CHEAP LIQUOR LURES KEADY TO BUSINESS AND SOCIAL RUIN

NZ Truth, Issue 1080, 12 August 1926, Page 7

CHEAP LIQUOR LURES KEADY TO BUSINESS AND SOCIAL RUIN

Spirits That Vanished By Night Found Their Way To Britomart Hotel

: .' ', (From "Truth's" Special Auckland Representative.) MICHAEL KEADY, the wealthy and well-known proprietor of the Britomart Hotel, Auckland, will spend the next three months m gaol.. In addition, he has been fined £500. •

CO interwoven are the lives"of human beings that had a lorry-driver named Speight, who was employed by L. D. Nathan and Co., of Auckland, not indulged m too many "spots" on June -12 last, the proprietor of the Britomart Hotel, Customs Street, might never have had to face a jury on the grave charge of receiving stolen liquor. n

t <sn hinnpnpfl nn that «?at uldav Tomins however that ttiedevYl o'i greed I?-' te?ed into the-^tad of Michael Kealy/thTpubli-can-in question, and for the sake of gain

he agreed to take a quantity of spirits from Speight, though fully aware that t it had been stolen. .'Speight had been on a mild sort of jamboree on the Saturday jriorning, with gin his favored refreshment, and the accumulated action of it would seem to have" left him bereft of all common sense. I Suspicion would have been aroused if he had delivered several , cases of spirits from a- 1 lorry in' broad, daylight; he had therefore to harfg around until dark, when he drove, the lorry to the side door of the, Britomart Hotej, . Keady was on' the alert; he took delivery of cases of whisky, brandy", and gin ■ ■: ■•■■>.'■ The price agreed upon was £3 per case. The unloading completed, the publican asked . thY other man ' •what he owed him. , .; Speight, it appears, said', m effect: "Oh, about twenty notes," .and a roll of notes was shoved into . his hand which the proprietor , said amounted to £20. ; ■•':•■:■ • ■■,'•' - ••■ . Speight Takes A Risk ThoughiiSpeight had taken such risks •to 1 obtain* some easy money on the side, he says ■ that^'he did not count the notes, but took it for Ranted that the amount) was correct. V The,' robbery was not discovered uritif- one ; of Nathan's head stor'errien arrived at .the Commerce Street bonded warehouse on the Monday v morning. ' > •; •- Police, investigations left . to .the Britomart Hotel. A search warrant was • executed, and when .j Detectives Lambert and Moon called on Keady and told him their mission he remarked: "All right; go ahead!. You won't find anything here!" But the boniface was too optimistic, or else he under-estimated the ' intelligence of the ihvestiga-. tors. " .The search revealed seven dozen bottles of •ibrahdy—ani. unusual qiikritity to hold.in stQck^rrand many bottles of gin. \ . In itself, that might nothaye been much to go on, but the bottles were not dusty and the dust on the shelves beneath them was an even. depth; the caps on the gin bottles were still .untarnished, indicating that they had'not. long been uncased.. . Further links m the chain of evidence- which helped to clinch the matter were that two different officers of the police on the Sunday following th c theft saw o r : heard things. , Sergeant Felton heard someone hammering m the cellar late at night, arid Constable O'Connor, just, before midnight, was attracted to the .hotel by a bright light nnrl thp. sound- of burning wood.

Many Strange Rumors Speight,pleaded guilty at the Magistrate's Court, arid was. given probation when he-came up before Judge Stringer recently, but Keady— still hopefulpleaded not guilty and reserved his defence for the Supreme Court trial. Very great interest was shown m the Queen City m the case. Many and wild were the statements which have been made during the past few weeks, and the "sports" have even faid the odds m "clubs that Keady would never go to gaol. When, the case came .up for hearing last week an unusual crowd assembled at the Supreme Court; the back of the Court- was.i closely packed, ,and members of the ..legal profession seemed to find some.' pressing business there. Lawyer Singer held' the brief -for the

accused. It was not until the Crown had challenged 13 and counsel five that the jury settled down to business. r two charges were levelled against Keady of stealing and. receiving whisky, gin and brandy to the value of £77. It was for this |ot that Keady had paid £20. i When Grown Prosecutor Meredith outlined the case he laid stress on the fact that if * were not for the receivers of stolen Property there would be less-thieving^ the-receiver being m {heeyes of the law very much worse than the thiefSpeight was the first witness called by the Crown, and he was examined at some length. . Beyond the facts stated above, he had not much that was new' to add, except that he had had no dealing with Keady of a similar nature before, and that he had mentioned to the publican 4aDOut the bond marks on the cases, ' Guilty Plea Entered When Lawyer Singer rose to crossexamine Speight it was obvious that he was searching for a weak point m Jus armor, but seemed to find it hard to discover one. After William Henry Nichplls, head storeman of Nathan's, and Robert Beswick, the locker of Nathan's bond, hadgiven, evidence. Lawyer Singer announqed'that he had been instructed to plead- guilty on the charge of receiving. ■-.;.. _ He asked permission of the judge to adduce the reasons for this action the following day. His Honor asked: "You wish to withdraw your plea of not guilty and plead guilty? Is that so?" "That is so, sir," replied counsel. Sa- t^> Iddresl the ludk said counSei, why the Court should extend leniency to • Keady and inflict other punishment than imprisonment, Counsel went on to stress how the laws of "New Zealand were all for humanitarianism, m which respect the Dominion stood m a unique position. He asked for a. fine and not im-•.; prisoriment—oh the; score of the accused's age and his unblemished . past. Keaay was a man of honest and kindly dealings with his fellows. A host of witnesses could be called who would testify to the sterling character of the accused. i "H only the interest of the individual concerned, accused would be entitled to ask the clemency of the Court," said the Crown Prosecutor, "but there'is not only the interest of tlie. individual, to ' consider, but that of the public. "Keady might not be a young man, but he is a man of, experience —and means. It was a bold offence." Trpodv Wpnr*: Hf<? Fate Hears HIS raw Looking up from his notes, Mr. Just!ce Stringer began: "It is a very painfiii duty for a judge to pass sentence on a man of your age." • "You have pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property —a serious crime. There would be many less thefts if there were no receivers." - • > « From the opening remarks of the judge, Keady's face had undergone a v change. He became visibly paler from the moment he rose to -listen" to'his Honor's summing-up; he seemed to age several years. Th 4 judge went on to point out that Speight was a man of-good character, who had' served his country with distinction m the late war. At the time he committed the offence he was half demented with drink. "You, on the other hand, were a' man m a good position. If you had said a friendly word to this young man and warned him of the foolishness of what he was about to do, this would never have happened." Keady's eyes were alternately fixed anxiously on-the judge and lowered to the front? of the dock before him. He looked distressed and very ill at ease. ment for three months, and will also pay a'fine of £500." The silence of the.. Court was broken by a very distinct murmur from the back, which was densely crowded, and as the usher shouted: "Silence!" Keady—his head boWed —lost no time m. descending the stairs m the custody of the gaoler.