SCENE IN AUCKLAND SUPREME COURT.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 4979, 2 February 1883, Page 2

SCENE IN AUCKLAND SUPREME COURT.

The following is the account of the scene in Court at the conclusion of the Gudgeon trial } —

The jury retired at a quarter to four o'clock, and returned iuto Court at five minutes to five o'clock, The Court was densely crowded . The Registrar (reading the indictment) : Do you find the prisoner guilty on the first count ? Foreman j Not guiity. The Registrar : How say you on the second count ?

Foreman : Not guilty. The moment the verdict was announced a loud cheer was set up from the body of the Court, in which the greater number present appeared to join. It was not a developed cheer, such as have been experienced at political trials, beginning with a section of those present, and then taken up by the whole mass. It was a simultaneous hurrah. The cheer was repeated by a number of persons in the vestibule of the Court. The Sheriff, by direction of His Honor, gave immediate directions that the doors of the Court should be closed. The police rushed to take possesion of the doors, and the Sherriff, who was seated beside the Judge, hastened as well as he could through the crowd to see that His Honor's orders were obeyed. His Honor said in a loud voice : Can any of the police identify the persons who have made such a disgraceful exhibition ? At the time, however, a very large proportion of the spectators had got outside the building. But there was also a large number left inside, and upon those the doors were closed, each door being guarded by the police. His Honor ordered that the names of all the persons within the ccurt should be taken down; This was done, and the sheriff was soon in possession of from 170 to 180 names.

The prisoner during the whole of this demonstration was self-possessed, and gave the demonstration np countenance,

His Honor then addressed the prisoner as follows :— Wilfred Waith Gudgeon,— The jury have found you not guilty of the offence with which you stood charged. You are, therefore, discharged. The prisoner left tho dook without exhibiting any particular sign of satisfaction. He was received by some friends in the precincts, in whose company he left the scene of what must have been a very unpleasant ordeal.