Alleged Assault and Robbery

Southland Times, Issue 18059, 31 January 1903, Page 3

Alleged Assault and Robbery

THE CHARGE HEARD

Frederick Rodgers and William Little were charged -on remand with on 21st January in a railway' carriage between Thornbury ; and Invercargill, assaulting Maurice Gorman and robbing him of £11.— Mr J. Macalister appeared- for the accused. Inspector Mitchell conducted the prosecution and in opening the <ase said that ' on the "20th Ihst., Gorman, an elderly man, had in his possession amongst other monies, two £5 notes and one single JC. When he arrived in Otautau he had the notes in an envelope which he handed over to a storekeeper for safe keeping. The following morning . he 'regained possession of the . money and proceeded by train to Invercargill. At Thornbury, Gorman and the two accused " went to the hotel alongside the railway station, but* he refused to Shout for Rodgers. They reentered; the" train and occupied a secondclass smoker. Before the train had gone .far an altercation arose and Gorman was "very roughly handled. The medical -evidence would show ihat considerable violence must have been used. .Shortly after the disturbance the man found that he had been robbed of the two £5 notes and the single, which were in the envelope ih the inside pocket of his -coat, i- ' v Gorman made it known that he had 6een robbed and from the evidence.;";.;.', the Inspector thought the court wouW conclude that no one besides the accused tua. opportunity of taking the" money^ "; The guard was told of the facts and „*alT .were removed from the carriage except Gorman, , It would be shown that the accused werej standing on the p>latform=-pf the earria.ge occupied by them as the- train passed Grasmere and that Gorman was then lying in a half dazed conditioiii.:in his carriage. The money was afterwards found in a wooden ma<tcli box at • the bottom of the cattle stop a.t Grasmere. Gorman had never /possessed such a box and it might be mentioned, although the fact was perhaps of little importance, that when arrested one of the accused was Bound to have a similar match box in his pocket.Dr HendryTßen "gave evidence and said he examined Gorman on the 21st at H&e' Hospital. Gorman was sober "but the smell "of drink was noticeable. His upper lip was swollen and lacerated, one _of .his front! teeth- bad apparently been knocked but quite -recently and another was loose: - There was a slight discolouration under the left eye which was very marked next morning. He Complained of a pain on the left side of the .chest.;. A blow from a fist would a<^uiit^fbr.:.the mark on the lip. All injuries could.be similarly caused. , T^^Mr Macalister : Gorman was a lit. tle^icited and. somewhat talkative when he came in i>ui"ali his talk was about "the exgerience hei had come, through. He presented the; appearance of .having had

: .< a fright; • -Robert Acheson. gave evidence as to Gorman/ leaving the £11 in his keeping for'. a> night. He saw the money, and Vi^lSrned it, without the ehveiope. Gor-£-2pMtji» was 7 quite sober when he got the in the morning. Gorman, labourer, said he ilv^jw^gaVe I .'..the miiney tp Acheson because ■^"he/was in dread of being robbed. He -w^d not tell what bank the notes were -^bn. When he v got. tiie notes Vac>k from y' Acheson he put * them in an envelope and placed them in the inner-right hand breast pocket of^his coat. He had one -'•■ drink before leaving, Otautau. In the train the accused Little said that he was a brother of. Coster, married to Gorman's daughter. While' at Thornbury Little asked hirii to shout. Witness; didijjp ~'.:trat.;'. refused to shout for Rodgers. When they were. In the train

again Rodgers was pulling out notes, shaking them and ..asking witness to bet with him. Rodgers wanted witness to show liis xnon,ey- and before he knew where - ; het. was he got a fist from Little, a 'tooth' being knocked out. He was going to. catch Little when Rodgers put his hand in .'-;";.: witnesses* pocket. Witness caught hold of Rodgers' hand and got a second blow from Little, which dazed Mm aid.. v lie. did not " come to" until he got to another station. Here he made a general complaint that he had been robbed and the "guard put bim by

Ho did not know v-hat be-

himself,

came : of the accused. He remained ly- - jng in; the carriage until he came to Incouldn't say Low many blows r he g6t ' after the seoond one. We ihadr no ;, match ':■ boat like the one in whichK feiijtes^were found, those not Wing otilajnahle wiere he was working. Se complained to the police on arrival "* in "ihvercinrgill. ' A '\ — .' ■■ Toi^;air ; Macalister : \Vhile he was in the Hospital Ws^rtife came ;to' see him ionce. . He had not been living at home for. 'a long time. He denied that he had had ever ch£ged his; wife with theft. - charged her with the theft of her ■cattle- He had never charged any %|^his I" family with theft. He did not want tQ --■■ prosecute his wife. He did iiwt? want to ptft- his: wife Jo jail althongh* j he could: have done ao often. |His Wile and family, he understood, had tb "allow bim tp' live with *hew ; r He had not-been often before the court If6r asswiUing^eople: ;He ha.d been up ttwieg^tot "' drunkenness; His son had ■ tttoth Jf ;' put seveh or eight y^iure ago- He had pot been robbed ofr lerir ii&ly^once before.- ifcxlid nbt remeiibe^whathoMhestayed. at in Otautau; He^ I^d^nbCmaAy^tokß before x - going to Wd; not being very weU. He did not remember taking}hold of Rodgers' finder before the ;row : and folding : off to it tillVßodgers Kicked him io : the stomachl After the occurrence ho .;. clij did'not;;tell anyone that Kpdgei? had rbbbecf^hint bei6re.\ :• ; ■. The Inspector i Have you»reason to belieive that Kodgers did rob you on a previouji occa^oh ? . .. p ■WHsnesa aaid thaf he was told in the hospital that he would bo killed if he gave evidence against the accused . **■* didn't know who told him. It was a patient, t 1 ' - Robert Bltchie, a very small boy, O avo - evidence at 4o finding the wooden match- : ■: yhqx with the money in tho cattlo stop at .Orasniere. Rpyce Ritchie gave stnfflar! evidence- ; JBSsieCimeron said the boys handed; the money to her, and she gave it to Thomas Ritchie; the latter confirming.

this evidence and stating that he gave the notes to the police.

W. G. Wohlmann, district police clerk, having given evidence as to the receipt of the money from Ritchie, George Sims said he was a passenger in the train in question aiu! travelled in the same carriage as accused and Gorman. The latter asked Kodgers for a match, and Kodgers put his hand up to Gorman's face, saying he would "give him one of that." Gorman called Rodgers something, and the accused replied, telling Gorman to get ),i s hair cut. ' Gorman stood up and said he was 84 years' old and hadn't a gray hair In his head. Rodgers said he was a liar Gorman pulled an envelope cut of his pocket and said, "I'll bet you a £1 i am." He pulled a postal note out of the envelope and put it into tho hands of -another passenger, Campbell, telling Kodgers to cover <,he money. Rodgers did so, and then noticed that Gorman's p.n. was not a £1 note, so ho took- it away from Campbell, rolled it up, and threw it at Gorman, telling mm it was no good. Gorman then made at Rodgers, who put his feet up, leaning back in the seat, and Gorman's face came in contact with the feet. Gorman made another rush at Rqdgers and got his head down on the floor of the carriage. Gorman attempted to get his foot on Rodg3rs' face, when Little interfered and told tho man to desist, saying it was no place to fight. He advised them to get up, shake hands, and bo friends. Rodgirs agreed to do so, and so did GorMuan after some hesitation. Tattle then let Gorman go. and Rodgers put his hand out to shake bonds when Gorman rushed him ngain, knocking him down on the floor. Little pulled the man off, and here witness went out on to the platform to get the guard. As far as he" saw, Rodgers did not put lis hand into Gorman's pocket. It may have occurred without his seeing it, although it was hardly probable. No one else interfered with Gorman except the two accused. At Makarewa station ho heard Gorman say he had been robbed. Gorman was not sober when he antered the train at Thornbury. After the disturbance you couldn't sco Gorman's face for blood. The guard asked them all to go into another carriage at Makarewa. Approaching Grasmere he was on the platform talking to two passengers, and also to accused. Ho never saw either of the accused drop anything at the Grasmere station. He was not watching them particularly. If any person other than the accused had interfered with Gorman witness must have seen them.

To Mr Macalister: Duiing the steuggl

they were striking each other. When Gorman said he had been robbed Rodgers offered to witness to allow •himself to

he searched. This was just after the train left Makarewa. Robert Campbell agreed with tho description of the disturbance given by the last witness. While the row was on he heard Gorman say he had been robbed.

F. T. Walker and James Shields gave corroborative evidence.

John McKenzie, guard, said that when he wns brought along to the carriage Gorman accused Rodgers of robbing him. There was a lot of blood on Gorman's face.and Little had olood on his hands. Ho noticed nothing on Rodgers. Gorman remained in the front compartment of the carriage. Put the others into another carriage. Saw Gorman as the train neared Grasmere : he was leaning up in the comer. The two accused were then on the back platform of the second carriage. The train stopped there for about a minute. There is a cattle stop on the line at- Grasmere, and anything could be dropped in as the train went over it.

To Mr Macalister : Saw Gorman two or three minutes after the train left Thornbury. He was not misbehaving as far as witness saw ; ho was not talking either low or loud. He was speaking to Little when witness save him. They were sitting by themselves, there tbcing no one within a s«at or two of them. Remember Rodgers offering to be searched some time before the train left Makarewa. Matchboxes similar to the one produced were very common on the line.

Inspector Mitchell said that ene of

the witnesses for the prosecution was unable to be present, and as she would give important evidence regarding the identity of the bank notes, be asked that the case be further "adjourned to a day suitable for the. Court and coun-

Mr Macalister said that if his Worship was satisfied that a prima facie case had been made out the accused could be committed, and any other evidence could be token at the Supreme Court

notice were given

The Inspector said that he particularly wished to have Detective Mcllveney's evidence taken in the lower court. Mr Maealister said t*at he had decided to reserve the defence. Detective Mcllveney's evidence might be admitted by consent. His Worship said that he had already made up his mind to commit. There was no provision for the admission in the lower court of evidence not taken by consent. The accused were then further remandid till Friday next, bail being allowed on the same terms as formerly.