MAN'S STRANGE THEFTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17276, 27 September 1919, Page 11

MAN'S STRANGE THEFTS.

LADIES' UNDERCLOTHING. WEARING IT WHEN ARRESTED. THREE YEARS TO REFORM. An extraordinary case, in which a young •man named James Francis Morrison was charged with having stolen quantities of ladies' silk underclothing and other articles, came before Mr. J. E. Wilson, S.M., in the Police Court • yesterday. It was stated that the accused was wearing some of the garments when arrested by the detectives. The thefts were committed within the last three months, the charges relating to four lots of underclothing, of the value of £13 IDs, 18s 6d, 16s, and £2 2s respectively; gold brooch, valued at £3; silver teapot and towels, worth £3 ss; and four raincoats, valued at £17 15s ; these were described as the property of various owners, in some cases unknown. Accused pleaded guilty to all the charges. After Detective McHugh had given evidence of the accused's admission of his guilt, Chief-Detective McMahon stated | that the accused had been in New Zealand for about 11 months, and that during that period he had stolen from practically every place at which he had been employed. Some of the thefts wore committed at an hotel in Auckland, and I others at Rotorua.

" He seems to be particularly bent on women's underclothing," remarked the magistrate.

<( " lea," replied the -detective, " and most of it has not been recovered. We have only that which he was wearing when arrested. He is morally a bad man, and one of the most untruthful men we have ever dealt with," The accused had been the cause of a married woman being convicted for having received some of the stolen articles a few weeks ago. The magistrate said it was decidedly a case for reformative treatment. The man was of a peculiar mentality, and by proper treatment he might be corrected. He would be convicted on each charge, and sentenced to reformative treatment for three years, with the condition that if his mind returned to a normal state before the expiration of .that time, he could be released.

The accused was also ordered to pay by instalments £24 8s 6d, the value of the unrecovered goods, or to disclose to the police the names of their present owners.