"Rake and Shovel" Golfer

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22909, 11 December 1937, Page 2 (Supplement)

"Rake and Shovel" Golfer

Mobbed by Half-Hysterical Women After Acquittal on Hold-Up Charges FRANK disagreement with the jury'® verdict wa. expressed by Judge Harry Owen at the end of the trial in Eliza arth town, * * 'n New York State, of John Montague, otherw.se Laverne Moore, >" - indicted for alleged complicity .even years ago m Jhe bandit hold-up of & road-house.v , t_ » , -,' i V - : i j Friend of Hollywood stars and something of a r ° r ' n )( c ®J ,n . t quarters of American society, Montague .s the w.zard golfer ; j who, according to his intimates, can play a better game vnth a , baseball bat, a garden rake, and a shovel than the average ma n , „ achieves with a bag full of clubs. > vj] J ■

MONTAGUE grinned broadly as the foreman of the jury announced: "We find the defendant not guilty of first degree robbery." But rising to express his thanks, he was promptly silenced y the judge, who ordered, Sit down, sir This is not a show.". Then, turning to the jury, the judge said. "Your verdict, gentlemen, is not in accordance with what I think you should have returned 5 but that is up to you." , , Whatever the private and personal opinion of the judge may have been, there was a remarkable demonstration of delight on the part of the public at the close, notwithstanding the admissions forced from Montague in the witness-box concerning his change or name from Moore and his somewhat extravagant life on no apparent means in Hollywood. ~ ' The crowd in court surged forward to shake the hand of the "shovel golfer," and out in the street scores of shouting men and half-hysterical women literally mobbed him. John Brown Memories It was charged against Montague, indicted in his real name of Laverne Moore, that'he was one of four men who held up the road-house of Kin Hanna, a Japanese, near Jay, in the State of New York, on the night of August o, 1930, beat an elderly man, Matt Cobb —Hanna's father-in-law —on the head with a black jack, and stole £l5O. Ruddv-faced, powerfully built, and good-looking,, Montague dominated the court. The mystery man of filmland, urbane and complacent, smiled engagingly each time a woman entered the jury-box to be sworn, and each time Public Prosecutor McDonald objected. It was not, he said, that he feared Monty's sex appeal, but, Elizabethtown wasn't prepared to lock up a mixed jury. This court is famous as the room in which the body of Abolitionist John Brown once lay in state and is still

" / ' verno Moore" was in court, IVortou pointed to Montague and said, "There .he is, sitting at the table." The expression never changed, on accused's face. Calm and confident, he sat back in his chair apparently utterly relaxed, "but. staring at Norton. Masked and Armed Deaf old Matthew Cobb, telling the story of the hold-up, related: "I vva« asleep when a tall, thin man entered my bedroom. He had a gun and told me to put up my hands. I pulled off his mask, and he hollered, 'Verne!' " "Do you see the man who attacked you by the river?" shouted Prosecutor McDonald. « "I think that's him," replied Cobb, pointing to accused, "but somehow ho seems too fat to bo the same lad." Mrs. Hanna told the court:, "My ' father was yelling, 'They are killing me.' Later I heard one of the men call out, 'Verne, we had better get out of here.' " . _ J. The prosecution, in a further effort to incriminate "Hollywood's favourite," called Paul McGinnis, of the New York State police, who produced an envelope containing newspaper cuttings concerning Montague's golfing and baseball exploits.In the same motor-car, McGinnis said, was found a bag of golf clubs, together with letters addressed to Laverne Moore. With the close of the case for the prosecution, the defending lawyer argued for a dismissal on the ground of insufficient evidence, but the judge was against him. Boy Who Stole Cherries Montague accordingly had to take his place on the witness-stand, and was immediately asked by his lawyer, Mr. James Noonan: "Were you in tfie road-house at Jay on tho night of August 5, 1930?" "No," replied Montague. "I was in bed at my home in Svraeuse." ; ■ J Why did you change your name from Laverne Moore to John Montague?— Because I knew my golf clnbi had been found in William Carleton's car after the robbery. It was the knowledge that the police were looking for him after Carleton'a arrest, Montague explained, that seni

decorated with an oil painting-of the man "whose soul goes marching on." Almond-eyed Beauties The Hanna family, owners of the robbed tavern, seated themselves almost directly behind Montague, but accused, elegantly attired in a blue lounge suit, neither spoke to nor looked at them. Kin Hanna is a dark, spectacled, little Japanese; his-white wife is tall and fair. Their three daughters—lovely, , al-mond-eyes girls and the smartestdressed in the courtroom —sat with them, as did Mrs. Hanna's father, Matt Cobb, now 74, and permanently deaf as the result of the beating by the hold-up men. Public Prosecutor McDonald, in his opening statement, said he would prove conclusively that Montague was one of the quartette who robbed Hanna's road-house and that Montague was the man who had brutally beaten Matt C9bb. The first witness was Roger Norton, who served two years for the robbery, turned State evidence, and now referred to Montague as Laverne Moore. Blows' With Black Jack Norton, the cousin of Mrs. Hanna, testified that Moore, William Carleton, John Sherry and himself drove to tlio road-house, entered and held up Hanna. Matt Cobb ran out of the restaurant and down toward the river bank, and Moore went after him. "X went out and saw them by the river," Norton declared. "What was the elder man doing?" asked the District Attorney. "Yelling." "What was Moore doing?" "He was hitting the old man with a black jack." Asked by the Public Prosecutor whether "this man whom you call La-

him fleeing to Los Angeles. "He put the clubs in Carleton's car because h® intended to go to Saratoga with him. Montague admitted that he Wa3 convicted for a misdemeanour in 1927,. but said he did not recollect any other conviction—until his lawyer asked whether, as a boy, he had not. been fined five dollars (£1) for " stealing cherries. ■ ; . "I guess I was," Montague agreed with a chuckle." , ~ Montague coolly agreed with. Prosecutor McDoflald that his misdemeanour consisted of extoition, but he was permitted to plead pettv larcenv. •' WhUe in Los Angeles he gotiwork, .he said, with a motor-car engineering firm that brought him in £2O a month. The Pace in Hollywood Asked by Sir. McDonald how he managed to join the exclusive Jjake-, side Club on such a small income, Montague merely shrugged his shoulders. ' ■ ■ Did you ever write to your mother? —No, but Mr. McDonald: No "buts;" just answer my questions. Montague glared angrily at the Prosecutor. He tola how he met film stars in Hollywood, and stated that he travelled with an extravagant crowd, but did not attempt to keep pace with them financially. " I travelled as a guest most of the time," hj& explained. Was your company 'so charming that they paid your expenses? —I do not know how charming I was, but I was accepted. Montague denied smashing a photographer's camera while golfing at Hollywood, but admitted taking out a plate from the camera, He also admitted that he visited the tavern before the robbery, to make contacts for delivering liquor, which was then illegal, because of prohibition. No other witnesses were called in Montague's defence, and the jury quickly found the verdict stated. . . „ The acquittal of the "shovel golfer must inevitably make him a well-to-do man. As soon as the verdict had been flashed over the wires to Hollywood) it was announced that immediate effect would bo given to a contract between Montague and Everett N. Crosby, brother of Bing Crosbv, which guarantees Montague £200,000 within seven years. This contract is believed to cover the films and professional golf engage* ments.