Tempted And Fell

NZ Truth, Issue 1078, 22 July 1926, Page 9

Tempted And Fell

(From "Truth's" -Special Auckland ■:- ; ; "Rep.) ' : ■ If women would condescend to have, some practical form of pockets m their costumes it' is safe to' say that the number of purses lost or mislaid would be reduced to half. • A passenger m an Auckland bus found a purse on the floor of a bus and being one of the honest ones he handed it to the driver m the belief that he was dealing with one of his own kind. ■;■-. The driver, however, Frederick Samuel Handley (41) would have seemed i to". Have examined the purse and finding it contained £50 his better feelings , were swamped by opportunity. ' He said nothing, but destroying the purse anda cheque for £10 which was among the contents, he made use of some of the' cash. : ■ He was eventually arrested ' and Senior Detective Hammond, when he was brought before Magistrate Poynton at the Auckland Magistrate's Court, related how the owner of the purse, on the return of the bus asked the accused if he had seen the purse. He denied haying done so. Handley was a very contrite man when he stood m the dock , and Mr. Poynton was disposed to be lenient with him. "This seems to have been a case of sudden temptation and it is not the same as if. he had stolen it out of another person's pocket." ' . Handley was ordered to make restiTtutidn and was> granted probation for two years. ' \ ■