THE CATTLE AND HORSESTEALING CHARGES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XX, Issue 2435, 25 May 1893, Page 3

THE CATTLE AND HORSESTEALING CHARGES.

«. These oases camfl before the court this mornJnß. 0. C. Kettle, EBq., 8.M., was on the bench. „ /.[The first charge taken was tbat against -, Morflo and John McLean and Albert Toanf;< who were charged with haviDg on 80ih April itolen foflr horses, the property of Thomaß Laogdon Joll, of Okaiawa. Mr Barton appeared for the proseontion ; •Mr Fhsherbert, of Palmers ton, appeared foe tbt MaLeans, and Mr Welsh ior Yoonjf. 7. ' As Gibion, who was present, wonld not be required, it was arranged tbat be fboald be removed from the coort. Mr OapleD, who appeared for the accused, applied for baiU and said tbat he ■ wai prepared with substantial bail. Mr Barton said that he was instructed to strongly oppose the application. Alter some conversation it wasarrarjgfld to let the matter of bail stand over until tbe afternoon, when it would be seen how far the ease against the other defendants ' had proceeded. ' Mr Barton, in opening the case, said that on Sunday, April 30, four or five horses belonging to Mr Joll were , running on the road japar Okaiawa ; next - \ day Mr Joll missed them, and the horses •' were found air Marton, in tbe . .potsassion of gentlemen who had bought thent at ari auction Bale held by Mr Tenhent, an auctioneer at Marton. Mr Tennent would state tbat theße horses were delivered at his sale<yards on May sth, and that on tbe previous a*y. Mardooh" McLean bad called upon him and entered theße horseß for sale, together with 16 horses, handing in a jetter purporting to be signed by a man named Hunter, authorising the sale of the horses- As to bow the hordes reached Marton, evidence would be called to show that on Saturday, April 39, the prisoner McLean, who lived at tbe Martoa end of the district, bad (topped at tbe Wbennakura Hotel, and pn the Sunday, evening they had tea at •n hotel in Hawera. On the Monday morning, the day. after the horses were missed, the three prisoners appeared jgaiaat the Whenuakura Hotel. Near Wbennakura there was a by-road which enabled anyone driving horses cr cattle in the direction. of Wenganui to get down in that direction without passing through the township of Waverley, and ! |he prisoners were seen heading tbe borties down this by-road. The three , olthera bad breakfast at the Whenuakor*;Hqtel. ond it was noticed by eaveral ■ witnesses that i their horses wore exhausted, a fact Which formed tho subject jn£^c<AiVer*ation between them, extracts of wbioh would be forthcoming in evi(foinoe. The prisoners were next seen qn £he '"other aide of Waverley by two jtorconf' A witneeß, Crocker, saw a ■ limber of horses (some of which be i Weritified as Mr Joll a') and two men, one ■ qt whom he recognised as Murdoch Me- - < liin. A witnws, Johnston, saw three men »t the saofe plaoe in charge of a number horses, one bf wbioh he recognised. rsh&r sh& Hezt point 'fttj Wbioh the piisoners were lean wa« *t Mosstown, near Wanpaqui. . >*wtoreV in v the>addoek of a man n&mfd «be horses were put up ior a $&', *y tbtwiooers; a. delay in tbe joowst ' beiag oiosed by the borses brewing stifc *V »nd making foi bomb again. Shortly aftpr v ' '^naidoight pn the morning of May 4th, am . . botelkecffir tt Marton named Hunt wps ■ ' rouied from his bed by the three prisoners, wbo wked for"hnd"were given accommodation for the bißht. The next day Jaetk MeLe»n ud YoQDg left MartonfMurdodh . JfdUta remaining the^,, : Jt would be ./•- #ottwd tbat all throaw^^jour^ey tho bosses appeared to bavjß Wea. driven jat ■ 9fjtf*s. e «ly morning* and wherever • 'Jiffe'i^^--^ DBen fl flea on 'the roatdi v^i^SiWm^OftioQcpißriJnV there.'We^. tbtaa ■Ji.^^P|?'j'^>»P*jry and nomoroiwbeWr

they were in poF?e;siou of the hones. Evidence would bs given by Sergeant Sfcagpoole as to certain conversations he bad bad with Manlo McLean, and certain statements made by the prisoner Young, to which, he understood, objection would be taken, would also be tendered in evidence. "'The prosecution submitted the fact that the three persons bad been seec in possession of receotly stolen horses, and the -burden would be thrown npo& the aocused of proving how they came by the horses. The -whole of the evidence showed a furtive dealing with the horses, driving them by by-roads and at night, with 'the object apparently of conoealiog them from public view. Mr Joll would state that the prisoners, and in fact co one bad any authority whatever to deal with bis horses. Evidence would also be tendered as to the identity of tbe remainder of tbe horses in tbe mob. Thomas Langdon Joll, storekeeper, Okaiawa, was called, and .^tate-l that be bad 'certain horses running at Okaißwa near where he lived ; they were there on 30 tb April (he^etescribed tbe brands and marks) ; he vaiSefl ;the fonr at £65— two at £20 eaoh, and t\vo at £12 10s each; Saw them on evening of 30th April on tbe road, where they were in tbe habit of grazing without straying; next morning wbep ho looked for them they were gone, and be and his brothers scoured tbe . country for them ; saw the horses on the following Sunday and Monday (7th and Bth) at Marton in tbe possession of different persons; one was in possession Of Newman, one in that of Goleman, and two in that of Gower ; recovered possession and brought the horses up by train ; had never authored ..Hunter or anyone else to drive the horses away or sell them ; horses had been on roads as many as 50 times during tbe last year and had never strayed ; bad never seen the man Hunter, and knew nothing of him, except that when in Marton after his horses he bad seen the name in tbe paper. Charles Hillier, hotelkeeper at Wher. uakura : Knew the two MoLeans and had seen Young ; saw accused at his hotel about 80th April ; it was last Saturday evening in April, between eight and nine o'clock; they stayed the night and left between 9 and 10 next morning ; on Monday, Ist May, between 7 and 8 a.m., he saw them again, Young being with them ; they wer» driving horses towards Waverley from Patea on tbe Main road ; they drove them dowo a by-road; conld not identify any of thn horses, except one which Murdoch McLean had ridden on tbe Saturday evening, and which appeared very much distressed on the Monday. Harry Bollett, carpenter, Wbenuakura, gave corrobarative evidence as to McLean staying at the Whenuakura Hotel on the Saturday night, and returning again on the Monday morning, accompanied by Young, with a mob of horses from tbe direction of Fatea. .The horses appeared distressed, as if they had been driven very fast. In conversation, one of tbe Mo* Lean's said they bad only been as far as Eabaramea, and they were helping Young to drive the horses to Tnrakina. Thomas Pawson, station manager* for Beard and Sons : Saw tbe two McLean's at tea in Kelly's Egmont Hotel on Snnday evening, April 30th. Murdoch McLean said he bad come from Muri* mutn, and John 'from Stratford way, and they were going up tbe coast to see their uncle. Knew the McLeans for ten years, and considered them respectable, bard-working young fellows. James Crocker, farmer, Keteonetea : Had seen Murdoch McLean and two other men, whom he did not recognise, on Monday, May Ist, on the back toad behind Waverley. Murdoch and another man were asleep in tbe flax, and tbe third man, whom he believed to be John McLean, was on horseback a few chains off. There were from 16 to 20 horses on the road, two of which be recognised as belonging to Mr Joll. Had seen the McLeans on tbe previous Saturday evening at Whenuakura, when {Murdoch McLean said they were on their way up tbe coaßt. By Mr Welsh : Did not know men named John Hunter, John Syleski or Silverton. Had beard of tbe names Hunter and Syleski since tbe present) charges had been preferred— never before; bad never beard of Silverton. Did not remember seeing a stout man, with reddish hair and florid complexion, or a tall, dark man, with foreign ; appearance, in or about Wbenuakura or Waverley on tbe Saturday, Sunday or Monday. J L Left Bitting.!