SWINDLING-ON THE RACECOURSE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 3135, 25 April 1878, Page 3

SWINDLING- ON THE RACECOURSE.

Two nt those opevatora whose little amujomenta appear to constitute the chief attractions ox si >ace n.eeti g io many visitors fr.ini the c> luntry, aud uot a few loss verdant dwellers in tvwn, reci-md iluir deserts at the Police .(Joti-t yesterday. Jrouio of those whoso gr.ed of gain w:uj greater than their aisci'c-tt' iii,- were called as wiiac-!£es, a:;d toll a doleful ial-! of how they had be -11 duped. Tlie first prisoner duals with, was Peter Pasche. He -was charged with playing at an unlawful game, th« said unlnwiul game being played on a board whi-.-li Lad be. n coiatructed with deli crate intention to swindle. On this board (wliici. was covered with a cl tli) a piece of wood Ll:o the needle ot a couip ;ss spun round. WUeu tc,o needle bt 4»ped at curtain uinrks tho man who put down h<B iiiOiUiy v/as to raaoive thrue to one, bub this it did uo*!; do, as by in > an s of a concealed spring Pa&ho ni.ida it stoi) at iho blanks. Thy spiing was woiJtecl by piG-s&iug ai>in int> a very small hole in the wood, undit was'»ouio time before the police could iliscov. r the modiii opomndi. The c- ntre board of tkc , table waß.hollow, and continued "tlie w.nis." It consisted of t ivo thin board* jjluod over one iinothor, the spring which. Btopi.eU the needle v;oi-hi:iir 1 between thorn, and as tho itt-ai-da oii : pauh. weia solid it was no' till the luidd.c board was bn.ken that the lraud. was exposed. Pa-che was 'dsfeud-.:d by Mr Is lrd, who said— We arj not prepared to dispute tho charge. * ' In-i>ector Iliclcsou inemioii-?.d that 7iß would call evideuce. • . . : ' . . . Mr Izard— Then I shall reserve my light. I William kioa-\d, lishmon^or, residing iv Anna-rh street ea-i: Defendant c. lied on mo yestwday and asked me it 1 would work the taulo w.tli him. I said "No." He showed n,o the iaulu, an.i showed me how to work tlie sjriug. I said "No - 1 wouldn't do it '" 1 afterwards weut to tHe racecourse. iKawhhnat the table. I lost st* ;md 1 wou it back agidn.* He hsd* a- little min* with him whom I had not seen l»eiore. ; The otlwr man workud the epiin!?. Cross-ex -.mined : I did not work the spring ; I mean that I had nothing to do with. it. 1 was betting like any one else, though I know of the spring. Ho olxerecl me £1 if I would work for the d-sy, and I refused. I won 10s and would not give it up to him. I did not ask him for £1. Prisoner had money the first day. I could not say how much ; he had a good dial in his bag. By lu^pec tor Hickson : He told me to push the spring in- that whenever the needle came to a blank I was tn push the spring in. ' Walter Stafford, hairdresser 1 : I sawtTefendßnt on the racecourse. On tbe first day I went to bet, and of cmrsts won nothing. I lost 30s that day, and yesterday I lost £3. The previous witness was btuiKliug: at the side of th-> prisouer. I lost the £3 in about half-an-hoiur. WotLiuif aroused by suspicions. I thought ifc genuine. If the point of the needle conies to where you put y.yur money down you get 3 to 1, but of course it. never comes to you. Detective Benjamin : About 2 o'clock yesterday, from complaints mado, I searched the table, and ! found notfiing wron^ with. it. From further cpm-j pi-tints I searched it again, and found the spring. The complaints were made by nimiy, who all said thoy had been cheated. Prisoner was arrosted. The watch-house keeper, who searched prisoner, deposes that he found £58 103 upon him. CorstuWe Stevensou said he saw the prisoner empty out M 3 money ba-< ejn-ly in the day, and noiicsd the amount to be about £8. Prisoner: I bad £10 of mine with me that morning. Sonio -witnesso'-gravo accused a good character. Bis Worship: You aro liablt! to twelve months' imprisonment with hurd labour, but in consideration of your previous good character tho Court will sentence you to only three months' imprisonment. . It was mentioned that tho money would be handed br.ck to prisoner except .it 9s, which the witness Stafford had loat, and which wa3 to be refunded to him. James Eyau was next charged with playing at' an unUwful game, namely, swindling at cards. Mr Iza d for accused. : Prisoner, it appeared from 'hs evidence of Constable Stuphenson, played :hu three-card trick. He uccoived people b> makhiu*- it appear that t**e man plaj-ing ugdinEt him could l'iek up the right curd, whereas by sleigh v of hnitrt th« cards are so dcii.lt that thectu-d picked up is not, tl>o given one out of tho -hree. In a oliori tiuu <*3i the prsvioua day he won £5 from a mini "name*! M.'-iir, aud v.'hen arrefited ollVrcd to hand th^mo-iey ha, k. William Sutton, labourer, Ash tiuiton, deposed that he lost £3 at tho aauid: Cross-oxamiiied : Witut'ss did not ho.t when thore was a x'iece of paper on th<*» look of- tijo x - cd enrd. The man wh'i wad playinsr V'h n n n. ?nrnck — a piece of paper — was put ou '.ho red <;-v:\l, •••■••>ri .<:". Witness dia not know one Blanchanl. V/iv.iKsss went to the -places because, when playiiur with diw nt another Table, wliere lio lost a few .shillin-rs,' a inau came up and invited him to play at iho en 'I.i. lio wont with the Juan to whero the prisc*>u?r \v is. : By Inspector Hick-sou.; Pi;'i r ?oii : r lnv.l o'lorod him his money back iv tho snfii-ij in ir it' hn would s^t'le .tho iitt'ulr, but ho rot>!i::d '..has ho could not do so as thft'nr*.ttcr was in the baud-- <>'• tiie police. r>rffc:*etiy« Walker csplainci.l iiy i'.iro j-c ar«J trick. li^psctor Hickson reniMrkod I\<- \n\<\ reason to fceli-svo that tho witness? Muir. a tvainer, of Ashburton, who did not atfcoii .1, hi id ! <.-?u put out of the wny that 3uorni'*g. He had rox-cjn to boliovc that an

off- r had been made to Muir similar to that made to Sutton. ' Mr Izard : I will not allow these insinuations. It has been deliberately said that a witness was put out of tbe way. Inspector Hicksoii asked for an adjournment to get Muir's evidence. Hia Worship did not think an adjournment was nocessai-y. . ■ ' Mr Izard submitted that the game was not an unlawful gome, though piisouer ho admitted might have choseii a moie honest way oi: making a liviug 1 . Tho name of the gone was the three-cu-d trick— His Worship : An'la very nice trick it is too. Mr Izard produced a receipt to show that accused had purchased the right to play cards on the race course fr- in. one Goodwin , for £I . Prisoner complained that he had lost £5 and won only £3. being- £3 to the bad His Worahip expresaoct the opinion that tli3 £5 was lo*>t to a confederate. ■ Inspector Hickson offered evidence of character, chllimr JJel ective Walker, who said he was pre-ent in the Auckland Court some years ago, when prisoner re. ceivoil six months' for the " match-box " trick. . Mi* Mellish (to prisoner) : Ton have been previously convict- d. Ton havn received sis months for tt thiusj of this kind. You previously had six mouths, you will now have n.uo months. Tho Court then ro3o.