Accidents and Offences.

Otago Witness, Issue 1465, 13 December 1879, Page 19

Accidents and Offences.

> ■♦ , - S, - AttheCity Police Court on the"sf;h: JdHKane" was charged witb having On the 25th oi N^veni ber, without being duly lic-ns-d, sold a quautity of ale, at Mullocky Gully, to Joseph Mitchell and others.— Mr Inspector Mallard prosacuted, and Mr E Cook defeuded the accuueJ.— J. Mitchell (a labourer) gave evidence tuat he had been for som9 time workinsf at Mullocky Gully, and was there on tho 23rd of November last. Three other men who wera with him at Mullocky Gully were now in gat>l upon the charge of having ' broken into a tent and Stolen certain articles. On the 23 cd ult. they went to the defendant's tent and asked for drink. They were all served with beer, and Kane, the defendant, also took a glass with them. John Purnell, one of the men now m gaol, paid for all tho drinks, giving the defendant a half-crown and a shilling, aud receiving trom him sixpence. Af tsr this they had more drink, and spent in all 14a on drink sjW them by the defendant, and had a "good drunk." Witness denied that he was with Parnell and his companions when the tent was broken into, and deposed that he dirt not know anything about it, except what he had since heard.— A. Connell gave corroborative evidence.— Mr E. Cook addressed the Bench, with the view of showing that "'the evidence given by the witnesses was entirely unreliable, and that the witnesses had adopted this method of taking revenge for the prosecution of their companions who were now in gaol. — The defendant, on being called, flatly contradicted the evidence given for the prosecution, and said that Mitchell and Connell accompanied three men who demanded grog and pulled down his tent because he said he h&d nose and would not supply them with any. He offered them tea, but they refused it, and said they would have grog.— Eliza Kane, the wife of the defendant, also denied that grog was sold as alleged by the witnesses, but deposed that Bhe made them tea, that they accepted it and drank it, and said they would pay for it some other time. They then remained in the tent until daylight, and witness andher husband sat up all nipht with them. Witness said she had not a ca»k of beer in the place on Sunday, butthe men brought a, fivegallon cask of beer with them when they returned to the tent on Monday evening.— His Worship said : There are evid-ntly three other" witnesses who might have been procured for the prosecution of this case, but what value their evidence would be is questionable. The defence, I think, might have beea anticipated, for it is usually the case that the two defendants, or iavher the defendant and his wife, will swear that no grog has been sold. I find, as a rule, that in cases of this character I have kai to deal with, the prosecution for perjury is rixked. — Mr E.- Cook : Of courie, your Worship bears in mind thai the three persons referred to have been convicted.— His Worship: Yea; but that does not 'disqualify them, from giving evidence. — Mr, E Cook: No, it does not exclude their evidence, but it taints it.— His Worship dismissed the charge without prejudice, ,• . , A fire broke out at Caversbam on the 4th ia a four-roomed wooden cottage owned and occupied by Mr T. H. Pickford. The family were out at the time, and the origin of the fire is not known. The premises and contents were completely destroyed, notwithstanding the efforts of the local, fire brigade. The insurances on the property destroyed were Ll5O in the South British ofike and LIOO in the' CMoniaL About 1 o'clock on Tuesday morning (lays the Clutha Leader) Mr James Motion's dwell-ing-houie at his farm near Waipahi was totally destroyed by fire. The inmates, when awakened by the crackling noise of the burning timber, endeavoured to put the fire out by throwing backets of water on the burning wood, but were not successful in extinguishing it. and thus lost much of their furniture and effects. The fire is supposed to have originated near the fireplace, and no f oulplay is suspected. The night being fortunately quite calm, the adjoining stable* and other outhouses were •caved. The building is, we believe, insured, but the owner has sustained considerable loss tin other ways. At the City Police Court on the sth, Alex.ander Young was charged with having committed a breach of the above regulations by unlawfully making use of a second-class railway ticket frjm Invercargill to Dunedin. — Mr Denniston appeared for the defendant, and Inspector Mallard prosecuted. — Thon*asGre enwood, railway guard, deposed that he was in •charge of the train from Clinton to Duaedin -on the 24th November. When he examined the tickets he found the defendant had a second class single ticket from Dunedin to In--vereargiil,, dated for the previous Saturday. This ticket would have entitled thi parson 10 <wrhom it wis issued on Saturday to return from Invercargill on Monday if he got the ticket re-dated (ticket produced). Witness knew that the defendant had been in Southland for some time, and atked him if he was just returning. The defendant said he had not been in Dnnedin since the witness had last seen him, and he (witness) then asked him how he had got the ticket. In reply the defendant Baid that he had bought the ticket for 10s, that he was willing to [pay his fare, and that he had no intention to defraud the railway. — Mr Denniston said it was admitted that the tickec had been purchased by the defendant as alleged. — This closed the case for the prosecution. — Mr Denniston sabmittfd that the case should be dismissed on the preliminary ground that there was no evideica that the ticket had been wholly or in part used before it was transferred to the defendant— His Worship thought there was «ufficient evidence from the admissions of the defendant, from the date of the ticket, and fr»m the fact that the ticket was clipped in the usual way. — Mr Denniston asked his Worship to concent to state s, case fur appeal, as he considered it was a very proper one for an appeal. — His Worship said he would consider the matter, and adjourned the cue until Monday, 4ha 9th instant. . At the Resident MarfßtrateV Court, Port Chalmeiß, on Monday, OBarlee Felton, one of seamen of the ship Hermione, who was ehargtd with embezzlement of cargo while on a voyage from London to this port, and also with carryang a naked light in the hold, was sentenced to <be imprisoned with hard labour for sixteen weeks. Frank Woolfe,.one of the ship's apiprentrees, charged with aiding Feltoa in his mefarioua acts, was ordered to be imprisoned four weeks for each offence. A woman named Jane Taylor was charged At the Magistrate's Court, Port Cbalmera, yesterday, with soliciting alms from various persons in the town on the pretence that relief was wanted by a distressed . family. The charge was fully substantiated by the •vidence, and the prisoner was ordered to be imprisoned with hard labour for four weeks. An inqueßt was held at the Grand Pacific Hotel,' Mußselburgh, on Monday, on the body of the man Henry Madden, found at the Ocean Beach on Saturday morning last, Dr Hocken was coroner, and Mr J. P. Jones was chosen foreman of the' jury. Madden, who was a North of Ireland man, a tailor by trade,

39 years of age, and had lost his left arm by a surgical operation at the Hospital, had been an inmate of the Benevolent Institution since February, 1878. He got leave to go out for an hour or two od Monday, the Ist inst., being a holiday, and did not again return to tbe Institution. There was no trace obtainable of him until the Friday afternoon, when he called on an acquaintance named PosS9nißki, who is a tailor at Outram, but was staying at St. Kilda at the time. Madd*n was then suffering from the effects of drink, and hi* clothes wera covered with sand. as if he bad been lying down at the sandhill?, He asked for sjme tobacco, and said he intended returning to the Institution in the morning, admitting tha!; he had been drinking. Mr'Posseniski advised him to return at ence, but he would not do so. Next morning early the body was found near Lawyer's Head by a labourer named -Wallace, who was walking on the beach. It was naked, excepS that both socks were on and an undershirt. The other clothes were lying on the rocks dose by, which would have been covered with water at high tids, so that it is conjectured the drowning must have taken place but a short time previously. Deceaied had been of drinking habits lor several yeans, but wa<* said to have been in good health and more comfortable in appearance since he had been ia the Benevolent Institution. ' The Jury returned an open verdict of "Found drowned."

Jfur 1 am uouuug, if uoc crnmtU. The man that hath not muiic in himself. Let ho each man bo trusted. Shakkspkabb.