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NZ Truth, Issue 882, 21 October 1922, Page 5

garage.. In his vest there was a .gunmetal stop-watch, worth about .,£4, attached to a gold chain. He discovered on searching that the watch was gone and the chain was left dangling from the vest. ■ The lock (produced), a Miller three-lever, was the idck of the garage, door and he received two keys with it. The key (produced) was amongst the silver and tJio whole lot was . taken. He identified the key produced as his (and it opened the lock) while the duplicate lie kept at home on aj ring with some others. Detective Lean said that on Monday, September 1 t when handing accused his property m the watchhouse at the station, h& found the key produced. Accused, on being , asked if it was his, said: "Yes, it's the key of the shed m my. back yard." Witness went with accused to his house m Drivers Street and found that the key (produced) would not fit the padlock on accused's shed. Accused then said': "I must 'have picked the key up somewhere. 1 " Later m the day witness went to Fraser's house and found the key to fit the Miller, padlock on Fraser's garage. Witness then obtained the duplicate Icey from Fraser. ".William Lovell, fruiterer, Roslyn said that m January, 1921, he was a fruiterer at Prince Albert Road, St. Kilda, 1 residing at 40a Moroau Street. On January 10, a Monday, he and his" wife retired to- bed about 11.30 and as usual he had carried the money from the shop back to his residence m a brief bag, similar to the one produced... On this occasion the bag contained £87 in 'notes, a quantity of silver, two cheques received, m the course. of business, a cheque book and a small pocket book! On retiring he had put the 1 , bag under the head of the bed,, the bag;. still containing the money. On acco;un;t, of his wife's illness- it was about ?j\a.rn. before he got to sleep. The doors of the house were locked and the windows closed., About G a.m. witness was awakened by his wife and he noticed .that his clothes were all spread over the floor, having been takeri'frorri the .arm, chair where he had placed them.. He looked for his bag and '{found it to be gone. The bathroom window he found fully up from the bottom. ■ \The bag (produced) was identical with the one he had lost. He identified the bag by its general appearance and by a flaw m the leather. The inside lining of the bag had been cut out .since :he lost it. The lining -had been rather badly fruitstained. .He knew the accused, who had been m the fruitshop several times, both night and day. Miriam Charlotte Jane Lovell/ wife of the previous withness, corroborated his evidence. , , ... . Detective Lean said . that when searching accused's house on September 9 he found the ba ff produced. Asked where he got the bag, accused said he bought it new, six months previously. When informed at the Police Station that the bag had been identified by Lovell, accused said- "I bought the bag two .years ago at an auction/ sale; either Jamson's or Harris's, but I cannot remember which." • Albert Brodie Hall, taxi proprietor residing at Crown Street, North-East S^alley, said that on August 7, 1920 he' drove home about midnight. ■ Before retiring he put his coat over a chair m the kitchen and .hung h,j S trqusers ovnr ■ tho bottom of his bed m v the inside pocket of his coat he had £f>o m notes and m a trousers? pocket £10 m notes. Next clay, being Sunday, he did not get up tillabout i) a.m., and then ho found his trousers hanging up by the braces m the hall. A search revealed the fact that the whole £GO was gone, both coat and trousers having been rifled.