CHARGE OF FORGERY

Grey River Argus, 12 June 1915, Page 8

CHARGE OF FORGERY

DOCUMENT DISAPPEARS

[PER PRESS ASSOCIATION — COPYRIGHT.] HAMILTON, June 11.

A ease disclosing extraordinary circumstances was heard before Mr Justice Cooper and a common jury at the Hamilton Supreme Court, in which a middleaged man named John Johnson, of Kawhia, was' charged with forgery and uttering. According to the evidence for the prosecution, the prisoner on leaving the employ of a man received a cheque for £5 ss. This, on presentation at the bank by a person resembling the prisoner, was altered to £15 15s. During the proceedings in the lower court the presiding justices called the clerk (who was the local constable) into their private room. The accused and another man who had been taking the depositions wer,e left in the court along with the document relating to the prosecution. During this time the forged cheque formin, g the basis of the charge disappeared, and it is assumed that it was swallowed by the prisoner, as no trace could be found of it. The jury disagreed and a new trial has been ordered.