A BRUTAL SLUDGER.

NZ Truth, Issue 180, 28 November 1908, Page 6

A BRUTAL SLUDGER.

PIMPING FOR HIS WIFE.

Bow Troon was Trounced and Taken Down.

A, Parasite Sent to Prison,

Thomas Jackson Smith, who has been living on the harlotry of his wife, for ■years, and is not unknown to Wellington and Auckland, has met his- deserts at (he hands of a Ohristohurch judge, and Joins Lionel .Terry; and others m the Lyttelton Inferno. The cause of Smith's downfall was toe temptation to take down the same old Country bumpkin by luring him . into the brothel and going through him for his spwndulix. In Joseph Txoon, however, he found atoujph' 1 customer, and Smith now deplores the fact that he ever had anything to do with the man ffom Belfast, where the freezing w»rks.»are. Briefly,, the bludggr was charged vith assault and robbery of £2 10s Irom the perwn of Troon on- September 3, and the peculiar part, of the case, as pointed out by his lawyer ' (1^ Donnelly) •was that he \ras convicted almost entirely on the evidence of one man. Troon's story is that he had been working m Akaroa, but came into Belfast for a few dayi, and on the night of his exciting experience he attended a concert at Papaaui. This function concluded about 10 p.m., when Troom took the car to Christchuichf Railway Station .m search of a boarding-housei 'that lie knew of He was making his way towards the hashery of Mr 9 Bush, w&en two- men standing under a, lamp accosted . him. One of them was Smith, - "wOid asked courteously if he was going to; stay at the boarding-house. Troon replied m the affirmative, and was informed that he was too late as the establishment had closed. He . sympathised with Troon, ana said to him, confidentially, , "Come* over the railway bridge with me arid I -will take you to a private boarding-house. THEY ARE VERY NICE PEOPLE there." The stranger accompanied the 1 two obliging persons seven or eight chains along, the South Belt .;tf 11 they came Jo the bridge, which they negotiated with ease, and when on the, Sydenham side turned to the light and steered down a narrow street. Smith knocked at the third house on the left, and the three were admitted by a woman.-, All sat. down, when it was suggested that Troon should shout, that being the custom round about there. "You'd better turn it on," said Smith, "you can- get a bottle pr.two of beer here." Troon had no, objection and the hospitable female produced two bottles, which cost the affluent visitor five bob. He produced a£l note and received 15s change. The four of them drank* the beer, and as he guzzled the swankey it occurred, to Troon that h&had struck an . Un virtuous abode, an im»res-. won that was confirmed when the two men retired and left him alone with the lady.. He acknowledged, with a "blush, that , he took advantage 'of the opportunity and paid m cold cash lor his sinfulness. Then Smith and his mate returned and suggested that Troon should shout again. That > person, who was having a pleasant evening, did so with pleasure, and paid , a dollar for- two more bottles, which the quartette consumed. It then occurred' to him, that it was time to be going, and his two newly-acquired, male friends left with him, promising tb find him suitable accommodation. They struck '•ut towards Addington and led their victim down various streets'. in a circuitous fashion, till they reached a timber, yard, when Troon's suspicions were «I think; you've got me on a string." lie said. One of them remarked, ''Well, you know out game. 11 '•What -game:?'* asked Troon. : - "I WANT YOUR MONEY,?:' was the reply. The stranger m a strange land explained that he was a poar.-work-ingman, and had no money to spare. Thereupon Smith caught him by the right arm and yelled to his mate. •Tjashl?'he cried, And tbe other person "Sashed !" Troon got it on the countenance and went down like a log. It wasn't the knock-out that Burns gave Squires, however, for the stricken man roared for help when on the ground. Smith took Troon's handkerchief from his pocket and! stuffed it m the prostrate man's moajsh as a gag, and at the same, time Troon felt a nand m his hip. pqfcket, which otontained £2 10s, and which he subsequently found to he empty. "I holloered <out loud," said Tdroon, '-"and the other man ran away." Smith kicked his victim' savagely over the right eye, inflicting a ghastLy wound, andthen he, too, ran away. Troon was dazed by his injuries, But had sufficient strength to- 1 get up and stagger around blindly till he iell into ; rthe arms o£ Peeler , Waters, m Colombo-street. That officer took him to the station and th^n. to the hospital, where he was put m a reasonable state of repair after a six days' sojourn. Troon's excellent vocal powers evidently saved him from further loss, as he had jnoney ipi another trouser pocket which had not been touched by .the ruffians. When X\e came out of the institution the maimed person unhesitatingly led 'Tec. Ward: to No. 65 Carlyle-street, Sydenhan^i, and pointed the edifice out to him as 'the one m which he had met the . imm/jral lady. Subsequently he identified i^mith at the Police Station. Afterwards *at the station, when Mrs Smith arrived to see her husband m the cells, Troon, who happened to be on the premises, pointed her out as the lady' jhe had sin- , ned with ' AT SMITH'S DEN Off INFAMY, In cross-examination' by Mr Donnelly, Troon explained that he, bought £5 m with him from Belfast** #a& a ■ glass of beer at Papanui prior, to the concert, spent £1 on luxuries at Smith's brothel, £2 10s was stolen fropi him,, and about £1 5s was left m his "possession by the, thieves. Some of the above* facts were corroborated by 'Tec. Ward,, who arrested Smith. That individual -denied his guilt at the time, and/said that. to. the best of his recollection he was m Burns's billiard room up to 10 o'clock on tie night of the Sol. He knew Mrs Smith as a prostitute. , ! ■■"' Mr Donnelly didn't (txercise his privilegs to call witnesses, but, addressing the jury, contended that 'the case rested entirely upon the evidence of the prosecutor. There was no other evidence m support .of the story that Tror>n went to a particular house ; the other man alleged to have been with Smith cttd not appear, and there was no evidence other than that of Troon that sujch a man did exist. Moreover, Troon, 'upon his own acknowledgment, had beejh drinking, and like the person who was 'asked to gave the total of his debts', under-estimated the amount of drink consumed. Counsel directed attention to .the fact that a mild debauch 1

had taken place m the house,' and it was quite within /the bounds of possibility that the missing money had been disbursed upon the woman and upon the operation of "turning it on." Counsel inferred that m the case of a good-natured fellow like Troon, who readily parted with his coin to "turn it on," it must have been easy to relieve him of his cash within the house, which had not been pioved by corroboration to .be Smith's house, and without violence. Moreover, the man was dazed; apparently with drink, and the veracity of his testimony should- be dis« counted on: that account.

His Honor,- m summing up, said that if Troon's evidence was true.. Smith, with another, man, was waiting under the 'lamp-post '•.;.■■ j TO AGT AS PIMP FOIV JTHE WOMAN, Why should' the victim- invent that story ? If the man had taken merely a small amount of drink, was it reasonable to suppose, that being sober, an attempt would be made to rob him m the house ?, With' regard to the alleged lack of cor-; rob' oration, there' was ample corroboratiqn m the fact, that the man subsequently led the jpolice tb the house m Which ; Smith andl the woman lived. His Honor concluded by saying that the man had given a singularly clear, interesting and graphic story of what was— lf his story was true— a put up job. ' After . a three minutes' retirement, the jury returned a verdict of "Guilty." '

In reply to a question, Smith said lie was 28 years of age, and urged that he was- not guiity. Sttinger, K.C., informed the Court that the prisoner had been living on the proceeds of prostitution for some years.

Smith' pleaded that he had been working m Auckland and Rotor ua.

His Honor was not impressed. The of-feiic&-w.as a very serious one, he said, and Smith,' who lived upon the prostitu-tion-of his wife, was a bad specimen of a bad class. He was sentenced to three [ years' imprisonment with hard labor. The sum of £2 10s was found on the man , when arrested ten days after t^ie offence, ' but MS Honor remarked that Sismith had probably divided the spoil with>, the man who ha/1 disappeared. Besides, "too long (a. period had expired to justify an order of repayment of unidentified money to ! :Tjdon. /