MAGISTRATE'S. COURT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2756, 27 April 1916, Page 9

MAGISTRATE'S. COURT

FRAUDULENT ACT FORGED PAY WARRANT PRESENTED Mr. \Y. G. Riddell, S.M., presided at yesterday's sitting of the Magistrate's Court. The cases for hearing included one in which an elderly woman, named Elizabeth Uussell, was charged with oausing the uostmaster at Adelaide Road to act upon a /forged military pay warrant, as if it were a genuine document. The warrant was'made out for the sum of £10 17s.

Chief Detective Boddam prosecuted, and called evidence to show that when tho Main Body of the Expeditionary Force was leaving New Zealand, the accused went to the boat and claimed one of the soldiers as her son. The soldier, in order not to ho detained at tho timo, Allotted 2s. per day under piotest to the accused. ' Ho returned wounded, the allotment ceased, and ho declined to make further allowance, as there was.no proof that accused was his mother. All he knew was that at an early age he had been 'removed from her custody to a receiving home, and that she had since then no interest in his maintenance or welfare. He had given her no authority to draw further money -on his behalf, but sho had presented a pay warrant made out in his name at the Adelaide Road Post Office. This proved to be a forged document. • A plea of guilty was entered by accused, and she was committed to tho Supreme Court for sentence. . Bail was allowed in the sum of £25, and a surety fur a similar amount.

ALLEGED ATTEMPTED MURDER. Ernest Devoin, charged with attempting to murder Louisa White on March 27, was further remanded for a week, when the police expect to be in a position to lay'evidence before, the Court. DISORfIERLY~CONpUCT.Benjamin Hopkins was called upon to answer three charges, and was con-, yictefl upon all three. He was drunk ] in the Hotel Cecil, and, on account of'! his disorderly conduct, ho was asked to quit the premises. Ho refused to do so, and aggravated his offence by -using obsceno language. The Magistrate imposed fines totalling £5, the alternative being 14 days' imprisonment. CHINAMAN & THREE WOMEN. How Lee, alias George How, was remanded for a'week on a charge if keeping a brothel at Kilbirnio. Annie Geary,Annie Courtenay, "and Martha Courteuay appeared in the dock at the same time on a charge of assisting How Lee in the management of Ms house. They were al6o remanded. Mr. P. J. O'Regan appeared for the accused. i OTHER CASES. : Ernest Marsh, charged with attempted suicide, was remanded for medical observation. Rose Wright* w'as fined 40s. for importuning in Ghuznee Street. Tho alternative was seven day's' imprisonment. ... ( A further remand until Monday was granted in the case against Honry Amos, who is charged with theft of a .bottle of ■, schnapps from the steamer Putiki. N Mr. P. J. O'Regan appeared for the accused,-whose-bail was renewed. Patrick Meehan, who did not appear, was made the sv.bject of a prohibition order. . Frank Adair, for drunkenness, was fined lOsv, with, the option of going to gaol for' 24 hours. Etliol Birch, on a similar charge, was convicted and discharged. An elderly man, named Andrew Williamson, was remanded for sentence on a charge of drunkenness, in order that -an effort might be made to have him admitted to the Ohiro Home. Soveral first-offending .inebriates appeared and were leniently treated. .