RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume V, Issue 156, 24 November 1866, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURTS.

TlMAßU— Thursday, November 22, 1866. [Before 13. Woollcombe, Esq., R.M., aud W. C. Beswick, Esq., J.P.] BURGLARY AT WAIMATE. James Little and John Allen were brought up charged with Larceny, having been remanded from the Resident Magistrate's Court, Waimate. Andrew Dow, proprietor of the Waimate Hotel, deposed that his premises had been broken into to effect the robbery. The prisoners were then arrainged for Burglary. Mr Cardale defended the prisoners, James McCooey, sworn, deposed : lam a Hawker. I was at Waimate on the 13th inst. , and spent the evening at the Waimate Hotel. The tsvo prisoners were m my company drinking; there were others drinking with us also. I cannot remember the subject of the conversation. It was pretty late when I went to bed. The landlord and prisoner Allen pointed out my room to me, and they came into the room with me. 1 was m drink, but could manage to take off my clothes, with the exception of my boots, which the landlord stooped down and unloosed. 1 put my trousers under- my head, under the pillow ; I had m the pockets of them one cheque for £1, one for £3 17s 6d, one for £5, and two for £10 each ; also a lot of £1 notes, oue £10 note, one £5 note, five or six sovereigns, and some silver. 1 took about £72 on that day (Tupsday) and the day previous, the whole of which was m my pocket, with the exception of about £7, which I had spent. I had all the cheques and notes mmy left hand pocket, and the loose gold and silver m my right hand pocket. I was m bed before they left my room, and the landlord fastened the door outside. I awoke at daylight and looked around, and seeing my trousers on the floor, I jumped up immediately aud felt m my pockets, and found my money was gone. 1 went to the door and found I could not open it. I then went to the window and opened it, 1 forget whether inside or outside. It being quite low, I jumped out, and knocked at the bar door, and the landlord came and asked me what I wanted there so early. I told him I was bad, and wanted a drink. Then he asked me how I had got out, and I told him, through the window. After having a drink, he went with me under the verandah and unlocked my bedroom door. There is no other door to the room but the one outside. I told him I had lost all my money. We then made a search for it, and when we could not find it, I said it was of no luse looking— it was gone. 1 found a little bit of brass on the bedclothes ; it was part of the window fastener, and the landlord remarked, "This is a little bit of your work." I said it was not for I knew nothing of it. He had a look at the window ; it is directly over the bed and opposite the door. A person from the outside could reach the bed easily ; might reach the end of it, or he might perhaps have to get inside to do that. I caunot say the distance exactly. I did not awake during the night. I found my coat and waistcoat on the floor where I had left them. I got the one pound cheque from Mr Jones of Makihikihi. It was not drawn out by him but he endorsed it. I could not swear that the cheque produced is the same, but I had one like it I did not m any way expose my money. I paid all monies out of my right hand pocket where my loose money was kept. I do not recollect any one asking me to gamble before Igoing to bed. I did not pass the one pound cheque. The reason why I did not lay information to the police was I thought it was too late. I ,made sure 1 should not get my money back again. Cross-examined by Mr Cardale : I had been drinking all day a little. The money I had about me I took m two days. I was the worse for liquor when I commenced drinking m the evening, but knew what I was doing. I remember Mr Dow, the landlord, undoing my bootlaces ; he did not tell me he had done so. I will swear I had the cheques enumerated m my pocket when I went to bed. I paid no cheques away while at Waimate. I did not look at the contents of my pockets when I left the room to go to bed, but 1 put my hand and felt the money there. I told the landlord I wanted a drink before I told him of the loss of my money m the morning. As soon as I had had a drink I told him. I do not thiuk I was drugged over night. If I had been all right I might have heard the window opened. The pillow was on the floor by the bed side when I awoke, and the trousers thrown against the door. There was no money at all left m the pockets, but there were ten shillings m gold and some silver with my watch on the table. I put it there myself. The landlord, when I told him of the robbery, said, " perhaps you have planted it yourself somewhere." I said, '"I have not, it is stolen." The night before the robbery I went away for about two hours m my buggy. I was rather the worse for liquor, m fact had been so all day. I don't recollect saying, " I don't know where I have been," m ; reply to that question. Andrew Dow. sworn, deposed : I am the proprietor of the Waimate HoteL I recollect, on

the 13th instant, Mr McCooey, sometimes called " Irish Jimmy," being at my place. The two prisoners were m company with him during the evening ; they were drinking together, " shouting " for each other. All three stopped m my house that night. I asked McCooey to go to bed about twelve o'clock, and took him to his room, where the prisoner Allen followed us, and sat upon the bed. I assisted McCooey to take off his boots, and while doing so, Alien asked me to fetch some drink, and m the meantime he would assist McCooey. I said 1 would not McCooey put his trousers under his pillow, aud laid some change on the table by the side of his watch. When he had turned m, I took up the candle and told Allen to come out. I then locked the door and put the key m my pocket. The window was fastened inside with a brass fastener. The only entrance is from the outside of the house, under the verandah. When I shut up, I asked the prisoners, who were not lodgers, if they were going home. They said, no, they would stop the night. They live about a mile from my place, m the bush. I was awakened m the morning by my dog barking, aud a knocking at the door. I Went down and opened it, and saw McCooey standing at the door, and asked him what he wanted there so early m the morning. He said he felt bad and wanted a drink. I then asked him how he had got out, and he told me. When I was serving him with a drink, he told me he had lost all his money. I said are you sure you did not plant it somewhere last night, for 1 have known men m drink to do so, and next day forget where they laid it. i asked him where he had found his trousers. We went to the bedroom door and I opened it. I found the window fastener broken off lying on the floor. I said you have done this, but he denied it. I told him to lay information to the police, but he seemed careless and would not. 1 heard the prisoner Little say he would have a pound or two out of that man before he went to bed,but I said he should not that night. Little seemed very anxious to get McCooey to gamble, but he would not. Mrs Dow called my attention to the window m the morning, abont nine o'clock, and upon examination I found that both door and window had been tampered with. The catch of the door had had been forced half open by a three-cornered instrument, and the window frame and sill had been deeply indented by marks of a three-eighths chisel. There was a chisel lying on a bench at the back of the premises the evening previous. The room is only six feet by seven, and the window is m the centre of the room over the middle of the bed ; it could be reached from the outside easily. McConey was the worse for liquor all the day, and particularly so at night time, but not stupidly drunk. Allen was perfectly sober, but Little was not so. On Wednesday morning, Mrs Dow showed me the cheque produced for one pound, and said Little had given it to her m payment for some drink. I gave it to Sergeant Scott. There were dirty marks about the window recently done ; the two prisoners had been sinking wells, and had finished one on Tuesday, aud their clothes were dirty. Cross-examined by Mr Cardale : There were other people drinking with the prisoners and McCooey. They left the bar for some time, and went into a side room. I don't know what transpired there, for I did not join them. There were twelve or fourteen men drinking at the time. The prisoners had on another occasion slept m the hoteL The chisel at the back fitted the marks exactly. By the Court : The chisel was found alongside the house (not where it was left) some time after the robbery. It was the catch of the window that was broken. W. B. Jones, sworn, deposed : I am a publican residing at Makihikihi. I know McUooey by sight. He came to my place and sold me some cloth. I paid him by two cheques, one for £3 17s 6d. drawn by Mr Price, and one for £1, drawn by Mr Babington, and a halfcrown. The one pound cheque produced is the same I gave him. Cross-examined by Mr Cardale s The one pound cheque was drawn out on the 12th inst., therefore I am sure it is the same. Mary Dow, sworn, deposed : I am the wife of Andrew Dow. I have seen the two prisoners ; they were at my house on the 13th inst. m company with McCooey. The following moming there was a report of a robbery having been committed upon McCooey- I went to his bedroom to see if I could discover anything. I noticed the fastening of the window broken, and marks on the door. Prisoner Little came m and had some drink, and paid for it by a one pound cheque, and as it was endorsed Jones, and knowing that McCooey had been paid money from Jones, I took the cheque to my husband. Daniel Burrows, sworn, deposed : lam a carpenter m the employ of Mr Dow. I know the two prisoners. I recollect on the night of the 13th inst. showing Little to bed ; he slept m a room with another person. I slept m a room partly petitioned off from bis, and Allen slept m a room adjoining mine. It was about 12 o'clock when I went to bed. I conversed with Allen while undressing. Allen came into my room some time after and said, "blowout that light, for I cannot sleep while it is burning." The door was not shut. I heard nothing all night. I heard of the robbery late next morning. The marks on the window correspond with a chisel I am using. Cross-examined by Mr Cardale : The prisoner Allen was a little the worse for liquor. By the Court : I cannot say if the chisel was absent from the bench on which I left it W. H. Scott, Sergeant of Police, sworn, deposed : On the 14th of this month, from information I received, I proceeded to the Waimate Hotel, and examined the door and window of the bedroom where McCooey, the person robbed, had slept the previous night t saw marks on both. The door appeared to have been forced by a three-edged tile, and the window by a chisel, or something of that sort. The cheque produced I received from Andrew Dow. When I arrested the prisoners and had cautioned them, Little remarked it was very strange they should be suspected. I fonnd on Little two cheques and a half-sovereign. Allen had no money. They have lately been sinking wells m tjie Waimate district. Cross-examined by Mr Condale : I know nothing against the character of the prisoners. His Worship, m giving a verdict, said that the conduct of McCooey was not such as wonld warrant any one m believing he had lost a large sum of money, for the witness Dow had stated he appeared careless when told to give information ; and the fact of thinking of a drink before making known the loss of nis money would strengthen that opinion. The cheque had not been proved to be unlawfully m the possession of the prisoners. McCooey and the prisoners had been drinking m a room by themselves, out of sight of witnesses. The tools which marked the window and door had not been traced to having been either m their possesion or use ; therefore he should, give the prisoners the benefit of the insufficieut evidence, and after cautioning the prisoners, he dismissed the case. m^_