RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT. This Day.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 30, 9 April 1866, Page 3

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT. This Day.

[Before J. Po\ntkr. Esq.. tt. M.] DRUNKARDS. Jam ps Brown and Arthur Napier were fined 10s. pikl costs,' for drunkenness. A WKAKni'SS OF THE HEAD. James Croimn. alias Riii'y, alias Thomppan, pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing :t sheep value £2. the property of Tims. Tnsker, on the 20th .\ian;!i last. He aaxA he was in liquor or he should not have done it. He. was known to a great many persons who would »ive him a good charactei 1 . The prosfcu or s:iid he saw the prisoner, on the night in question, with :< sheep on his back, which lie knew to hclnnir to him. by the marks on the hind Icjrs. He told his son, who came up just, then, to go and overtake a cart that had gone forward. The cart •waß"-stopped, aud tho man in it hauded. the

sheep to the boy. He would not like to swear to the prisoner. Herman Fagan. said, the prisoner requested him take the sheep in his cart, just after passing Mr. Tasker's house. He did not know whose sheep it was. Prisoner was not sober at the time. Mr. Shallcrass Siiid, the prisoner had been employed be the Superintendent in making flour bags. P'ag.'in had been working at the same place. Since their discharge, the prisoner had been lodging with Fagan. Prisoner on being asked what he had to say in his defence, said: I was wrecked on the Emerald Isle, about twelve months ago, on that occasion I got a severe blow in the head which made it weak, and when I got a drop of drink, it always flies to my head. The Magistrate: Drunkenness is no excuse for your taking a man's sheep. The sentence is that, you be imprisoned in Nelson Gaol for four calendar months, with hard labor. ANOTHER WEAKNESS. The same prisoner was charged by Edward Dartnall, of Richmond, with stealing, on the night of the 20th March, a piece of oil-cloth, two boys' coats, and a pocket handkei chief, valued at £2 18s. He pleaded guilty. Mrs. Dnrtnall said on that evening the prisoner came into the shop, complained of his bill having been sent in, and asked to see some cloth cap?. He bought nothing, and appeared to be under the influence of liquor. She did not miss the goods till Mr. Fagan told her he had found them in his cart, and asked her if she had sold them to the prisoner. She identified them by the trade marks. Herman Fagan said he found the goods in his cart on the morning of the 21st March, and saw the prisoner put a bundle in his cart the previous evening, but did not take much notice of its contents. Prisoner had been lodging with him for six weeks or two months. Prisoner put the bundle in the cart about 200 yards after they passed the complainant's house. He put the goods in before the sheep. He was not sober at the time. Fie was not badly oft' at the time. He never knew him to bring home anything before. Prisoner: I should not have taken them, if I had not been drunk. Sentence : Two calendar months imprisonment, with hard labor, to commence after the expiration of the four months sentence previously given.