BURGLARY. THE THREE ACCUSED.

NZ Truth, Issue 282, 19 November 1910, Page 7

BURGLARY.

THE THREE ACCUSED.

THE LEVIN HOTEL MSB.

How the Crime Was Discovered*.

Buag thought It die Old Tale.

The -safe robbery from Berryman's Levin -Hotel occupied the attention of the Chief Justice and a jury at the criminal^ fittings of the Wellington. Supreme r Court, on Tuesday afternoon and' the best part <of Wednesday. The accused men Were John ; Earnshaw, Henry- Robert Hunt, and Leslie Ellis. The charge against them was that of fourglary sA Levin, on August 12Crown Prosecutor T. Neave, m presenting the case, to the jury, showed how, on the Saturday evening of October 20, John Berryman, the lieen-. see of the Levin Club., duly locked up his pub.. premises at 10 p.m., and tic takings Of the day, £60 13s 3d. m money, some cheques and jewellery, were deposited m the safe. At about two o'clock on the (Sunday) morning following, Berryman was awakened, and round that the street door was wide open, that the door and window of the office were likewise, that the safe had gone, that it was found on a vacant section 400 yds. away, that.; it. ..-,... • ■ „;• -- •■. . -.

HAD BEEN BLOWN OPEN, and that scattered' about was a cheque, a couple of sovereigns, and a quantity of jewellery. On the mornI ing that the robbery was reported, Constables- Bagrie and Longbbttom set out from Levin for Koputaxoa, where Ellis was interviewed, and admitted having been at Levin about 2.20 m the morning'; • Barnshaw and Hunt were - next "met^ -and fcJarnshaw was observed: to. stoop down, and, when searched,' ■ £13 was '■ found m his possession, rhalf " pt iwhich- he stated belonged to Himt. . T?he Crown prosecutor further! statpftu that he : would call, as he did, evidence to show that: when Earnshaw. and Hunt left Porfter's flaxmill -at- Koputaroa, they bas ; no money. It was ;tilso proved that where Earflshaw

stopped down a searoh was made, and a bar-towel containing £9 m notes, £12 m gold, and £22 L2s 8d m silver and copper and a gold watch bearing Mrs Berryman's name were picked up. Altogether ' £60 13s 3d was stolen from the safe, and the amount recovered was £60 12s 6d. Both Earnshaw and Hunt were convicted, an.4 m the case of Ellis the jury disagreed, and he will again be placed upon his trial. Naturally the burglary created a big sensation at Levin, .and the impression was promptly created that the bold, bad burglars would be found somewhere on the adjoining flax-mills. Not the least perturbed portion of Levin's seething . humanity were the members of . LEVIN'S TONEY TOFFS' CLUB, whose premises are adjacent to the burgled pubfoery. Indeed it is from the .pubbery that the club gets rta supplies. Ther© is nothing wrong m that. LeVin.bas its club, and it is well-conducted. Still, clubmen proverbially, keep late hours, and extra late-, hours w.ere kept on the sensati,cni.al Sabbath morn of August 21. It' was the clubmen who discovered Joh» Berryanan's door open, an.d, a,s a pub. wdtih a door open at 2 a.m. on a stflly Sabbath morn is something unusual for Levip, the oirousnstanoe was voted peculiar. Of course, t)he door that was open wasn't the one leading to the club ; that is closed punctually at 10 p.im. (perhaps)-. Ahyihow, it wasd<eoiided to acquaint Bupg . .John Berryiman ttoa* bjs front door was wide open, and stentorian voices, loud enough to foe mistaken for Gabriel's horn, aw^ofee. a, startled, sleeping, »Mkfeur-«eUer, who didn't like being disturbed, and so, it is said, he paM <no need, thinkfeg it (was just another ruse 'on the part of thirsty clubmen to fracture iihe Licensing Act and r TO aET JUST QNE MORE. John Berryraan, however, wasn't allowed to rest, and, finding that iij wasn't booze that was wanted, descended, to be horrified at the result. It is due <t«Q the alacrity of the early morni-ivg alarm of t?he clubmen tha^j the crime was discovered, The police acted promptly, at-rests were made, and the result was seta on Wednesday last, ,