SOULTORIA.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1496, 19 July 1912, Page 7

SOULTORIA.

HOW SHE WAS LOST AND FOUND

STORY TOLD IN COURT.

PATRICK M'MANEMIN CHARGED WITH THEFT. (By Telegrapli.-Press Association.) Auckland, July 18. At the Pnkckulic Police Court to-day, before Jlr. \). futtcn, S.JJ., Patrick M'Mnnemiu wax cluirged tliat on or about Juno io, at Pukckolic; lw did stcu! Ilio racing maro Soultoria, of Ilio value of Mm, the property of the trustees in the tstato of J as. Jiciilston. Air. iUarsack coiuluclcd the case for the pro.seculion, Mr. 1 , . Earl appeared i'or the accused, and Mr, Ciimjibell watched the ca.se on behalf of the owners. The iir.st witness was Mar.v Ann Eoul ston (widow o£ the , late Ja's. Houlston, , , who said that tins- mare w«s kept in a loose-box on the piopwty, aud was there Mi Tuesday, June 25. S'he did not knoiv cecused nor did she give him any permission to remove the mare. WiiJiam Ronlaton, one of the trustees of the estalu of (he late Jas. ]<ouh-toii, identified the inarc as Soultoria. He took possession, of the mare at Te Awaimitu from Constable Lander after die was found. lie knew accused, who had no lijtht or titlo to thu niarc. Joseph Mahon, a groom employed by Mr. Kculslon, said tlmt he attended lo I'h'e horses. He. bcddwl down Soultoria and a filly by Seaton Delaval on June 25. The boxes were not locked, but were fastened with a pin through a staple. The pair were worked together. He did not return to the stable after tedding the marc down, but went next morning between G. 30 and 7 o'clock. AVlien. he arrived both boxes were open and the mares gone. Soultoria had a canvas cover on when ho left her. He found the rug :ti the loose-box, just dropped on the ground. There was no gear missing from , the stable. He could swear to Soultoria's tracks. They ied through the paddock at the back of the stable on to tho road. The horses would have to be taken through five paddocks and sis gates. Th- , tracks were traced en to Jl'Sheen's Bond. In the last paddock they found the filly. She was rnjgcd as left 'the night before. He did not see Soultoria again for several days.

Frederick Joseph Kempthorne, a boy 1 aged 15, working for the previous witness, said lie met a man at Whatawhata on June 26 riding- one horse and leading another, which was rugged.' The mare outside the court was.the one which was being lead. The man spoke to witness, asked the way to Pirongia, and, being informed, went on in that direction. Witness hud picked out accused at Hamilton from a'mongst a number of others as being the man ho saw at Whatawhata with. Squltoria. Replying to Mr. Earl, witness said he was sure it was Soultoria that accused was leading. Ho ,had never seen the mare before or since until this morning. Archibald Ferguson, a farmer at Whafawhata, about 18 miles from Pirongia, stated that'he was at home on June 'M. At about 10.30 n.m. he saw a man- walking along leading two horses. One had a cover on, and the other a' saddle and bridle; The mare outside tho court was very much like the one he saw, but he was some distanco away, and could not tell the sex. He picked out accused from amongst a number of men at Hamilton as the man he saw with the horses' . . ■ James Clarkin, groom in charge of the Alexandra Hotel stables at Pirongia, said , 'accused brought a horse. to him early. ..'on Jiine 2C, and asked that it be fed. Accused got another feed in a bag and took it away. The horse left in the stable was taken away that night. lidward Fry, labourer , , gavo evidence that when riding towards i'irongia with Mr; Myhill, he met a straying horse within four or fivo miles of Te Kauamoa; which followed them into tho township: They put it into Stewart's stables. '. It was the maro Soultoria; Witness knew the accused, and where they found the mare would lie within five or six miles of accused's house. Samuel Stewart, of Te Rauamoa, staicd that oil the information. , !)? tho" last witness Ivo caught the mare on the road and dtabled lier, afterwards ■ notifying the police. Ho did not know accused, nor had he seen the mare before. Constable John Lander, stationed at Te Awamutu, said he received the mare from Mr. Stewart. He knew accused. On July 7, in company with Detective Hawke, he went" to accused's house. They saw M'Mnnomiu, and after tolling him who they were, said they were looking for Soultoria and informed him tliot he was alleged to have been seen leading her through Whatawhata and Pirongia. Accused was asked for an explanation of his movements. He stated that he was in Auckland on June 25 and returned or Juno 26 by the Waikato express, leaving the train at Otorohanga he proceeded straight home that day,, having had his horse in a paddock at Otorohanga. On the following (|ay, or tho day after that, he went through I'irongia to Ohaupo to attend a cattle sale, but as tho sale did not come off he returned home again. Ho did not speak to anyone at Ohaupo and when returning through Pirongia ho called at Fan-ell's, and at the hotel stables he fed his horse. He denied having taken an extra food away in a bag for another horse. When asked where tho horso was that lie had .been riding, accused replied that ho had borrowed it, but declined to say from whom. Accused also volunteered the statement tlrat he knew nothing about Soultoria until he read of her disappearance. Witness, in. reply to Jfr. Marsnck, said that had accused left Auckland by tho express for Otorohanga on June '26 it would have been impossible for him to have been in Whntawhata between 10 a.m. and noon, or in Pirongia between 3 ond 1 p.m. Detective Hawke corroborated the evi(lenco of tho last witness, and said that accused had boen identified by four witnesses out of a group of five others. A number of other witnesses gave evidence. Accused pleaded not guilty and reserved his defence. Hβ was committed to the Auckland Supreme Court for trial. Boil was allowed in two sureties of iIOO each and a personal surety of ,£2OO.