THE KINGSDALE FRAUD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17352, 17 May 1924, Page 1

THE KINGSDALE FRAUD.

RICHARDS SENT TO GAOL FOR ONE YEAR. WALTER CAMERON GETS SIX MONTHS. Pkr Piles* Association. DUNEDIN, May 17. The Kingsdaie conspiracy case was disposed of 10-dav. Mr Justice Reed sentenced John Richards to twelve months' imprisonment with hard labour, and Walter Leonard James Cameron to six months' imprisonment. The charges upon which they had been found guilty were:— 1. On or about October 1, 1923, at Dunedin, they did conspire, the one with the other, by fraudulent means, to defraud the public, and in particular William Francis James and the Gore Racing Club. 2. On the same date they did conspire, one with the other, to commit a crime punishable by imprisonment with hard labour for three years—namely, the crime of obtaining moneys from the Gore Racing, Club with intent to defraud by a false pretence by representing the trotting horse named The Dingo to be a trotting- horse named Kingsdaie.

“DISQUIETING FEATURES”

COMMENT BY JUDGE. Per Pres* Association. DUNEDIN. May 17. In sentencing Richards and Cameron Mr Justice Reed said : “ The facts of this case show that the conspiracy was of considerable deliberation, care and thought. T am quite prepared to accept the police statement that the master mind was Richards’s, Cameron being more or less a tool. At the same time, Cameron was thoroughly conversant with everything going on and must have taken part in consideration of the scheme from the first. The most disquieting feature of the case is that it is perfectly obvious that quite a number of people, if they had communicated with the police, would have assisted in sheeting home the crime, but they remained silent, and in some cases have wilfully tried to put the police, off the track. Such persons could not have all been participators in the swindle, but it seems that a certain section of the racing fraternity look with complacency on this sort of thing. " it is probably correct that certain things are winked at in racing that gradually lower the moral standard. It has certainly had that effect in this case. I accept the statements of counsel and the evidence of the employers that in ordinary business the prisoners were men of probity. It does seem that there is some special cause to make men of that nature embark bn a swindle of this sort." Speaking for Richards prior to sentence, counsel, when referring to prisoner's probitv in business, said that this offence took place in a pursuit in which people sometimes found it difficult to draw the line. No one considered it improper to conceal performances to the extent of deceiving the public. His Honor commented: " It is a very bad thing for racing if it is a fact that it changes an honest man in business to a dishonest man in sport.”

FACTS OF THE CASE.

MYSTERIOUS LETTER FROM DUNBACK.

The facts of the case were outlined by the Crown Prosecutor (Mr Auanisj in Dunedin. He said that some time last year a man named M Neill, living at Lauriston, Canterbury, owned a horse known as The Dingo. The horse had won a mile race in 2min lisec, and as it had run unsuccessful? recently Al Neill had practically decided not to race it again. If the horse had been entered in a race in its own name it would have been handicapped on its successful performance, and it was easy to understand that The Dingo might not he able to overtake its record of 2min 14-sec; hut,, on the other hand, if it could be entered and divorced of its

previous performances, it might be so handicapped that it could win easiiv. Early in September Mr M’Neill received a letter purporting to come from a Mr Dalziel asking the price of The Dingo. The letter was addressed “P. 0.. Dunhack.” Mr Al ’Neill later received a letter with five £2O notes enclosed, and a request that the horse should be railed to Waitati. No examination had been made of the Tiorse, and nothing else had been done to ensure that when the horse arrived it hail not developed any complaint. That was one of the mysteries of the case, but such mysteries were to be expected in a case of that nature, as it was essential that I possible clues should be covered up. I The man Dalizel was a mystery, alj though they had several letters that | purported to hare been written by him. ; Tim writing of these were not in the i writing of accused. Naturally, in the | friend t-o do the writing. At any rate. I there was no man by the name of Dal- ! izel at either Dunbnck of AVaitati. and. i as far as diligent inquiries went, there j .seemed to be no such person in New ! Zealand. The horse The Dingo was j sold for £IOO. and on September 13 it j was taken delivery of at AA’aitati. The I night was pitch dark, and the man ! who took delivery could not be identi--1 fied by anyone at the station, though j the man who received the horse signed i one of the station books in the name jof “A. Dalizel.” This signature was I in the accused Cameron’s handwriting, j A day before the horse had been truck- ' ed a letter was received by the posti mistress at Punback asking that corj respondent-© for “ A. Dalziel ” should be I readdressed to the address of “ Outrain and AA'hite, South Dunedin.” “IN CAMERON’S WRITING.” This letter was tn the handwriting of Cameron. On this occasion Cam- ■ eron " as person who signed as | “Dalziel,” and Cameron was also the j person who wrote regarding tlio readdressing of correspondence from "Dun-

hack to Outrain and White’s. The letter was a mistake. It should have been written by the same person who had written the. othe : - letters. By the method adopted the mythical “A. l)alziel” was able to keep in touch with the world. 'Pile purpose of the arrangement, was to give a certain publicity to The Dingo, whilst it gave a certain amount, of safety to t:ie person concerned. This was shown bv tho fact that, although Kingsdaie’’ had been entered at Gore. The Dingo had l>een entered for the Oaninru races on October 28. The secretary of the Oamaru Club would give evidence as to having received nomination and acceptance fees for The Dingo for that meeting. The Dingo it was needless to say. did not appea- at Oamaru. although £6 in iees had been paid for him. The Crown suggested that “Dalziel” was no other than the accused Cameron, and although there was considerable mystery about him it was not the duty of the Crown to clear, up all mysteries. If Dalziel existed, no doubt he would be in Court that day. A TRIP TO CENTRAL OTAGO. The story of the other horsp, Mr Adams continued, begun with a mail named Wilson, a farmer at Lauder. Richards and Camera called on AVilson during a trip through Central Otago, and Cameron told AVilson that he had a man with him who wanted a trotting horse. Cameron, therefore, purported to be Richards’s agent in the proposed transaction. He told AVilson that the .limit was £2O; but what sort of racehorse could they get for this?,£sjked counsel. Wilson ottered them A hoyse for £l’oo, but thev told him that this iva> Me much, and A\ ilson then referred them to a man named Donnelly. Each of the accused had made a statement concerning the transaction with Donnelly. Cameron stated that he decided to buy one of the half dozen horses seen at Donnelly’s. and handed over a cheque. Counsel drew attention to the fact that Richards had owned trotters before, and if he lvanted a horse for any serious purpose it is hardly likely that he would have behaved in the wav that he had done in connection ; with the transaction. Evidence would be given to show that a truck arrived at Lauder on September 20 for the horse to be sent on to Dunedin : but the horse missed the train and was consigned to' Cameron on September 22. The receipt for delivery was signed bv Cameron. The Dingo arrived on September 13. On September 20 Cameron saw Air Janies regarding the registration of a horse. “EASY TO DESTROY IT” Die name the horse was registered under was Kingsdaie. bred by Don nelly. Phis occurred on Sep tern be: 20: that was to say. it should be the Lauder horse which, was brought from Lauder to Dunedin, and that day Cameron took Air Janies out to register the horse. Kingsdaie should not have been registered until the horse from Lauder had actually arrived in Dun c-djn. Mr .Tames gave it as his opinion that the horse outside the Court tallied with The horse he examined. The horse impounded and ridden ai Gore as ' Kingsdaie. .just Irani Lauder, according to registratic.n particulars, was clearly the horse that had been registered two days , *efove the Lauder horse

reached the city. AA hat had happened to the Lauder horse was not known. One thing was abundantly plain, and that was that the horse registered as Kingsdaie was not the Lauder horse, although Kingsdaie was described us the Lauder horse. It would h© easy to destroy the horse from Lauder. The question arose then, what horse was it, Cameron showed Mr James. The inference was perfectly clear that the horse that arrived at AA’aitati at night was The Dingo. If the horse ra< ed was not The Dingo what horse was it? The defence asked the Court to believe that the horse rac’d at Gore was not The Dingo. If it were i.nt The Dingo, what had happened to The Dingo? A main named Butterfield. who had ridden The Dingo, would bo called, and if anyone, knew The Dingo it surely was Butterfield. He said the horse produced was The Dingo Mr "Martin, a veterinary surgeon from Christchurch, had fired certain muscles in The Dingo two years ago, and would identify the animal in custody as The Dingo. If the horse produced were The Dingo everything was easily explained. A trainer could not train a horse in such a short period. Cameron had said that it would take four or five weeks to get a horse into order that was a green horse. Horses could not be broken in in four or five weeks. Nomination bad been sent to Oamaru. signed by Cameron, on October 1. and acceptances had closed on October 17. and on September 20, twenty-nine .days from the time this horse was supposed to have reached Dunedin, there was only an Interval of four weeks, which was not sufficient

time in which to train* a horse for the Balfour Trot.

WILLIE LINCOLN FRAUD.

A VERDICT OF GUILTY. The second of the cases in connection with the ringing-in charges was - concluded in . the Christchurch Supreme Court yesterday when the jury brought in a verdict of guilty against all accused in the indictment concerning the. substitution of the horse Willie Lincoln for Eulius at Gisborne. A large number of the i public waited in the gallery for two hours to hear the verdict. At the j conclusion of the case his Honor Mr j Justice Adams congratulated Chief De-; tective Gibson of Christchurch and De-j tective Beere of Dunedin, on the man- i ner in which the case had been pre-1 pared on behalf of the. Crown- With' regard to another series of indictments, J ! alleging the "ringing-in” of Willie ! I Lincoln for Look Out. at AYyndham and Southland meetings the Crown en- i tered a stay of proceedings, on the ! ground that four of the five accused; had already been convicted in the pre-! vious cases, and that the evidence ! against the fifth man was not regarded ! as sufficient to convict;’it was consid- j ered, the Crown Prosecutor stated,’ i that he was simply the tool of the j