MYSTERY OF A HANSOM CAB.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 34, 9 February 1905, Page 3

MYSTERY OF A HANSOM CAB.

STRANGE CAaSE IN THE SUPREME COURT. i£r Jus-tiee Edwards and a jury continued their attempt yesterday at the Auckland Supreme Court to unravel the mystery of a hansom cab at Kewmarket. The case was one in which three men — Ed.va.rd Barrett. Georgp Mack, and Charles Sydney Anderson —were charged with robbing John Frederick Viekery with violence in a hansom cab at Newmarket. The complainant continued under cross-examination, by Mi - Lundon, and mentioned the Criterion, Waitem&ta, Star, British and Fitzroy Hotels as having been visited in the course of the drinking festivities which preceded the hansom cab ride. On the morning after the first evening's drinking he met Mack, who remarked on the gw>d time they had had the night before. Witness took the bint, and replied: "1 suppose you ane dry this morning. Join us at the Waiteniata."' At the hotel from which the cab drive started, where he gave Barrett 5/, he was introduced to a. man he had never met before, who wanted 5/ to get his shirts out of the wash. He gave hini the 5/; in fact, he gave money away right and left. Concerning a trip to the Union Company's office, witness said this had reference to his luggage from Tamnaki. which had been at Unehunga for eight months. Mr Lundon: Was there not some article in that luggage you wwe particularly anxious to get hold of? Witness: Yes. there was. Something the police were anxious to get hold of also? There was no question of the poKee in it. It w»s a particular pair of scissors that can't be got in the colony. Mr London: Were they stolen? Witness did not reply to the question, but observed that they were "made in BtrmingJi3.ni" In further cross-examination witness said he attempted to grasp the reins to stop the cab. but was prevented. It was true that after passing the Captain Oook Hotel he was in a stupor, but he did not think he was ""paralytiL- drunk." He did not remember trying to break the windows of the cab, thus compelling his companions to hold Mm. Mr Lumion: Do yon remember saying when the constable looked into the cab, "If you shoot 111 shoot too," putting your hand to your hip as if you had a revolver there? Witness: T have done, but I don't think 1 did. Why should I? Mr Luodon: Do you remember asking Barrett who that man was. and Barrett saying he was a monmted trooper? Witness-: I do not remember. Witness said that he remarked to Barrett in front of the policeman relative to the robbery, "Why did yon take mc on? Haven't I treated you well?" and Barrett replied. "Yes. too well." Hem\- Luscombe, day porfer u.t the Criterion Hotel last December, corroborated tbe evidence Urat Viekery gave £ 19 15/3 into his keeping one nigbt till the next morning. This was all taken from one pocket, but he could uot sa.y whether the pocket was completely emptied or not. •Harold Brennan, son oi the licensee of the Fitzroy Hotel, corroborated the evidence of the visit o* Viekery. Jjfack arid Barrett to the hotel on December 14th, the ordering of drinks and dinners, the arrival of the hansom rah driven by Anderson, and the departure o: the whole party before the dinners had been served. Viekery wa.s then ~a bit mixed." They drove off towards Symonds-street. The party spent an hour at the Itatel. The first "3houf was for Viekrry, Anderson, witness and a boarder: the second was tVir eight persons, including several boarders and witness' mother. Robert Cotterell. son of the licensee of the Junction Hotel, said the cab party visited his hotel for drinks, and shortly afterwards they returned agtiin. bat Anderson was not then anionic them. They asked if a constable had called, and Viekery was muttering something about being robbed. Viekery came into the bar and bontrht a packet of cigarettes. When the constable arrived Vickery was supplied with, soda water. Tbe constable remonstrated with the three men about the alleged robbery, and Viekfiry demanded a search. They subsequently started o»rfc for thr- police station. Constable Ramsay said on the occasion in question he was riding at a trot along tbe Great South-road, when he saw thrt-e men in a hansom, one of whom I Viekery) appeared to be drunk. They were ail strangers to him except Barrett. Witness "beld up - " the haraom, and when it stopped the man Anderson j jumped out and ran across the road, j Witness did not see him again till the evening, when Anderson turned up at tbe watehhouse. The man on the driver's seat gave the name of "John Berry, a licensed driver." Viekery then got oat of the cab and said he had been robbed. He said that the man who had gone away had held him by the throat, prut his hand into his pocket and taken bis money. Witness asked Viekery how much he had lost, and he said £4 or £5. Witness dismounted and searched all his pockets, in which he found only 17/9. He was positive that the additional stun of money subsequently found in Vickery's breast pocket was not there when he was first searched. He put Viekery and Barrett into the cab and asked Mack (whom he took to be a licensed driver) ; to drive them to the hotel. He himself went to search for Anderson, but not finding him he rode on to the hotel, where the men were awaiting him. He called Mack out and asked him if he knew the name of the men who ran away. Mack then gave his true name, and confessed that the man who ran away was the real driver of the cab. Witness then searched the men, and found 15/8 in Barrett's pocket and 2/ in Mack's. He took them to the police station, and there a second search oi Vickery revealed a stun of 18/2 in a pocket which at the first search had been empty. Subsequently Anderson made a -written statement, which was read over to the other men, but elicited no comment from them, although Anderson in their hearing said, '"That's correct." Mr Lundon suggested that, the witness being "the a terror of Auckland cabmen." Anderson jumped out of the cab immediately he saw him for fear of a prosecution for overcrowding. Witness said he did not think so, because it wouid only have meant a fine erf about 45/. Witness did not search Barrett and Mack at first because he naturally tliought that the man who ran away had got tbe money. Constable Shine, described as a fingerprint and photograph officer, gave evidence of arresting Anderson in Wake-Seld-sfcreet on December 14 on the charge of assault and robbery. Anderson repried, "AH right," and afterwards added, "I only got into the cab to waieh the other fellows." At the station he made a statement implicating Barrett, and this was pot into writing and signed by

Anderson. It was to the effect thai one of the accused asked him to come to the Fitzroy Hotel. He went and took in the three accused and the prosecutor, and drove them to several hotels—the Caledonian, Captain Cook, Carlton and Junction Hotels. On the way to the Junction he ( Anderson) rode inside the cab, Mack driving. He saw Barrett put his hand into VickerVs pocket and take out money. Then Constable Raaneay appeared on the scene, and he (Anderson) jumped out and ran away. He cotrld not explain why he did this: he must have lost his head. He was afraid to call out when Barrett was robbing Vickery. because he was afraid Barrett might have done for him. (Continued on Page 2.) = !