw the man in the cart wheel his horse to the left, whereupon the man on the footpath left the footpath, picked up something out of a clump of docks—something that looked red, and about fourteen inches long and about four or five inches deep—and threw it into the back of the cart, then jumped into (he cart, took the reins, and drove away as hard as the horse could go along Richardson street and into Thomas Burns street. Witness lost sight of the trap at the corner. He subsequently identified the horse and cart shown him by the police. The man he saw on the footpath resembled Cairns, but his face was black and witness could not recognise him He knew Cairns before that day. The tilt of witness's express projected. The Crown Prosecutor remarked that this would prevent witness having a fuU beenY-n Reid m^t have tha^hT^T ine f d n b - V - Ram f y ' said teat he had a full view of the man whom no t S f, 1 ,l 1 [;- e^ bled CaiTnS - The man dS not turn his face away from witness. It was not after a quarter-past three that he saw the cart but he was not carrying a watch, nor did he look at a clocic, and II!?t" ot -£i V \ the l im6 l ° minutes He took ;t to bo a black slouch hat that the man in the cart was wearing. To Cairns: Witness could not say that he ever before seen another man who resembled Cairns. Witness did not recog mind he thought Cairns was the man. He did not say so, because ho was not certain. Ha could not identify Cairns as the ma ,?r i saw in Ri « h ardson street. Walter Staples said that on the 16th February he was working on the reclaimed ground. About 3 p.m.-he could not speak exactly as to the time-he saw two men in a cart drive fast round Howard street into Tewsley street and turn into Rattray street. Witness thought the men were drank, and he called out to them. Just before they got to Rattray street one man disappeared from the seat, either under the seat or down in the eort, and the cart cLd uot stop. The man who was not drivmg had a lightish hat on, and a macintosh over one thoulder. The man who \ S as driving seemed to have a dark coat on, and his face was smeared with some blacK stuff. To the best of witness's nbihty Ramsay and Cairns were very like the men he saw in the oart, but he would not swear to them. He had identified the horse and cart. To Ramsay: When witness saw Ramsay in the Police Court he was standing in the dock, and not amongst ojher persons. He was told before ho gave 1« evidence that the man in the dock jwis one of the men arrested for the crime Cairns was the accused who resembled the man that was driving and Ramsay resembled the man who disappeared Mrs-M-ry Williams depored-that between- 2.30 and 4 p.m. on the 16th February 3 cart with two men in it drove very fast past htr house in Howard street. The roan driving was very like Ramsay— she She .identified the

horse and cart. To. Bamsay: She saw RaflTsny at the police station before she identified him. Qther ladies who were witnesses were with witness at the time. Ogier Densem said that whilst standing near the Rattray street signal box at about 3.15 p.m. on the 16th February he saw a horse and cart come tip Rattray street, into Cumberland street, and round into Water street. He saw only one man in the cart. Could not -see right into the earl. The man's face was blackened. Ramsay resembled the man in build and shape of face and head, and he had the same clothes when witness saw him in the barracks as when in the cart. Witness would not swear to Ramsay, because the man had a black face. To Ramsay: The suit the man was wearing was not the one that Ramsay was now wearing. Could not say whether the man had a beard. He was wearing a cap. Thomas Porter, carter, employed by Holfate and Aitcheson, said that he was in ogel street, going south, on the afternoon of 16th February, when a cart passed him Just by Wright, Stephenson's. He had identified the horse and cart. He saw one man in the cart. It was being driven furious-ly. The man jumped out when about 100 yards past witness. The hors£ and cart remained there. He did not get a good look at the man. Ramsay looked more like that man than anyone else witness had seen, but he could not identify him. He reckoned that he passed the man about 3 p.m. To Ramsay: He was sure that the cart the police had and the cart he saw abandoned were one and the same. The time would not be later than 3.5 p.m. when the cart raced past witness. When witness went to the prison yard to pick out the man he saw in tho cart ho said the man was not there. That was so; the man he saw in the cart was not in the yard. Ramsuy : That'll do me. Wm. Galvin deposed that between 2 and 2.15 p.m. on 16th February he saw a horse and cart, two men in the cart, coming from Stuart street and passing him on the reclaimed land. It went out of sight in Tewsley street. Cairns was driving. Witness did not notice the other man. He had since identified the horse and cart He saw more than the half of the driver's face, but not the whole face.

Frank Foster gave evidence as to finding and succoring Reid. He saw no one in Richardson street_ as he went down it. Ihere was an express backed in at Sargood's Factory. He heard three o'clock strike as he crossed the railway line. He then had To go to Tewsley street, and he reckoned it took him about ten minutes to go there, do his business, and reach the spot where he found Mr Reid. Henry Wm. Hood, bootmaker, said that be picked up the piece of iron produced on the 16th February near the spot where Reid was assaulted. Chief-detective Campbell waff under cross-examination at 3.30, and the next witness was to be Acting-detective Hill