Wednesday, April 28.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 71, 30 April 1880, Page 2

Wednesday, April 28.

The Court opened at 10 a.m. SENTENCE. } Mark Toole, convicted the previous I day of larceny, was sentenced to 18 ! months' imprisonment, with hard labour. FORGERY. Herman Eockel was charged with forging and uttering a cheque for £58 on the 27th Februaiy, 1880, signed Arthur Amon. Prisoner pleaded not guilty. Mr Cash, of Marton, appeared for the defence. The Crown Prosecutor briefly j opened the case. , Jas. Gordon Hogg, agent of the Bank of N. 3. Wales at Bulls, de-

posed— On the 27th of Februaiy, I received this letter ; it contained a cheque signed Arthur Anion, and endorsed H. Howell ; Mr Anion keeps an account at our Bank ; I know no one named H. Howell ; there is a man named Isaac Howell living on the road between Bulls and Turakina; he does not bank with me ; I replied to the letter next day saving I cou'd not send the money until I saw Mr Anion ; I know Arthur Anion's signature ; this signature would not deceive any one who knows Amon's signature ; I did not notice carefully j the signature on Friday, but when I went to pass the account next day, I noticed the signature was forged ; I saw Amon on the Sunday, and told him of the cheque; Eockel banked with us ; he has a small account there still; I have received letters from Eockel, and know his handwriting ; the cheques produced are all signed by Eockel, and were passed through the Bank ; the cheque alleged to be forged would come out of a book similar to this ; these other two cheques (purporting to be signed by A. Amon and Fraser) are also out of a similar book ; one point of resemblance between the forged cheque and those -written by the prisoner is, that the letter " s " is omitted after " pound " ; the endorsement on the forged cheque is like Eockel's writing ; witness proceeded to trace certain points of resemblance in the writing of Eockel, to that in the forged cheques and letters ; the cheque was not paid ; if the cheque had been genuine, I would have forwarded the amount by draft. By Mr Cash— Cheque books in fifties similar to this have not been sent out since 18 months ago ; the date of the last cheque issued out of this book and entered in the butt, and paid is April, 1878 ; there are six blank butts at the end, but one of them has some hieroglyphics on, whioh no one but the writer could understand ; I was convinced the signature to the cheque was not genuine when I looked at it carefully ; the forged cheque was in my possession from the Friday till Sunday afternoon. Wm. Scott Rodger, Postmaster at Foxton deposed — This letter, addressed H. Howell, was received at Foxton on the 28th February, in the afternoon or evening ; it would be ported at Bulls the same day ; the envelope marked B appears to have been posted before 3.45 p.m. on the 27th of February; the letter addressed to H. Howell was called for by Rockel on the 2nd of March, about 1.30 p-m. ; he presented himself at the delivery window in the usual way, and said, " Howell ; " I asked him, " What initial P " he said " H." ; he took tho letter, which was closed ; he remained at the office for a couple of minutes, and then crossed the street ; he did not bring back the letter ; I communicated with Constable Draper; I do not know any one named H. Howell, nor have I seen letters addressed to any one of that name. By Mr Cash — The first letter must have been posted on the 27th; the boxes are cleared every hour; two minutes after I handed prisouer the letter, he was reading -4 one ; I had never seen prisoner before he called at the Post Office. G. W. Bussell, journalist, deposed to having seen prisoner at Foxtou on Friday, 27th February ; knew most of the settlers, but no one named Howell. Constable Draper deposed — On the 2nd of March I saw prisoner at Foxton ; I said, " Is your name Howell P " He said, " No " I said " But you have a letter for a man named Howell " ;he said, " I met a man at Carnarvon and he asked me to call for a letter for Howell"; I then ar* rested him on suspicion, saying " You have to come with me ; I arrest you on suspicion of forging a cheque for £53." He said, " All right." I took him to the police station, and searohed him in presence of Constable M'Anulty; I found two cheques upon him, and a letter in an envelope, also a pocketbook (produced) ; the two writings, " H. Howell," " H. Howell," were in the pocketbook whsn I found it ; there were some silver, papers, &c, in his pockets ; I locked up the pooketbook until the following morning ; I have made diligent enquiries and could find only one Howell at Horokiwi Valley, near Pahautanui. By Mr Cash — I am not sure whether the timo I arrested prisoner was half -past one, or half -past 4 o'clock. Francis M'Anulty, a eonstabie stationed at Foxton, deposed — Constable Draper brought Rockel to the. lock-up about halfpast one on the 2nd March ; he was searched in my presence ; the articles produoed were found upon him ; the following day I went to his house and searched amongst hia papers; I found the block of a chequebook, and some envelopes ; I produced them in the R.M. Court ; I have been in the Police Force 14 years, during which time I have been stationed at Bulls and Foxton ; I know most of the settlers, but no one of the name of Howell. By Mr Cash — I made a selection from the papers I found in Mr Rockel's house; I only brought the envelopes and papers which appeared desirable; the envelopes were plain, and may be ordinarily used. Thos. Fraser, a farmer residing at Carnarvon, deposed— rl see this cheque, but neither body nor signature were written by mo ; it is drawn on the Bank of New South Wales at Bulls, and dated December, 1879 ; this cheque is in favor of Hopkins, the name of a mon who was employed by me about a year ago ; I have lived at Carnarvon about 7 years, but know no one named Howell; I do not recollect any dealings with Rockel through the Bank ; he has sometimes paid money for me into the Bank ; he lives about 14 miles from Foxton, and haa been tbere about six years. By Mr Cash — I should havo had no hesitation in trusting Rockel ; the signature to this cheque is similar to mine ; my custom is to have the body of the cheque written out for me, and to sign the cheque after* wards ; I keep an account of my banking transactions ; my wife fills in most of my cheques, but when I am away from home the person to whom I am paying money generally fills up the body ; one reason I know this signature is not mine is because the lettora are not joined; I have never Bigned a cheque before the body was filled in. By the Crown Prosecutor— l had no occasion to pay Hopkins any money in December, 1879. Arthur Amon, a settler at' Carnarvon, de- "^ posed — I see two cheques, professing to be signed by me ; I have not signed them. By Mr Cash— There have been oae or two oases in whioh I could not tell whether 1 had or had not signed cheques ; when I am away from home, and wish to pay money, I borrow oheque forms ; I have had no dealings with Rockel, but he onoe saw me sign my name to a cheque; I do not know prisoner's handwriting. By the Crown Prosecutor— On the 26th December, the day the cheque for M wa§

'wiith.ii, T wiih at home, I livo about two miles from ini*oiie»'; in tho district sradl -tlnqursof cct'lH'H often pass ».« money, so my ehiquoH uuiy h«vo <. r one through Rookel's lini>d>. ' I J. C- Hujrjr, re-ciillrd— The signature of Tho.*. Fi-j.hpv to this cheque is a yood imi "tat i< in of Mr Vraser's sijinaluio ; I believe tho hiuidwi itin- of tliese two forsred chcqn.-s is thut of irisonvr; tin* handwriting "II Stowr-ll" iv |.]|-s po'-li'f't b<»ok is, 1 ii.-li"vc, f 'otik« l's j nt ihi? Jl:iiik*, tie "i]y .\nio:i who li >s tin account i- Arthur Ann -u. I wou'd Jjo* pny a cinque signed " A. An on." Gilbert Xi j.', iniiii.vrr of ihe Hunk nt Uew Suiuh Wales, Wauganui. and Edwd. B. Nation, manager of the National Bank, Wanganui, gave evidence as experts as to the similarity of Eockel's handwriting to that on tbe forged documents. Jas. Stevens, Postmaster at Bulls, gave evidence to the effect tbat tbe letter passed through the Bulls Post office on the 27th i_ ebruary ; knew the handwriting of Rockel, but oould not identify as his that on tbe forged cheque. This conoluded the case for the prosecution. Mr Cash said he did not intend to oail any witnesses for the defence. The Crown Prosecutor briefly addressed the jury, and was followed by Mc Cash. His Honor having briefly summed up, The jury retired for nearly an hour, when thej returned to Court with a verdict of guilty of uttering with intent to defraud, knowing the cheque to be forged. Prisoner was removed, and was ordered to be brought «p at 10 o'clock yesterday - morning for sentence. , Yesterday morning, at 10 o'clock, Her- ' man Kockel was brought up for sentence, j and ordered to undergo 18 months' irapri- ' sonment in Wanganui Gaol, with hard ( labor. - j