Paid 5/ -, Got £8 Suit, And Disappeared
In the rush of Christmas-week trade, an Auckland tailor inadvertently gave the wrong suit to one of his customers. As the suit was considerably better than the one the customer had sent in to be cleaned, he paid his 5/- cleaning and pressing fee, and took away a first-class £8 suit.
Five minutes later the tailor found out his mistake and immediately notified the police. In the meantime, Ronald . James Rackley, labourer and fitter, of no fixed abode, had disappeared with the suit and could not be located. ,;He was ultimately found at Waipu, working under the name of Don Campbell. ■ Two Months’ Gaol. When interviewed by the police, Rackley (alias Ronald Matthew Rackley) admitted the theft. “I had no suit for Christmas, so I just took this one,” he told Mr G. N. Morris, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court this morning, when facing a charge of theft of the suit. According to Senior-Sergeant A. Henderson, accused was addicted to drink. He was separated from his wife, and was not paying her maintenance. The tailor, said the senior-sergeant, had stated, that Rackley appeared sober when he came for the suit. Accused had a previous list of convictions for dishonesty, two of these being at Dunedin, two at Auckland, and one at Tlmaru. He was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment with hard labour at Mt. Eden.
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Bibliographic details
Northern Advocate, 9 May 1939, Page 5
Word Count
232Paid 5/-, Got £8 Suit, And Disappeared Northern Advocate, 9 May 1939, Page 5
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