SERIOUS CHARGES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 34, 4 November 1919, Page 9

SERIOUS CHARGES

ALLEGED ATTEMPT TO PROCURE MURDER ■» ACCUSED COMMITTED FOR TRIAL * t d I By Teleeraph.-Spocial Correspondent. 8 Palmerston North, November 3. J A. 6erious charge of alloged attempt * to procure murder, n case winch has \ excited a good deal of interest in Pal- ] Jnerston North, was heard at the Mngis- * {rate's Court to-day before Mr. Stout, r R.M., when- James Cockery, on remand, charged . with having, on or about Oc- . tober 13, 1919, attempted to procure certain persons, to wit, Henry Joseph ' Lewis and Alfred Mervyn Cnpp, to mur- 5 <ler Thomas Quirke. Detective-Sergeant Quirke conducted tlio cost for the police, mid Mr. J. Ongloj- appeared for tho ' fli-cumd. ITonr.v Joseph Lewis, 18 years of ago, , deposed that he, with Cnpp. was in the * haliit. of frequenting the stables owned -. by tho accused. On the date mentioned ho was in the stables with Capp, when ' Cookery suggested that he should blow Quirke up. Cockery mentioned the lo- s cality of Quirke's house,. and said lie f did not know in which room' he slant, but that witness could find out by the f light when Ouirko arrived home. Wit- ! noss continued that accused said he ' would get him to put a bit of gelignite < under tho room and place a cap and J fuso in it, and told him to place a | wet overcoat over tho chaw to deaden ' tho sound. Cockory told him if _ho and < Capp succeeded in blowing Ouirke up t'hev would bo well pnid for it. Witness told Cockery lie had no experience t •with dynamite, "and accused said he s ■would tako them into 'the back yard < mid srivo a demonstration. Accused 1 said that if they.failed in the attempt ' find were caught he would tip them too. i Witness had replied that Ouirke might ( not be the sufferer, but his wifo and £ children. Cockery renlied that he did : not care who got it as long as, they i got Quirke. Accused was sober at the time'and had made the proposal _ ser- ; iou'ly and had repeated it several times i within the two -months previous to wit- ! ness's arrest for breaking and entering, i When accused last made the suggestion ] he knew that witness and Capp were < .both wanted by the police in connection i with robberies, and told them to keep 1 owav from his stables in the dnytmie j wid'cotne .round at nighli. Witness had I slept at the stable several times to the E knowledge of accused. Witness-said he , was now awaiting 'sentence on three , charges of breaking, entering, and staal- , ine, to wh'ch ho hid pleaded jrinl-.y. Cigarettes he had stolen from levy* E wee bought by Cookery, and Cockery f had been aware of other thefts hv him. f Further examination elicited tho fact f that Cockery had ad one timesnsrstad i the use of a hand rtrenadc. the idea berni' ] that one of the lads should throw one at ,- Ouirke a.' he' vent out of tho gate. A- , Maori named Simeon was present, and t paid he had never made a. tronnde. and i that it would have to h° made at a fac- -, torv. Witness, Capn, Sin-eon, Cockery. ( and his son were all present when the . conversation took place. j Alfred Cnpp, also on remand for sen- . fence for breaking and entering, corroborated Lewis's evidence. ■ ' James Simeon (Maoril. a returned sol- , dier, who until recentlv had been em- . ployed at Cookery's stables, also corro ( . horated the statements of the two pre- . vinus witnesses. Detective-Sergeant Qui"ke deposed that when he and Cnlloty .had arrested the Accused and read the charge to him ha replied: "Murder! Murder you! No. \ never." At the station. wVn conf'-nnird \ with Canp. accused said to Cairo: "Die! T f fell you "where Quirke lived 9 "id T't» ! ! i you I would blow him up 0 " To which Capp renlied: "Yes. you did." Accused i then called Cant) a liar. c This closed thr ease for the,police, tm\ ( accused was committed for trial at the ( Sunreme Court. C Crockery was furtVr charged with ■} counselling Lewis and Capn to break aiid C enter several premises, and also with re.- J reiving stolen snods. Eventually accused 3 was committed for trial on these eharees. I Bail was allowed in one surety of ,£250 and two of J;l'2s each.