CHARGE OF ARSON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12269, 13 May 1903, Page 7

CHARGE OF ARSON.

THE NEWMARKET CASE.

ACQUITTAL OF ACCUSED. The trial of John Hamilton on the charge of arson, laid against him in connection with the recent Newmarket fire, was concluded at the Supreme Court yesterday before Mr. Justice Don oily and a jury of 12. Accused was charged with wilfully setting fire to a house in Morrow-street, Newmarket, the property of James Gannon, in which he was residing as tenant. The Hon. J. A. Tole, Crown Prosecutor, conducted the prosecution, and Mr. J. C. Martin appeared for the defence. The taking of evidence had been concluded on Monday.

Mr. Martin, in an address of considerable length, minutely reviewed the evidence, and contended that there was insufficient evidence to support the charge. Mr. Tole, in his reply, said that although it had been stated that accused alleged that the fire was caused ny the ignition of some fat in a pan, no evidence had been given in support of this statement. He also referred to the high value placed on the furniture by the accused (viz., £200), whilst the evidence available in regard to this matter showed that the furniture in the house could not. at the outside, have been worth more than £50. His Honor, in summing up, referred to the frequenoy of suspicious fires, and said there was great reason to believe that only too many of them were wilful. The jury must not, however, allow this fact _to _ weigh with them in considering their verdict in this case. The proseoution suggested that accused had two motives in setting fire to the house, viz., to prevent any other person getting the house and to recover the insurance money. It was, perhaps, rather fortunate for the accused that the principal witnesses in the case, especially in support of the allegea threat to prevent another person having the house, were two persons who were manifestly prejudiced against the accused, and who, believing, as they doubtless did, that the accused had set fire to his house, and was thus the means of destroying their own property, were smarting under a sense of supposed injury. As to the statement by Mrs. Keenan, that she had overhead a conversation between accused and his house keeper in reference to making £80 out of the furniture, it was ridiculous to suppose that if such a conversation took place it would have been within the hearing of a third party. His Honor, in referring to tho evidence of the insurance agents, said that of Mr. CabiO. who accepted the risk of £150 on the furniture, was most extraordinary. Cahill had said that he had the opportunity of making a minute examination of the contents of trie rooms, but that he did not do so, contenting himself with going to the door of each room with accused. Accused was not then asked what value he placed on the furniture, but he was asked what amount he wanted as insurance. When asked at his office whether the property was worth £200, Cahill said he presumed it was, as accused had asked for £150 as insurance. This seemed an extraordinary proceeding. It appeared to be calculating backwards, and surely the better plan would have been to fix the total value first, and then deduct a fourth to ascertain the insurable value. His Honor also reviewed the evidence of all the other witnesses.

The jury, after retiring for over an hour, returned a verdict of not guilty, and acoused was discharged.

* Means. t Means for the same month for the previous 34 years. Velocity of Wind in Miles: April 1, 196; 2, 148; 3, 442; 4, 320; 5, 324; 6, 235; 7, 138; 8, 192; 9, 129; 10. 134; 11, 192; 12. 90; 13, 64; 14, 126; 15. 66; 16. 262; 17, 296; 18, 146; 19. 179; 20, 139; 21, 256; 22, 124; 23, 112; 24, 84; 25. 96; 26, 104; 27. 190: 28, 242; 29, 192: 30, 136. Direction of Wind: April 1, S.W.; 2, N.E.; 3, N.E.; 4. N.E.; 5, S.W.; 6, S.W.; 7, S.W.; 8. S.W.; 9..N.K; 10. 8,; 11, N.E.; 12, S.W.; 13, S.W.; 14. S.E.; 15, N.E.; 16, N.W.; 17. 8.; 18, 8.W.; 19, W.; 20. W.; 21, S.; 22, S.W.; 23, S.E.; 24, S.E.; 25, E.s 26. N.E.; 27, N.E. 28. N.E.; 29. N.E. 30* N.E. Remarks: Heavy fall of rain on 3rd and 4th, more than l|in being recorded on the two days; rent of the month flue and dry, or with slight showers only. Barometrical pressure slightly above the avern.ee: mean temperature unusually low, quite 3 degrees below the average; rainfall Ijin under the average.

METEOROLOGICAL. I . u—ep. APRIL, 1903. , Max. Min. Min. RainBaro. Tern. Tern. Tern, fall cor'd. in in Moan Solar Ex- in Date, (in.) Shade. Shade. Tern. Had. posed, inch. 1 30.00 64 53 58.5 130 50 0.04 2 30.03 64 57 60.5 124 54 — 3 29.75 66 54 60 109 61 1.00 4 29.61 68 57 62.5 115 ' 56 0.52 5 29.62 67 58 62.5 129 57 0.03 6 29.82 70 59 64.5 135 59 0.05 7 30.06 65 55 60 116 53 0.05 8 30.23 67 56 61.5 127 54 — 9 30.23 64 53 58.5 127 51 — 10 30.30 64 52 58 125 51 — 11 30.39 67 52 59.5 126 49 — 12 30.37 68 63 60.5 128 49 — 13 30.25 71 52 61.5 133 49 — 14 30.30 64 . 52 58 127 51 0.04 15 30.22 65 64 59.5 126 52 - 16 • 30.08 67 59 63 120 58 0.11 17 30.21 60 66 58 124 54 0.11 18 30.30 64 55 59.5 124 50 — 19 .29.97 59 56 57.5 129 55 0.25 20 29.93 60.5 51.5 56 117 48 0.04 21 30.00 56 52 54 121 49 0.20 22 30.23 57 48 52.5 112 46 0.01 23 30.25 61 52 56.5 121 51 0.15 24 30.36 60 49 54.5 122 45 - 25 30.42 59 48 53.5 124 45 — 26 30.50 5? 47 52 116 45 — 27 30.52 63 53 58 123 52. -. 28 30.53 63 53 58 117 52 — 29 30.55 63 53 58 116 51 0.01 30 30.54 65 52 58.5 118 50 — * 3018 63T 53.4 58.5 122.7 51.5" 2.66 t 30.11 — — 61.5 — — 3.15