THE HIGHWAY ROBBERIES AND BURGLARIES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9254, 5 June 1908, Page 3

THE HIGHWAY ROBBERIES AND BURGLARIES.

, THREE MEN BEFORE COURT. EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT CHARGES TAKEN. This morning there was a large attendance at the Magistrate's Court, when the evidence to support the charges of highway robbery and burglary preferred against Frank Bolton (alias Brennan), James Keegan and Joseph Johnston (>lias Evans), tne three men who were arrested m $> u ™~ ncr by Detective Ward and Constable Hampton, was taken. THE CHARGES Tho Bench was occupied by Messrs W. Minson and T. Wallace, Justices of the Peace, and the three accused were charged with having, while armed with an offensive weapon, a revolver, they stole a gold ring, a key, a purse, and £4. 5s in money, the aggregate value being £5 7s, from Charles Marshall ; that while armed, they stole 8s from Joseph Dearsley; that while armed they stole 7s from Matthew Quinn ; that they assaulted Francis Delamonte Mather with intent to rob; that with violence they robbed William Chapman of 3Qs in silver, and a pair of spectacles valued at 15s; that between May 11 and 12 they broke and entered the sjhop of J. T. M'HaTg, Woolston, and stole therefrom goods to the value of £18; that they broke and entered the shop of Frederick William Keen, Lin wood, and stole goods to the value of £2. Mr Russell conducted, the case for the Crown, and Mr Harvey appeared for Keegan. THE EVIDENCE. The following evidence was given : — Charles Marshall, cook at the commercial Cafe, said that on May 17, at 12.10 a.m., he passed, the corner of Hereford and Barbadoes Streets, and was about eighty yards south in Barbadoes Street when three men, on bicycles came up the middle of the road. Olio man dismounted, presented a revolvor, and said: "Bail up!" The other two closed on either side. Two of th<? three men had revolvers ; he thought that the third man was armed, but he was not sure. When they bail-, ed him up he told them they would get very little. He had in his possession at the time three sovereigns, one halfsovereign, and 8s or 9s in silver money, in a pig-skin purse. When he was bailed up he took some silver money out of the purse in his pocket. Then he tried to hide it, but one caught his hand and "jerried"' it — took it. xney took the purse. He talked to delay them, but one of the men said: "No messing; if you don't hurry up I'll blow your head off." The men ako took a gold ring, a portmanteau key and a purse. He identified the puree produced as the one that was taken from him ; he also identified the ring and the key. It was a clouded moonlight night, and he could not swear to tho faces of the men who robbed him. At the police station he picked the three accused as the men who robbed him, and to the best of his belief he thought that they were the samo men. To Johnston: He could not swear to the men. Mr Vincent did not cross-examine. Jofceph John Dearsley, timber merchant, residing in Matheson's Road, Linwood, stated that shortly after midnight on May 17 he saw the three accused at St Asaph Street east. He had no doubt as to the identity. He saw them clearly. Just before they met him he saw them standing on the opposite side of the road, -near the Royal George Hotel, and he crossed over to endeavour to borrow a bicycle pump from them to inflate the tyres of his bicycle, but before he reached them they came up to him, and with revolvers bailed him up. He had a good look at them. One of them lent him the pump (produced), and he took it away, with their consent, and handed it over to the police. On Tuesday, May 19, he identified the men at the Christchurch Police Station from a number of others. The men were standing on the corner of St Asaph Street and Fitzgerald Avenue when he saw them first. To Johnston and Bolton: He was certain that they were the men -who robbed him. Percy Harold Morey, clerk in the Railway Engineer's Office, Christchurch, said that on the morning of May 17, at about 12.40 a.m., he was walking from the Ferry Road, near Nazareth House, to the opposite corner, when he noticed three men on bicycles riding along Fitzgerald Avenue. 'Two were on. the road and one on the footpath. The latter had a light on his bicycle, tho others did not. The man riding on the footpath came towards him, saying at the time: " This will do. Jack. He dropped his bicycle about half-way between the path and the trees, and walked towards witness with something shining in his hand that witness took for a lamp. When a few yards distant he said : " Stop you ," but witness went on a few yards, and the man said: "Stop, or I'll fire," and at that witness commenced to run. A shot was fired. He did not know who fired the shot. He could identify Johnston as one of the three men. On May 27 he had no difficulty in picking Johnston out from a number. Bolton resembled the man who advanced towards him with the revolver, but" he could not be sure. APPEARANCE OF THE ACCUSED. The three men apnear to be in excellent spirits, and frequently laughed in Court. Johnston and Bolton have grown beards. At the luncheon adjournment they were walked, handcuffed together, from the Court to the Poh.ee Station, under a guard of six policemen and one detective.