CANADIAN CRIME

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18632, 16 February 1935, Page 5

CANADIAN CRIME

ATTEMPT AT ALIBI LONG SENTENCE TORONTO, Feb. 7. When Mr. John Labatt,. a wealthy brewer of London (Ontario), was kidnapped last July from his motor car, he was held in an obscure hunting lodge for 10 days. His abductors fastened his eyes with adhesive tape. Moaning and crying to simulate distress, - Labatt was able, to see enough from the corner of his left eye to get a good look at his chief abductor, who often threatened him with death.

Half-starved, Labatt was finally released after giving an order to a brother brewer to pay 25,000 dollars (£5000) ransom.

The money, however, was not col lected.

In December, . the Canadian police arrested David Meisner, a gangster from Cincinnati, who, with much bravado, offered the alibi that he was living quietly at Covington (Kentucky), when the kidnapping occurred. Yesterday, two United States police officials arrived in London from Kentucky. One spent a miserable afternoon being cross-examined by the Canadian prosecutor concerning the alibi. During the night, both American officers fled back to the United States in their motor car, leaving Meisner to his fate.

Judge McFarland told the jury that he did not believe a word of the alibi evidence.

The defence collapsed and the jury brought in a verdict of guilty. Meisner was sentenced to IS years.