Before His Honor, Mr Justice Chapman.) Tuesday, September Ist.

Otago Witness, Issue 875, 5 September 1868, Page 7

Before His Honor, Mr Justice Chapman.) Tuesday, September 1st.

ROBBINGAN EMPLOYER.

The Criminal Session was commenced t>n Tuesday, at the Court House ; the following gentlemen being sworn of the Grand Jury :—: — John Theodore Thomas Boyd, North East Valley, gentleman, Foreman. John Bathgate, Princes street, manager ■. Daily Times. ■ . John Borton, Brockville,' gentleman. Colman Burke, Princes street, merchant. Edward B. r Cargill, Princes street, merchant. John Davie, Manse street, auctioneer. Francis 0. Fulton, Caversham, gentleman. James Kilgour. Roislyn, merchant. Hugh Kirkpatrick, Princes street, merchant. John R. Mackenzie, Manse street, banker' William Puriie, Upper Kaikorai, M.D. Robert M. Robertson, High street, agent. €rßorge Turnbu.il, High street, merchant. Joseph F. Watson, High street, merchant. Thomas Dick, Dunedin, gentleman. The Judge said that there was very little in the state of the calendar, toxall for lengthened remarks on his part. Although there were VJ prisoners for trial, the crimes with which thpy were charged were happily of a minor description. They were all offences against property, not one being a crime of violence, or having any element of violence in it. In six cases, the offence charged was, obtaining money or goods under false pretences ; and most of the cases would be found to be of a very simple description —so simple, indeed, that one was disposed to be astonished at the folly of the prisoners rather than at the crime. The nature of four of the cases was this : The prisoner presented a cheque, purporting to be signed by himself, and obtained money or goods for it. One would suppose it would be obvious to a person disposed to commit crime under such circumstances, that detection must follow in a few hours, and possibly might follow in a few minutes, he well knowing that he had no account at the Bank, and that there was not tb.3 least chance of the cheque being paid. The two other cases of false pretence' were of a very similar character. The prisoners represented themselves as being employed on Government work at Switzers, and had wag<?s to receive ; and they gave orders as for their wages. Of course, when those orders were presented, the falsehood of the story became apparent; the police were set upon the track of the men, and they were soon arrested. There were three charges of forgery, all against the same person, Morrison. In. one indictment, the prisoner was charged with forging and uttering a cheque purporting to be signed by Mr W. D. Murison, and upon the Bank of New Zealand ; in the second case, the charge was of forcing Mr W. D. Murison's si«mature to a cheque upon the Bank of New South Wales; and in the third case —in which the committal took place on Monday — the charge was of forging the signature of Mr James Murison, of Maniototo, to a cheque. It turned out, in each case, that the signature was totally unlike the genuine one. Those two kinds of offences included more than half of the cases. There were three cases of larceny, which did not require any comment. In one case, that of housebreaking, against Shaw, no larceny took place —owing to some interruption, probably. Therefore, as he (the Judge) understood, the prisoner would be indicted for breaking into a dwelling house, with intent to commit a larceny. That was a misdemeanor ; and the only point the jury would have to consider was, as to the intent. He need not point out what constituted a dwellinghouse in such a case. Occasionally, there were some fine-drawn distinctions on the point; but they could not arise here. A plan seemed to have been submitted to the committing Magistrate, and would probably be produced here, which seemed ""to leave no doubt that the spot where the breaking took place was part of a dwelling house. The intent of the prisoner was to be collected by the Grand Jury, from the circumstances. There was a cash-box on the premises, and that box was removed, under circumstances which went to show that the prisoner was the only person who could have removed it. Because he was interrupted or alarmed, the prisoner seemed to have "escaped before completing the robbery; but the breaking, if the jury found the intent charged, was a misdemeanor, for which the prisoner would be liable to 'punishment, but to a less extent than for the felony. There were two indictments for sheep stealing. In one of them six persons were concerned, aud •three of the same persons were charged in the other indictment. There was some little complication in the evidence, but not such as to call for remark from him (the Judge) ; and the only other case was one of bestiality, upon which the less he -said, the better.

The Grand Jury retired, and a bill wa» soon returned.

Mary Borthwick (19), pleaded Guilty to a charge of stealing Lll, the property of Robert Qadzow, her master. The Judge said that he would pass a very lenient sentence, in the hope that his , so doing would have a good effect. This J was the prisoner's first offence; but it! was committed under such circumstances that the prisoner must have known that detection would follow, and it could not ! be overlooked. The sentence was — Three months' imprisonment. CHARGE OF STEALING A WATCH, AT , OAMARU. James Jeffrey wag indicted for having at Oamaru, on the 27th June, stolen from i George Milne, a silver watch. ! The Crown Prosecutor (Mr B. C. Haggitt) conducted the case ; and Mr G. E. Barton appeared for the prisoner. The short facts were — On the afternoon of the 27th June, Milne went to the Oamaru Hotel, Oamaru. He there saw the prisoner (whom he did not know), and other persons, and he drank beer and played billiards. One result was that the prisoner claimed a shilling as being due from Milne ; and another, that Milne went to sleep, " not exactly drunk," as he said, but a good deal off sober, according to the evidence of other witnesses. Before this, and when in the bar, he took from his watch-pocket a silver hunting watch, which he wore with a steel chain ; but after looking at it, he was noticed by Ash, the barman, to drop the watch into the outside breastpocketof hiscoat, instead of returning it to the proper pocket. Soon after this, the rest of the company went to supper, leaving Milne asleep in the bagatelle-room. After supper, Ash saw the prisoner return, and lean on the table, against which Milne was asleep, and put his left hand into the right side pocket of Milne's coat. Ash nodded to Burrows, a laboring man, to "notice what the prisoner was doing." Ther,, the prisoner moved round and seated himself on the left side of Milne ; and he again put his hand into the right side pocket. After that the prisoner put his right hand under his left arm, so that the hand could reach into the pocket of the coat into which Milne had put his watch, and a small book fell to the floor — just then, however, the ostler called the prisoner, who went out. Ash then, in the presence of Burrows, and other men, took the watch from Milne's pocket, read the nnm her of it, and returned the watch to the j pocket. Ash and the other men went into the dining-room, and Ash wrote the number of the watch, with chalk, upon the table there. The prisoner soon returned, and was seen going into the bagatelle room, where Milne had remained asleep. Not long after, Ash went to that room, and he met the prisoner at the door. The prisoner went to the back door, and Ash went up to Milne. Seeing Milne's watch chain hanging loose, he shook Milne, calling out, *'I believe you've been robbed," and then went and asked a man to go for Sergeant Ballen. The watch was not found on the prisoner when he was apprehended, nor had it been found when the prisoner was committed for trial; but (said the prosecution) before he was arrested, the prisoner had time to secrete the watch where it was found by Bullen. Ash, in his cross-examination by Mr Barton, said— i believe that when the prisoner came to the hotel, he had a horse and cart ; he asked livery for his horse, and I believe he is a travelling hawker. I never saw him, so far as I know, until he came to the Oamaru Hotel, on the 27th June. The number of the watch I wrote down was 1043 ; there was another 'figure after the three, but I could not make it out. I have not seen the watch •until now, from the time I put it back into Milne's pocket. - I did not "plant" it for Bullen to find ; and I only know that I heard that Bullen had found the watch. I deny that I was ever "in trouble" myself : I have never been brought before a Magistrate on any charge. No ; I was not "up " for anything, about the time of last Oamaru races. When I took the number cf the watch, I said something to the effect, that he'd be likely to search the pockets again. All the men left the bagatelle- room with me. Burrows did not remain there, lam sure. Of all the men present when I took the number of the watch, only Burrows is here as a witness to-day. I was acting for the landlord of the house at the time of this affair. It did not occur to me to take Milne's watch and money and put it into a place of safety. I should have enough to do, if I got drunken men into the house, for the sake of protecting property they might have about them. I did not watch the prisoner when he returned to the bagatelle room, nor did I suggest that any of the other men should watch. i feel quite sure that no other man than the prisoner could have entered ihe baga-

ielle room, 'between the time of my taking the number of the watch, and my seeing! the watch chain hanging loose, and my 1 roußing Milne. ' , Burrows (cross-examined) : When Ash nodded to me, I understood he meant to " give me the office" — to mean that I was to look to see what was going on. I did not find the watch, nor do I know who found it. When Ash took the number of the watch, he said, " That fellow means to have it, I think," or words to that effect. Every man in the room must have heard what Ash said ; and these men are working in. Oamaru now. After the number had been taken, and we had all gone into the dining room, I saw the prisoner going up the passage in the direction of the bagatelle room, and afterwards I saw him coming from the direction of that room. There were myself, and four, perhaps five, more, who sat on the table xn the dining room, during the interval. I'm not an amateur detective, and I didn't "crawl" up to see what the prisoner was, doing. I had no desire to dirt my trousers, and I'm not in the habit of crawling. Ash went towards his bar, and then came back, and said, " The watch is gone ; fetch a policeman." I don't suppose he cooeyed it. A man named Thomson went for the police ; I went outside the house, and walked about. Donald Boyd, police constable, apprehended the prisoner, in the Oatnaru Hotel ; Ash going with him, to point out the man. — By Mr Barton : I searched the prisoner. I found on him a silver watch, a purse, and sundry other things. I afterwards counted the money in the purse, and found that it was L3l 5s 9d. The prisoner had with him a horse and dray, and some bundles that looked like hawker's goods. R. Bullen, police-sergeant : On the 6th July, I found the watch now produced. It was by the north wall of the Oamaru Court House, and between 80 and 90 yards from the front door of the Oamaru Hotel. — By Mr Barton : The watch was partially hidden in some mortar. I had been searching for the watch, from the time it was lost. The Crown Prosecutor summed up. He submitted that the case was about as conclusive a one against the prisoner as could well be put before the jury — assuming that the jury believed the witnesses, which there was no reason for not doing. A strict cross- examination of Ash and Burrows had resulted only^n a repetition, in a different form, of the evidence given by those witnesses in their examination in chief. Mr Barton, in addressing the jury for the prisoner, said that he had three strong pieces of evidence in the prisoner's favor — Ash, Burrows, and the watch. The learned Counsel commented on the evidence of Ash and Burrows, and he propounded several theories as to who might have stolen the watch and hidden it. It was not necessary for the prisoner to show that somebody else did steal the watch : it was enough, if the jury were satisfied that it was very far from clear that the prisoner was the thief. Why should the prisoner steal the watch ? He had one of his own ; he had L3l 5s 9d in his purse ; he had a horse, dray, and goods. Let the jury examine the watch of Milne. That watch was undoubtedly stolen on the evening of June 27th : it was found by B alien, against the Court House wall, amidst rubbish, on the 6th July. Could anybody believe that that watch had lain in the open air for nine days ? Then, as the taking of ihe number of the watch. The jury would find that it was most difficult, in broad daylight io distinguish the almost microscopic figures. Was it likely that th^se figures would ba readily made out, in a candle-lighted room of a country hotel ? Was there not a name " Mason L " scratched on the watch-plate, which would attract anybody's attention, before the figures would do so ? Upon the whole, he (Mr Barton) felt sure that. the jury would conclude that the case was not one to justify the sending to gaol of a man of whom nothing was known before other than that he was honest and industrious, and possessed money and goods which put him above pressure which could induce the committal of crime. At the request of a juror, Ash was recalled. He said — When I read the number, I did not take the watch off the, chain. One of the men in the room lifted the candle and held it down, while I read the number. The Judge, after stating the evidence, &c. said that Mr Barton had asked the jury to attach great weight — as proving that the prisoner was not guilty — to the appearance of the watch. If the prisoner stole the watch, he must have hidden it during the five, eight, or ten minutes which passed between the robberyiand the prisoner's arrest. If the watch was hidden for only a few days — for anything less than nine days — the prisoner could not have hidden it, because he was in custody. But if Ash was the thief, why, when, he had put the police

upon a wrong seent — when he had induced them to look to the prisoner as fcha offender,, and to get a commitment againafc i him— why should he hide the watch. Aah'a conduct had been such, from the first, that the most remote suspicion had not been entertained as to him ; and if ha had the watch, he might have kept it ia a box, or even carried in his pocket; with. perfect safety. The point was a reasons able one for Mr Barton to put to the jury : but the jury must consider ' ifc reasonably. Was there any reason why, because of its present appearance, thft twatch could not have lain for nine day» where Bullen found it ? Silver, if : even lightly protected, by sticks or stones^ would not rapidly tarnish, even duringinclement' weather. The remarks as ttk Ash applied alßo to Burrows. The jrajr must consider the whole case ; remembering that a doubt of guilt, to entitle tha prisoner to the benefit of it, mggt be & reasonable doubt. The jury, after a short absence from Court, returned with a verdict of— Not Guilty ; and Jeffrey was discharged. PLEAS OF GUILTY. . r The following prisoners pleaded Guilty : — John Morrison, of uttering forged cheques, but Not Guilty as to the forgery ; Alfred Champness, of obtainixtggoods by a false pretence with respect to a valueless cheque purporting to be far L 5 ; but Not Guilty as to a cheque papporting to be for L 2; Alfred Horley, off similar offences with two cheques. The Crown Prosecutor said that he would not proceed against Morrison, oa. the forgery counts. The prisoners were ordered to bet brought up on Thursday, for sentence. The folio-wing pleaded Not Guilty :-*- George Ennis, Thomas Shaw, Thomaa Edwards, B. H. Bartlett, Paul Browfi, Gilbert Hughes, Andrew Jasper, James Lennan, John Hammill, John M'Arthiir^ and John Henry.