"NOTES FOR GOLD"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21792, 5 May 1934, Page 14

"NOTES FOR GOLD"

A TKICK ALLEGED CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD VISITOR'S LOSS OF 170 TWO MEN FOUND GUILTY Related charges of conspiracy to defraud and of obtaining money by false pretences were preferred against Alexander Mcßae, showman, aged 37, and I loyal Desmond Capner, alias Wilson, salesman, aged 35, in the Supreme Court yesterday. The case was heard by Mr. Justice Hordman, and Mr. Hall Skelton appeared for the accused. The offence was alleged to have taken placo on March 22, when it was alleged that Thomas Wliyte, 57 years of age, was persuaded to entrust the accused with £7O ss. Mr. Meredith, Crown Prosecutor, said the men were charged with robbing or defrauding an old man who was about to leave for Scotland. The allegation was that what was known as the "notes for gold" trick was carried out. It was a well-known trick of offering to provide a means of escaping the loss occasioned by the difference in exchange. The man who was victimised had been a little simple, otherwise the trick would not have succeeded. Whyte came from Ravensbourne, near Dunedin, and wns going to Glasgow. He had since left for Scotland and his evidence given in the lower Court would be read. Two Men Offer Services Whyte described how the two accused had got into conversation with him at the Y.M.C.A., where he was staying. Mcßae professed to be an employee in the Union Steam Ship Company, and Capner professed to bo in the National Bank. They offered to get a better berth for him on the Niagara, by which he intended to travel, and to change £7O which he had in notes for 62 sovereigns.

Whyte entrusted his notes to Capner, who went under the namo of Wilson, on a Friday, under promiso that he would get the gold on the following Monday afternoon. He became suspicions, however, and placed the matter in the hands of the police. He afterwards identified both men in parades at the police station. Each of them was carrying a fair amount of money when arrested, and there was evidence that they had been seen with Whyte on several occasions.

Tho proprietor of a Queen Street restaurant gave evidence that the accused came frequently to his dining rooms and recalled seeing them there on March 22 with an elderly man whft afterwards gave evidence in tho Police Court. The secretary of the Y.M.C.A. said neither of the accused had boarded there. Other evidence was given that Gapner was not employed in tho National Bank nor Mcßae by the Union Steam Ship Company. A Detective's Notes Detective G. A. McWhirter said he had known both the accused for some years, and had latterly seen them about together a good deal. He saw them in Shortland Street on March 23 at 5 p.m. and made a note of it. Mr. Skelton: Why did you make a note of them? Witness: They were committing an offence. They were consorting together. Mr. Skelton: I see what you are trying to do. You are doing it very ingeniously.—l am answering tho question you asked. Asked if ho had ever before noted seeing these men, witness quoted several instances from his notebook. The arrest of the accused and tho denials mado were described by Detective C. J. Hamilton. When Mcßae was told the old man had lost £7O, ho said, "Well, he's double-crossed me. I never got a tray bit." Detective W. H.. Slater gave evidence that ho had Koen Capner talking to an elderly man fobout noon in Shortland Street on March 23.

' Detective C. P. Belton gave evidence of arresting Mcßae in the bar of a city hotel and of admissions made by him. Right of Search

Counsel questioned the witness' right to search the room of Capner's wife. Witness said ho considered lie had a perfect right when the accused was with him and under arrest.

Mr. Skelton submitted that Whyte was practically the only witness' against these two men, alid ho had made a lot of statements that were obviously untrue.

Addressing the jury from tho dock, Mcßae said his conduct had been that of an innocent man. Capner in a similar statement admitted having supper with Whyte and Mcßae, but said ho had not seen Whyte afterwards until they met at the police station. His Honor pointed out that the accused admitted meeting the complainant, and tho main feature of the Crown's case was that they had obtained the money from him in notes under pretence of exchanging it for gold. If the jury formed the conclusion that it was the intention of the accused to defraud the complainant, tlion it would bo their duty to return a verdict of guilty. The jury found the accused guilty on both charges, ancl they were remanded for sentence.