A MISSING WALLET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14492, 5 October 1910, Page 8

A MISSING WALLET.

TWO MEN ■ CHARGED WITH THEFT. [BY telegraph.—own CORRESPONDENT.] Hamilton - , Tuesday. At the Police Court , to-day, two young men. William Marshall and Thomas Cochrane, were charged with having, on September 27, stolen from Charles Cox, £14 in money, a gold watch, a wallet, and ft fountain pen worth about £8. The evidence proved conclusively that on September 26 complainant cashed a cheque for £25, and that he had at that time over £5 in his possession. He had some drinks during the day, and more in the evening, in company with two men named Thomas Mayes and John Moore, who, after closing time put him in a cab and drove him to several places to try and get him a bed, without success. Finally they drove him to the Waikato Hotel yard, where they say they left him to find his way in the back door, which is always open. There the story of Mayes and Moore ends. Complainant, however, came to his senses about 3.30 a.m. next morning in a loose-box in stables belonging to Mayes, adjoining the Waikato Hotel. Hamilton East, and found that ho had been robbed of the money and articles mentioned in the charge. Later that morning the police arrested the two accused, who are strangers to the town. Marshall then made a statement that he and Cochrane and a man named Mick Hickey had slept in the stables of the Royal Hotel surreptitiously on the night of the 26th. They left early on the morning of the 27th, and went down to the Waikato Hotel, which was not open. They then went into the back yard and Marshall, who was apart from his companions, found a wallet containing £3, lying near the stable door. He afterwards took the police to where he had hidden the wallet and the papers it contained. He and his mates shared the proceeds, but they did not see him make the find. This statement was corroborated by Cochrane. At the conclusion of the evidence the accused requested that Mick Hickey should be called in order to prove that they had all three slept in the Royal Hotel stables, and accused, therefore, could not have robbed Cox. TlTe presiding justices adjourned the case till to-morrow, in order that Hickey, Constable Kenny, and the porter at the Waikato Hotel might be examined.