Resident Magistrate's Court, Foxton.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 281, 10 September 1889, Page 3

Resident Magistrate's Court, Foxton.

■ ■. + WEIWESpAYj SEPTXOTXR 4, (Before H. Brabant Esq. B. M.) '■■•■•:■■ CWMINAL. Frederick .Harding was charged that on or abpufcthe Ist June, at Fotton, he did' feloniously steal one tent of the value of, 39a, the property of Bernard Bpejman;i Mf JKfthews aj>pwred for. th« aioou^Bd. , Sereeant Manning applied to have the valriir&r^ht stolen amended to 48^. J. WT iSowar, being sworn, s*j4 . in' May last hie i .required a tent, ,«nd ordered one

from Knight in Wellington. Uaed to em ploy Spelmftn fov carting, instructed hin when tent arrived to bring it upi &pelmHi has' since paid for 'he tout* R. G. Knight deposed that in May las he" nlade ft lent for Mr Gower, 8 by 12 witl A feet walls, and shipped it by the Napiei to him. Identified the tent produced, iti value was £2 8s in Wellington: Tin height of the wall is ver* uriiMiiUi .By Jto MatiihteWflr^'-aot- subpoena lasl ThWiaVi .Until then had not received anj notice of this charge. ' By the Sergeart — My brand is on the tent. Bernard Spelman, being sworn, said he was a. general carrier residing in I'oxton. About the latter end of May Mr Gower instructed me to take a tent to his house when it arrived by steamer. He paid freight and wharfage on the 29th or 80th May on a package addressed to Mr Gower. It appeared to be a tent. He left it in the goods shed ; two or three days afterwards went to remove it, but could not find it. Complained to the police and to the railway authorities. He subsequently paid Mr Gower for the tent. By Mr Matthews— Would Hot SWear parcel contained tent j th" d information was laid a month ago ; was not subpoened to appear except four or five days days ago, about 30th August; he was not aware that the case when first called- on was remanded to Foxton for hearing last Thursday; ho took the parcel to Government shed and left it" there; goods sometimes do go astray. • ■ By the Sergeant — It is. not unusual- for carters to .take goods by mistake, and if they are honest they l'et.tlm them; the parcel was addressed. ' ' F. H. Young, bein* swOrn, stated that he vras the agent of the s.s. Napier at Foxton ; produced the freight list showing a package being sent by Knight to Gower ; Spelman's brother paid freight on it; . By Mr Matthews— Know nothing about the contents. ' '••■ ■ : By the Sergeant — Parcels when sent astray, come back again. Alex Buehan, being sworn, said he was porter at the railway ; on 30th May received a parcel addressed to Gower that came by Napier ; on Spelman producing order he told him where to find the parcel ; he saw j the parcel the night after Spelman signed for it, in the goods shed, lying on two bales of flax ; complained of missing it; he knew the accused as carter at Campbell and Colley's mill during May and June. The .accused was at the goods shed on the 31st May, he signed- for the goods he took; hetold accused that the tent was missing, about a week after its receipt ; the accused stated he knew nothing about it or had ever seen it. ' By Mr Matthews — The business is not loosely managed in delivering goods; he was always.about; persons have gone to the shed and helped themselves; he left people to take the goods after he had pointed out where they were ; he had to do the shunting ; at times there is a crush of carts at the wharf. When asking accused if he had seen parcel, he also asked him if he had seen some flour and nails also missing ; the accused replied that he had brought back flour, and he had not seen either nails or tent; he was positive he had mentioned the tent; it is not a faot.that {he goods shed is deserted nearly all day ;< the Stationmaster showed him a letter from the manager of Campbell and Colley's mill, stating that a tent had been ftrtrad?' which he believed had be.en stolen, and eouuiiingif one, had been missed ;.thJß ad/f^eßs*oTpaTOej ? was / in ink. By the .Sergeant-r-The flour that was missed from the shed was away a week or .ten dajfi.jyjirW- ™«- r; . > •. .••:"(" ri J*i^i3Qi»B bwog nyora . aatd that he was a laßourer employed «t Camp— bell & Colley's tifli^' mill. He Jsnew accused, he was a driver for the firm at the latter end of May laafo He saw a tent in the oookhouse at the mill, it wan rolled up in a parcel. He did not know what the parcel contained, it was wrapped in paper. The accused was away carting on the day lie tirst saw the parcel, carting fibre into Foxton. He next saw the tent in the house were all were sleeping. The parcel he saw in the cook house he next saw in the sleeping hon.se, the parcel then contained a tent. He believed he cut the string, the engine driver, and the accused were with me. Nothing was said to whom tent belonged, the accused said he had been doing something about his horses or dray, he would not be sure which and the porter or some person who was there said does this belong to yon, and accused said throw it into dray. He did. not see an address on the parcel when he cut the string. The tent was laying on the floor for a day or so on some bags of horee feed. Afterwards saw it in -the bunk accused slept in. The accused was lying on it. When he left did not know what became of it. Had heard no enquiries about a tent being stolen, nor of any flour having been brought there. By Mr Matthews — The accused used to take the horses out of the dray and others at the mill unloaded the dray. Anyone could see what, was in the cook house. There were 4 men sleeping in the hut. He brought the parcel from cook house to Bleeping house at the request of the accused. AH hands wero about. He remembered receiving a letter from accused in which he asked him to Rend his things from the mill. When accused left the mill the tent waa left in the hunk. By the Sergeant — He did not see the dray unloaded on this particular night. Received letter about a fortnight after accused left. B. Spelman recalled stated he had noi given accused or any other person authority to deal with^his tent in any way. John Jones being sworn stated he was manager for Campbell and Colley. Knev the accused, he . was our horse driver. (The evidence waa chiefly corroborative o: McSweeny's evidence.) His attention , was directed to the tent in the second week ii June, it was in the sleeping hut. Witnesi told acoused that he had better take th< tent back to the goods shed as he knew i did not belong to the firm. He promise) he would. He had no further conversa tion with accused on the subject. ■ He re ported the matter to the railway people He sent the tent to the railway by Georg Colton, driver employed by the firm. H . had sent flour back previously. If ther had been too much flour the firm woul have been the gainer. With the knowledg that he had he thought others would t the gainer. The cook said that accuse had proposed to Bend one home and tl other could be kept. Acoused had neve broached the subject. By Mr Matthews — The witness was manager but had a share in the profit Flour was stored part in sleeping hous part in cook house and rest in fibre she The accused never made any objection return the flour. He did not rememb accused having ever explained how he h came possessed of the tent. George Coulton being sworn said he wi a carter employed at Campbell & Collet , niill. He went therein March and 1< there in June. He knew nothing about • tent being taken |from the goods sh< Had not wade other statements relati to being at the station when the tent w ' stolen. Mr Jones instructed him to'ta i a tent to the t»ilw«y action, within a m

.* of Foxton, met Constable Tapp who tool a jposstesdion" of it." Heliad put a mark on it a . CL A. Tapp being -sworn said he remembered 13th Aug. last. Met Coulton and re, t ceived tent from him. i The R. M. said that it did not think ii I- was a . case to be dealt with Btfrnmartty, » the evictedee was titii Very strong and he a ibei'efdi'e thought it better to hear the other aide before committing, t Michael Purcell being sworn said he was r a labourer at the mill He remembered be. ing in Foxton with accused one day. There , were on th« dray going out, aoeused, witness, Con O'Leary, and Fred Hehiv. There , were several parcels on the dray. Mr Matthews addvesaed the Bench for ' the accused. | The R.M. said that the evidence has not conclusively proved the guilt of the accused j it, however, was not necessary that the Magistrate should be convinced of his guilt, but it was better to send to trial. The R.M. stated that the accused would be committed to take his trial at the District Court at Palmerston N. Bail was. allowed, the accused in i'Bo, and two sureeies £15 each. [For continuation of Court see fourth page]

'"Kate Musgrove was oharged that she did feloniously steal, take and carry away from the drapery store of Edmund Osborne in the Main Street, Foxton, 2 paper "boxes containing 6 automatic pencils of the value of, 3s 9d. Mr liankins appeared for the accused. The accused pleaded not guilty. Horenco Austin being sworn said that on the 15th August I was employed in my usual work at the shop. The. accused was in the shop on the drapers side, I am generally employed there and was this particular d^y, It was after five in the afternoon. I was in possession of the automatic pencils, they were kept in card board boxes. I had three boxes and each box contained three pencils. They were on the counter on the drapers side. I. saw them on Thursday after five for the last time. The accused was in the shop when I last saw these pencils. I gaw the boxes on the counter when the accused first came into the shop, on the counter lying beside the other things that were there. They could be reached very easily by anyone on the publio side of the counter. The accused was purchasing- some drapery, then left the shop, and I missed the pencils. It was at once. I mentioned it to Mr Osborne. I know the box byS the mark, a private mark. Osborne marks them. I have not sold a box containing 3 j>enoilß, they are generally sold singlyby Mr Hankins— The drapery is on the right hand side. I serve generaly in the shop. The pencils wore lying with envelopes and books They we c about the centre of the shop. Mrs » Han was in the shop the same time as accused. I knew well what was going on at the time. The toxes produced are alike, but one is not ours as it has not the private mark. By the Sergeant — The two boxes have not both our mark. One box is marked Is 3d the other box is marked Is and has the letter E on. Mrs Allan was at the door but the pencils were not missed. Edmund Osborne being sworn said on the loth August I owned $ boxes of automatio pencils. They were left on the counter on the right hand side going in. Miss A ustin was in charge. My busines s mark was put on these goods by myself. Thebox produced is marked c and underneath Is. The other box never came from my shop. It is not in my writing. The 6 pencils are worth 3s 6d. The pencils are sold singly. Miss Austin had told me something. I went to all the stores to see if any sold these pencils. I went to husband of accused house. In hearing of accused I told the husband that these pencils had been Btolen. She said that she had bought them from a man in the street and I told him that if she asserted so I would have to put the case in the hands of the police as I believed she had stolen them. At Mugrove's 4 pencils were handed to me, 8 were in a box and 1 was loose. I never authorised any one to take them from the shop. I gave the pencils to the constable. By Mr Hankins -I asked Musgrove if he had pencils like the one produced, lie handed them over at once to me. Foxton today is not the same as it used to be. There have been many thefts. Or. A. Tapp being sworn stated that on the 16th August he received 4 pencils from Mr Osborne. By Mr Hankins — Bemeniber no message asking £.ie to call round at once to the house of accused. Mrs Tapp being sworn sai 1 she did not know a child called Florenoe Lemesurier. She never came to the house. By the Sergeant — Mrs Musgrove by herself or by anyone has never sent for the constable since 16th August. The child has never asked for the constable to go round to Musgroves. Mr Hankins addressed the court. K. Musgrove stated on 15th Aug. she went to Osborne.s at a quarter to 5 and met a man who asked her to buy the pencils. Bought the pencils out of charity. Alfred Musgrove was sworn but before he gave evidence the police objected. Mr Hankins requested the R.M. to record his desire to call the husband under sec. 80 J.P. Act. Florence Lemesurier merely made a statement not appearing to understand the nature cf an oath to the effect that the accused was sent to the Constable and to d him that accused wanted to see him and he said all right I wi 1 be there In a minute. By the Sergeant^- Was not sure what time it was. Cf. A. Tapp, recalled swore whal the child said was not true nnd ,oi: the date stated lie was nway at Paiaka. The E. Itf. said he thought tin pencils produced woietho^e stolur from Osborne's shop, and werj o'«. tamed from the house of the accuse ! and when Mr Osborno went th< pencils were returned and there was no concealment and the case beiiij, purely circumstantial he gave th< accused the benefit of the doubt, an< dismissed the case.