A Nice Young Man.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 237, 26 May 1874, Page 6

A Nice Young Man.

We take the, following from Monday’s Southland T'iiats “There was an unusually large attendance'of spectators at the Resident Magis-, brate’s Court-house on Saturday. The cause of this was, presumably, to behold in person, and to learn the particulars of the recent career of a young man wfio has lately been playing v, hat is called ■ .the heavy swell’ in Southland, and was that morning brought into Court on a charge of forgery.. The spectators, however,, were disappointed, for the accused, having been charged on ■a warrant issued from Dunedin, was, after being lidentilied and sworn to as the person described in the wa'Wailb and. the Police Gazelle, simply remanded to that city. Theyoungman, who h;is for some time gone, under the name of James Sutherland, was only quite'lately released from ’.Dunedin gaol, in, which he had'done a six years’ penal servitude'for a crime similar to that with which lio;is pow charged. ‘ fn April last lie' went to resi(W at G-avih’a Hotel, in Dunedin; where he represented himself at being r 'the son of a runholder in the Waitaki district. Some time towards thbicnd of the month he left his hotel .to go, as he said, on a cattle buying tour on behalf of .his uncle'; and so, having hired a horse .from his landlord, ho started on his journey.After, his departure, from Dunedin,- the police discovered that he, had uttered-a forged cheque, and intelligence to that effect was of course forwarded, to the various police officers throughout the province. The place to .which he was traced after, leaving Dunedin was Palmerston, where ha is said to have forged and uttered several cheques. After going up to the Waitaki, g,nd calling at some small townships, he seems to have visited Oamaru, in which place he remained only for a few hours, leaving it on the night of the same day on which he arrived. From Oamaru he went to Cromwell, and from thence to the Nevis, where it appears he had what ia technically denominated a ‘heavy drunk,’ in consequence of which he lost himself among the ranges. In his bewildered wanderings he arrived at'a shepherd’s hut, where, it is said, he turned Mr MdGaviirs by that time, jaded steed adrift, and unobtrusively took possession of a grey nag belonging to the shepherd. He then proceeded on his journey, with the intention of visiting the Nokoniai, but tho next place ho cliauced to roach was Kingston, where he spent liberally and drank profusely. The next we hear of him is at the Flbovv Hotel, where it seems he uttered another forged cheque. Arriving in-Invercargill late on the evening of the 9ch hist., he put up at the Club Hotel,.and, having given put that he was tho son of a runholder in the Waitaki, lie soon secured numerous acquaintances. After staying a day or two in town, he sold the shepherd’s grey horse to Mr George Smith, of the Gladstone Hotel. He became possessed of The ‘.open sesame’ to several select social circles, and, like"- a true knight errant, lie, made-love.to.an ingenuous, young damsel, and .even,proposed, and was accepted. All this thim the police of various parts of the province were anxiously looking for the gay cavalier, who was quietly taking his ‘ ease at his inn'.’ About this time,—the middle of last j week,—our own guardians of-the peace received j intimation- of the ‘ man and’his deeds’ ; he seems I .to have taken a pleasure jaunt into the country. j This.reached the ear of Sergeant Fleming, who j with characteristic skill,- traced the rover to

Wallacctown, and thence through the Mabel district .to Vybodlands, where it was found ho had been paying a complimentary, visit of inspection to the' Meat Preserving Works. The indefatigable Sergeant, tracking the object of i his anxious care from one place to another, at j last came upon him ri't a place a few miles on the Southland side of the Mathura Bridge, to which j they journeyed on pleasantly together, the soij disant rnnholder’s sou little knowing the business I and intentions of his sociable fellow-traveller, j On arriving at the bridge, the Sergeant quietly I succeeded in inducing his companion to visit the. S police oiunp, whore, coming to see how the wind | blew, he made an agitated attempt to swallow i r some'laudanum which he had in his pocket, hut Sergeant Fleming succeeded in preventing him. i The prisoner afterwards told his captor that lie had resolved if possible never to be taken alive ; r but the Sergeant, he confessed, was altogether ' too clever for him. The captor was certainly an important one, and was very cleverly done. ■ Sergeant, Fleming is, wo think, entitled to something more than credit. The prisoner, we bei lieve, instead of being sent to Dunedin, is to be ! tried in . Invercargill, having committed indict- , able offences in this district.”