ROSENBERG'S RESPONSIBILITY.

NZ Truth, Issue 326, 23 September 1911, Page 7

ROSENBERG'S RESPONSIBILITY.

'"'. MECSIANIC'S ALLEGED MlS- '■ DEMEANOR.-' '-' -: What he Bought from Bad Boys. . Evidence of an Accident '.an<l. Good Character. ''./;.• 'v -.■-.•' "' Committed for Trial. "While stocktaking was 'm course of proceeding towards the end of July last, the bosses of the Duniop -Rubber Company discovered that they were considerably short m their Dunlop and Oceanic tyres. An investigation led to a 15-year-old lad m their employ, named Cecil Herbert Ellison, being questioned, and the upshot oi' it was that he and another youngster named John William Curlew were criminally prosecuted for the theft of the tyres. They came before the Juvenile Court on Saturday, September 2, and both pleaded guilty. Ellison was ordered to receive ■ „ SIX STROKES WITH THE BIRCH, and Curlew was sent to the Wereroa, :traihmg farm. From statements made by the boys, it was/gathered that Edward Rosenberg, proprietor of a bicycle shop m Manners-street, ' Wellington, spoke to Ellison about April last, saying to the lad that if he ever had a chance of getting any thing down there, (meaning where -he was employed), he (Rosenberg) would always buy ;it from him. Ellison said, he would see. I-Ie did see, and, eiilistin'g the services of young Curlew, he relieved his emr plovers of three, bundles of '50 tyres ! each, and .one .' bundle of 25 v tyres, ! which on different ■ dates between April and July he sdld ■to Rosenberg;,, who 'paid Ellison : £ 1 for each of the larger bundles and; 10s for the small : one, which; money ■ Ellison ■ shared equally with Curlew. V On August. 12, James Barry Bridsen, general manager m New Zealand of the : Duniop Rubber Company, who resides m Christchurch, came to Wellington -and called upon./ Rosenbery, questioning - him as to whether any of the company's employees had been offering him • any of. : the company's goods for sale, and Rosenberg said that they had not done so. :' It also transpired that on August 22 a storekeeper named Arthur Woodhouse took a bicycle to Rosenberg's shop to have two new tyres put oh.it, which . was done, and it was subsequently -noticed by .Maurice Leslie Graham, who has charge of the Dunlop Rubber Company's Wellington business, that the tyres were his firm's property, arid, being unbranded, he concluded that they had hot been sold m. the ordinary way. Subsequently Rosenberg's shop was visited by Acting-Detective Mason m company with Graham, and a traveller of the firm's named Montague Vivian Hill, and then, Graham discovered 90 Duniop tyres and ,70 Oceanic; tyres, for iboth of which he was agent, and he took possession of them. / /On August 24, Acting- Detective Mason; ; > ■ - QUESTIONED; ROSENBERG AT ; THE POLICE STATION, arid he denied all knowledge of ihe tyres v . *. '. '-'■.. The boys, Ellison and Curlew were arrested on September 1, and, m consequence 'of what they said, a warrant was obtained for the arrest of Rosenberg, who, on the way to the'po-' lice station, said, "I thought this was : coming. I think it would have been [better if I had got a revolver and blow my brains out." The hearing came before Mr W. G. Riddell, S.M., at the Wellington Magistrate's . Court last week. , Edward Rosenberg, .31 years' ot age, is a man of small propoi'tlons and with a " distinctly , Hebriac , cast of countenance. He is clean-shaven, has a sallow complexion, and has dark hair, inclined to be wavy. He sat down m the ' dock' and nervously watched the proceedings throughout. . Detective-Sergeant. Mcllveney conducted the prosecution, and Mr T. M.. Wilford appeared for . the defence. Mr Wilford said at the outset that he would assist the . prosecution by stating that he would plead guilty at the close of the evidence, and so the. detective-sergeant could shorten his evidence. . ' ■ '"' At the close of the case for the prosecution, which elicited all the foregoing ( facts, Mr Wilford called several witnesses as to Rosenberg's state of mind. Harold Webb White, clerk m Messrs Field and'Luckiels office, said that on Good Friday, 1910, he was out ori a motor cycle .with a. trailer. Accused was on the trailer. When near Trentham,. two bars under the . trailer broke, and brought it to a standstill and turning it o\^er. Accused was injured, ■ : . . •"'•;•■ HIS SKULL BEING FRACTURED, and he remained uheonsciou.s for 10 days. Since the accident, accused had lapses of memory and intervals :of complete forgetfulness. He had also been a greatly changed man since. Dr. H. J. McLean said that he attended accused some little time- after an accident on Good Friday, when he fractured the base of the skull and had him under his care until a few weeks ago, just prior to the arrest. It was possible that a perfectly normal man sufferings such an injury may at. times suffer from temporary aberration of intellect. It is possible his mental perspective may be affected. The question of. brainstorms was a very debateable subject. There' might be intervals of unconsciousness during- the performance of his daily duties. An epileptic man may commit a murder, apparently going about it as though he were perfectly normal, and after its commission may come to himself and honestly know J nothing of it. Hon. C. -;'M. Luke,. M.L.C., bead of the firm of Luke and. Company, Ltd., said that accused had served his apprenticeship with the company, being made . foreman immediately afterwards, and had been m their employ for about twelve years. He was far above the average as a mechanic, and was steady and industrious. Part of the business had been sold on terms to the accused, and he was left with I £200 worth of stock, which was • to | be paid for each month as sold. For i ■years he had been a- tenant of the i company's, and had always paid his ; rent regularly. The offence now !

charged against accused contradicted all witnesses's past experience of him. John William Reade, an importer, said he had known accused for many years, and he was AN ABSOLUTELY CHANGED MAN since his accident, so much so that he did not care to do business with him. Previously ; to that he had been an excellent business man. ..Mr Wilford said that he had advised his client to plead not guilty m; order that the matter might ,be fully gone into. There was no doubt that accused had taken the goods, but whether he was Responsible for his acts was another matter. Accused was committed for trial at the Supreme C6urt, bail m the sum of £50 being allowed.