BETTING TELEGRAMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20986, 24 September 1931, Page 10

BETTING TELEGRAMS.

? CHARGES OF CONSPIRACY. , FOUR MEN BEFORE COURT. ATTEMPTED FRAUD ALLEGED. EVIDENCE REGARDING SYSTEM. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON. Wednesday. Charges against Charles Thomas Tassell nnrl Wilfred Henrv Gladstone Brown, exemployees of the, Post and Telegraph Department, John Ryan, labourer, and Ralph Antonovitch wore heard before Mr. E. rage, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court today in connection with alleged attempts to defraud bookmakers l\v a system of ,belling by telegraph. The four accused were charged with conspiring together and with Alfred Jansen and John Maitland by fraudulent means to defraud Charles Joseph Williams and Peter Ilealey of sums of money. Jansen, who is at present serving a -• r sentence of imprisonment on a conspiracy charge, and Maitland, who was acquitted in the Supreme Court on a similar charge, .. are two of the principal witnesses for the police in the present case. Mr. H. Arndt appeared for Antonovitch, Mr. A. 15. Sievwright for Ryan, Mr. W. P. Rollings for Brown and Sir. W. E. Leicester fur Tassell. Arrangement for Bets. Alfred Jansen said that prior to his j. conviction he was a restaurant keeper at .Wanganui and had known accused Ryan pince about 1918. Ryan called at bis restaurant one evening and said it could be arranged to make a bet bv telegraph • through the Post Oflice. If he put a bet . through the Te Aro post office with the name°o£ any horse, the name could be altered afterwards to the name of the winning . itness said he then agreed to send a telegram to any bookmaker with whom ho could lay a bet. After this conversation witness rang up p e ter Healev, a bookmaker at Wanganui, who cave him a code with which to send . bets by telegraph. Jansen then described how he came to Wellington on June 6 . and, with Ryan and a man named Campi tell, whom he now knew as Maitland, they met another man named Smith, whom ho now recognised as Antonovitch. Smith t01d.,-them he could arrange for » 4."_ telegram put in at 'le Aro to be altered after tho : result of the race was known. %■ Alleged Alteration of Name. Choosing the third race at the Auckland meeting that day, the name Make ". Up was written in the telegram. They 5 then went down to the square by the 7; general post office. While they were there • Ryan arrived with the result of the third race run at Auckland. Shortly afterwards Smith arrived with two telegrams r ' .which had been sent at Te Aro by witness and Maitland. Smith rubbed the •V name "Make Up" off witness telegram and witness wrote in the name High "V-Pitch." " ' Witness added that on the Saturday he " got a telegram from Wanganui informing him that Healy was not satisfied with ,iA the telegram,, which should have been an hour earlier./ Ob the Monday witness met Ryan, Maitland and Smith, and told 7 them about the complaint he "ad received about the race. Ryan said that Y.witnessi had been using two penc'/S °" " the telegrams and that "High Pitch had been written with a black pencil. He ' • caid there had been an inquiry or something of the sort at the post office. •»:, Bookmaker's Attitude. i ''' Smith asked witness not to forget to tend him some money When he received '" it at Wanganui, added witness. "yan r arranged that the winnings should be divided into four shares, two to go to the men in the post office, one to Kyan ''' and one to witness. Witness returned to '■ Wanganui on the Monday and telephoned Hf-aly, who tojcl him he thought the teler cram was "crook." If the telegram was right ho would pay out, but. if .it was not, he would not. In the meantime he would . make inquiries. . , After Detective Walsh had interviewed hfcn, Ryan went to witness' restaurant 1 and tblcl him that Maitland had been airested He also said that Smith bad • * J.i on arrested, but he had been let go n-'ain as no charge could be got a_gaii st ' hTm I!van said that no one had been !' :n tested at the post office, and no ono was "likrlv tr> say anything. v J.i'hn Maitland gave evidence regarding the, sending of a betting telegram to C. Williams., Palmerston North, and t subsequent alteration of the name from "Make-Up 'to "High Pitrh." Witness said lie whs arrested on the Monday. Cross-examined by Mr. Sievwnght, wit- ' ness said that Hvan had nothing whatever tu do with the sending of tne telegram. In the course of further cross-cxami- " ration witness said that prior to the pro- • reedings he had never seen either lassell or lirown. Refusal to Pay Out. dialled Joseph Williams, bookmaker. . of Palmcrston North, detailed the cireum- . stances under which Maitland had made a bet with him?" He said that if the bet .. had been a genuine one he would have had to pay Maitland £1.38 15s. He had returned a deposit of £25. Peter Healey, bookmaker, of Wanga- • mii, described how lie had become suspicious of Jansen's telegram and refused to pay out. A telegraph messenger sa;d that on June.6 he left To Aro on a trip at 1.6 p.m. with telegrams. At 1.13 he handed the telegrams to Tassell, but did not .wait for a receipt as he was running late. He left a slip with Tassell to put on the file when he would get it the next trip. Witness left Te Aro again shortly • after 1.30 with more telegrams. These ho took to Tassell, who said there had ' been a message delayed. Witness told him he did not know anything about it. He suggested witness should turn his bag, but the message was not in it. lassoil then gave him the slip> which showed ' that Tassell had received the missing telegram at 1.13. Shortly after two o'clock witness re- ' turned with more telegrams, when Tassell said he had the missing telegram. Witness asked him how it could be missing when he had it, and Tassell replied Ih.it it was delayed, not missing. lhe • telegrams witness received at one o'clock were not out of his possession until he ' . handed them to 1 assell at 1.13. Other telegraph employees gave evidence and lhe case was adjourned until to-morrow.