MAGISTERIAL

Timaru Herald, Volume LII, Issue 5169, 16 June 1891, Page 3

MAGISTERIAL

*- — • I TIMAEU— MOSDAT, JtJNB IBTH. (Before 0. A, Wray.Baq., R.M , and Captain Suttor J.P.) ' I&ECEHr. , Ah Woi or Wi was brought up on eight • further charges of larceny, romnndod from Friday. In oaoh of th«so caaea tho property L m question was under £1 m voluo. ' Mr Perry appeared for the prisoner, and | suggested that as two cases had been sent to j the Supreme Court, it would be as well to ' lump all theso casos and eond them to tho Supromo Court also. After a difleupaion and various suggestions , it was doeidod (o hear tho oases separately. Tho first charge takon was that of stealing , 1701 bof scrap lead, the property of Jamos Craigio, plumber, Timaru. Alex. Dorm, plumber, employed by Mr Oraigie, stated thore were some tons of oorap lead on the promises. He had nevor missed acy, but picked out from that m court four pieces Jio could swear to ob Mr Omigio'e property. Last saw thorn at Dr Hogg's new house. Becgnißed tho bad from having worked with it, about three months ago. Mr Parry cross-examined aa to tho murks ' of identification, bub tV\o witness was suro of tho marts by whioh be know theeo pieces One piece of load whioh tie had melted had not been at Dr Hogg's. The other pieces were oupposod to have boon takon to the shop, but ho could not say whether thoy were. Had nover Been the accused at Dr Hogg's house. To His Worship ; Knew these pieces by the . joints ; v man generally knows his own work. ■>. William Hallott, a lod employed by Mr 7 Oraigie, identified four other pieceß of the 6 lead. Saw them last at tlio shop about April, 6 Had not missed any. Had seen the accused 4 about tho shop. 2 To Mr Perry : Knew one of the pieces 0 recognised by Dorm, the melted pioce. Noticed 0 this pioco at the time Dorm molted it. Another .2 piece was madaiato a spirit dish ; another had .0 been used for punching on j another ho had 0 worked up himself about April. Had [eeen .0 accused about tho shop during April and .0 May, had never soon him take anything 10 away. .0 John Millor, anolhor lad m Mio shop, had 7 seen accused m tho shop several timen. Saw 7 him take some load from the shop one day m 7 a bag. Asked him wero ho wob going wilh it 7 arid accusod only limgliod m roply. Told Mr 7 Oraigio, who wont ovor to soo accused at tho 7 Criterion, and acoiised brought bnok about 7 half what he took away. 1 To Mr Porry : Did not soo him put tbo

lead m the bag. The load was m the back shop. Accusod came m with a bag under his arm and wont through the front shop tv the baok and camo out with the bag on his back. Did not soe that ho had load m it but thought so and told Mr Oraigio. Haw him put bouio lead backJames Craigie, tho prosecutor, gavo ovidonce of l»st witness giving him information about accused taking lead. Tho boy was a good doal exoiled. Went across the street, met accused, and BBkod him where tho lesd was ; he said ia his bedroom. Told him to bring it baok at onco or he would tell tho polioe, He brought back some but the boy said it was only half what ho took. Had missed ssrap lead, but could not himself iden» tify any of tho pieces. To Mr Perry : That occurred about the end of March or beginning of April. Accused was often ia the Bhop, on no business ; asked him often what ho wanted thcro. Detective Livingstone showed that he found the lead produced m two bags m the house of Wong Wing, North street, and tho accusod admitted that ho took it there. This was all the evidence. Mr Perry submitted that the proof of theft wbb insufficient. Ab to the incident of the lead that was returned, it was more probablo that the lad told the ncoußcd he oould havo some lead, but Mr Oraigie objeotod, and asked accused to fetch it back. Mr Perry also criticised tho witnesses' identification of certain pieces of lend, and quoted cases m snpport of a contention that the accused bad been too long m possesssioo of tho lead for him to be now callod upon to explain how ho c&mfl by it. Hiß Worship : We are thoroughly satisfied with the identification of certain picoes, and taken m Connection with the fact that the accused had been on the promises, and had taken away lead, tho Benoh h&ve no doubt, that the bulk of the lead was taken from the prosecutor's premises, or aomo other promises. Accused will be convicted on this charge. The noxt charge takt-n was thst of stealing Articles from the bedroom of Peter Bertie, barman at the Criterion Hotel, r. gold pin, cigar csbo, two handkorehiefo, a nocktio and a clothes brush ; value 17b 6d; The prosecutor identified all the articles. In February last he missed the gold pin, and spoko to accused about it. Accused said yes, lie had it, pullod it out of his pocket and B»id he found it out of doonj. Missed it again three weeks Inter. Tho clothes brush had his initials on. To Mr Perry : Identified all tho things positively. Lost them all from his bedroom, where aeoused had no right to be, but nevertheless had been seen there. Detective Livingstone found tho crtioles among prisoner's clothing. Prisoner aaid he found the pin upstairs m tho hotel, and then that he found it m a water-closot • he could not ox plain whore ho got the brush. Accused offered an explanation m thia case, The pin ho found near a water-clos't five months ago, and he never found and gave up this pin to Bertie ; ho did find, and give him, a greenatono pondant. He did not know who the pin belonged to when he found it. Tho cigar case wa3 given him m Aknroa. The brush ho found, with six others, m a heap of rubbish swept out of the hotel during the Qlte"atioQß. The handkerohiefa and cigar cast he had had for a long time and brought them to Timaru with him, and ho told how he booame possessed of thorn. Mr Perry admitted that aeoußed was 3pcaking " with a rape round his neck," but ha thought hia explanation reasonable. The prosecutor, recalled by the Brnch, swore positively to the brush, it ought never to havo been out of his room, which was not affected by tho alterations j and ho swore positively to tho pin having been onco returned to him by accused. He could also positively identify the oigar case. A conviction was recordod. The next charge waa of stealing a sheath knife, a pruning knife, a fork, pliers, and file, value 14s, from tho shop of Jas. Philp, about tho sth March. David Oaldwoll, manager for Mr Philp, said nccuaed was frequently m the shop, which is next door to the Criterion, while bo was employed there. He identified the eheath of tho butcher's knife by the shop mark j ao to tho other things he could only swear that there were similar articles m tho shop. Nothing bad evor been sold to nccusod. H. Philp, son of the prosecutor, sworo to the pruning knife. He had used it m tho chop, because it was din-aged and would not sell. It bad the privato mark tooDetective Livingstone stated ho found the articles under the accused's bed. Tho pruning knife. he said ho found at the back of Philp's shop. The other articles he said he brought from Akaroa. Accused eaid he k^pt a store nt Akaroa, and he brought the things from there. This charge was dismissed. Accused was then charged with stealing a hair brush, valuo 3s 6d, from W. Oliver, hairdrcßJer. Prosecutor gave ovidonce to tho effect that accused was m his saloon one evening, and aftor he had gono witness missed the brush, which ho recognised by itß peculiar mako and by a tack he himself put into tho back of it. He suspected the accused of taking the brush and spoke to him about it ; did not montion the matter to the police, expeoting tho aoouead would bring tho brush buck (though he denied that ho took it), but lie never did ; besides, ho did not think it worth bothoring about. Ho was sure the aeoused took the brush. Detective Livingstono statod that tho prosecutor described tho brush to him, mentioning tho tack m it, beforo being shown it. Accused told him ho brought tho brush from Akaroa. Accused's story was Hint this was a "baby's brush," given him by n Chinaman's " missis " at Cromwoll three years ago. A oonviotion was recordod m this oaso. A oharge of stealing articles of clothing, the property of J. D. Adao), from a room m the Criterion, was diemissod, as the articles could not be definitely ewnrn to. The accused was given "the bunefit of a doubt," on a charge of stealing a carpontor'a tack hammer, value 3s, from the bar of tho Criterion, . the property of ~G. 0. Beilly, who swore positively to tho hammer by tho homemado handlo m it, and said ho loft it m charge of tho barman, and two days afterwards it could not be found. Accused said he had had tho hammer a long time. A conviction was recorded m a charge of sloaiing articles of clothing and a ring, value 17s 6d, tho property of John Whito, a waileis at the Criterion, who sworo positively to tho ring and a hot, and loss certainly to a black flilk coat. Prisoner claimed they woro given him by tho prosecutor, but the latter positively doniod this. A chargo of otealing a curling iron, valuols, from a sorvant at the hoti'l was dropped, m view of tho numorous conviotions already obtained. Sontenco on tho summary convictions wae deferred for 14 days (to givo time fo* the Supreme Court to deal with tho casos committed).