"VANISHED INTO SPACE."

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1788, 6 November 1919, Page 2

"VANISHED INTO SPACE."

MYSTERIOUS SOLDIER FRIEND. STORY OF A "TOTE" TICKET. An individual, who was described by his Honour Mr Justice Herdinan as "a soldier-friend who has vanished into space" figured largely in the case of John Lynch, who was tried and found guilty at the Supreme Court, Christchurch, yesterday on charges of forging a totalisator ticket, and of attempting to cause George A. Blackmore to act upon it as if it were genuine. His Honour remarked that judging from the evidence of Lynch it would appear as if this mysterious individual had committed forgery. The facts of the case were that on August 15 last, during the course of a race meeting of the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club, at Addington, a "tote" ticket, which admittedly was forged, was presented at the totalisator by the accused. The ticket was on Dillon Direct, the winner of the second race, the Federal Handicap. Dillon Direct's "tote" number was eight, but the ticket in question plainly showed that it had not originally borne the number eight, but the number of another horse in the race. It was ad-' mitted by experts in court yesterday that the change had been made in a very clever manner. Accused presented the ticket at a window, towards-the end of the payingout on the second' race. Something in the appearance of the ticket roused the clerk's suspicions, and, telling accused to wait a minute, he closed down the window and went to examine the ticket under a magnifying glass. When ''.e returned Lynch was gone. After the seventh race had been run Lynch returned to the totalisator and demanded his dividend on Dillon Direct. He was asked to come inside the totalisator. This he did, and was there confronted by detectives, who subsequently arrested him. Accused, in evidence yesterday, gave a detailed account of his doings on the course on August 15. He went to the races by himself. In the first race he put his money on Sol. It was after making this bet that the mysterious soldier-friend came on the scene. He

told Lynch, who also is a returned soldier, that he should have backed Wild Pedo. As it happened Wild Pedo won, and, as the two men were still together, Lynch decided to follow his friend's advice for the second race. This advice was that he should back Dillon Direct. Accused followed this tip, buying two £1 tickets on the horse. He promised to give his informant a cut out of the dividend, if there was any. When Dillon Direct won, accused gave one of the tickets to his friend, who then advised him to back Vice-Admiral for the third race. Lynch then gave the other ticket on Dillon Direct to his

friend to collect the dividend, whilst he went to purchase tickets on ViceAdmiral. When he had bought the tickets he went to look for his friend, and found him moving slowly up a crowded race to one of the pay-out windows. There was an empty race nearby, and as it was nearly time for the third race, accused asked his friend for one of the tickets, so that he might collect his dividend more quickly. The man handed him a ticket, which he presented at a window. The clerk, however, closed the window down, instead of paying the dividend. This, however, did not surprise accused, who thought the clerk had temporarily run out of money. He did not wait at the window, but. went to another to collect a dividend on Sol. After 'the seventh race he returned to collect his dividend on Dillon Direct. The clerk asked him to come inside the totalisator, and he was there arrested. As for the mysterious soldier-friend, accused did not see him after he received the forged ticket from him at the pay-out race, and he stated he had not seen him since. All Lynch knew of the mau was that he was a returned soldier who came back on the same boat as himself. He did not know the man's name. In reply to questions from his Honour, Lynch said it was about 20 minutes from the time he handed the man the tickets on Dillon Direct,'for the purpose of collecting the dividend, until he saw him in the race at the pay-out

on the other, individuals were aggregating. The remedy was a steep and stiff graduated tax, and compulsory residence on pastoral lots. More industries were needed, and a Minister of Industries was needed to assist, them. After the soldiers had all returned and settled, a cautious immigration- policy would be required. Encouragement was needed by wheat-growers. Importation should be made unnecessary. A general revision of taxation was essential. NELSON. Pits* Association. NELSON, November 5. Mr .T. G. Price, the official Labour candidate for the Nelson seat, opened his campaign to-night before a large audience. He outlined the policy of the Labour Party and was* accorded a unanimous vote of confidence.

' window. The man had belonged to the Otago Regiment. ' In the course of his summing-up, Mi Jo A. Cassidy, who was defending accused, said the fact that his client returned to the totalisator after th€ seventh race showed that he honestly believed the ticket was genuine. He would not have returned had the ticket been forged. The forgery was a clever one, and it was almost impossible that it could have been perpetrated by accused, who was only a labourer. In his summing-up, his Honour said that if accused's story was correct, then the soldier-friend, who had vanished into space, must have made the alteration. As there were two good tickets on Dillon "Direct, bought by accused, this soldier must have kept them, and handed the forged ticket to accused. A lot of clever men frequented racecourses, and accused may have merely been a catspaw. After a short retirement, the jury returned with a verdict of not guilty on both charges. Lynch was discharged.