SUPREME COURT.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2771, 4 January 1872, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.

CRIMINAL SESSIONS. This Day. (Before Mr Justice Chapman.) The sittings of the Court were resumed at 10 o’clock this morning. THE GARRICK BIGAMY CASE. Mr W. W. Wilson, who appeared for Mary Marion Hogan Webb, who pleaded guilty yesterday to a charge of bigamy, asked permission to call a witness to explain the circumstances under which the prisoner had got married. His Honor : 1 can only hear witnesses as to character. Mr Wilson : I can only produce evidence of that ki;;d which goes to a knowledge of her character during the last few months. I thought evidence' would perhaps be received showing that her husband Webb connived at the second marriage. His Honor : That can make no difference,

Thomas Leslie was allowed to make statement. He said he knew the prisone for the last seven months. He first became acquainted with her at a hotel at Cromwell. The landlady gave her an excellent character, saying that she was the best servant she had ever had. Mr Wilson : Leslie is the party to whom the prisoner was married for the second time. Webb, her husband, represented himself to Leslie as her brother when they were married. His Honor : Under these circumstances I will hear Leslie on oath. Leslie then repeated his statement, adding that subsequent to the marriage he heard that the woman had been previously married to Webb. He made enquiries, and learned that such was the fact. When he spoke to Webb on the subject, he said, “You must not believe all you hear.” He (Leslie) believed the prisoner to be a single woman when he married her. The prisoner was then removed.

ARSON. George Grey was indicted for having at Blueskin, on the 30th of September last, feloniously set fire to the store and dwell-ing-house’ of one Thomas Quayle. He was undefended. The facts of the case as stated by the Crown Prosecutor, are as follows :—lt would appear from the evidence that some misunderstanding arose a long time since between Quayle and the prisoner with reference to a cheque for Bs, which Quayle had stopped payment of on one occasion. Prisoner had his wages paid through Quayle, and for sonic reason which was unexplained, the latter stopped this cheque, and in consequence prisoner was known to have entertained feelings of enmity towards Quayle, being known to say on more than one occasion, that he would like like to iujuio Quayle in some way. A witness named Charles Jones, a flax cutter, who resided with the prisoner, once heard him say “ I would like to burn Quayle out. ’ This was said in reply to a remark by Jones that “ he thought old Quayle was doing well.” On other occasions he gave expression to his feeling of enmity towards Quayle. On the morning of 30th September last, a fire was discovered by two carriers named Blacklock and . Perie, to be burning at the end of Quayle’s store, nearest to the Waitati river. Blacklock was the first to discover it, and he called Perie’s attention to it, they then ran together to the store, gave the alarm and commenced stamping out the fire with thoir feet, and with the assistance of th >, inmates of the house, who by this time had been awoke, put out the fire before much damage was done, there being a plentiful supply of water. This was exceedingly fortunate, for there was a quantity of gunpowder in the store just over where the fire commenced, and had it burnt a few minutes longer the powder would have become ignited ancf blown up the store with all the people in it. It was merely owing to the fact of the carriers having rose at the early hour of three in the morning in order to get into Dunedin soon that the fire was discovered in time tp prevent serious consequences. The facts connecting the prisoner with the lire were these : After the fire had been extinguished, Quayle, his wife, aud a man nam d M'Lareu, were standing outside the store, and heard footsteps approaching from the direction of the Waitati bridge. When the person came opposite the store Mrs Quayle addressed him, saying “ Is that you, George ?” George being the prisoner’s name, and he replied in the affirmative. Mrs Quayle then asked him what he was d o;11 g early hour in the morning, viz. between four and five, and he replied “I am going to thp hotel for grog. I aud five others have been drinking ail qight in a teat; we have had one bottle of gin, and I am going to the hotel for more.” Prisoner then referred to the fire, and said to Mrs Quayle, “ Do you blame me for it, ” without anyone having suggested that he had anything to do with it. Mrs Quayle replied that she did not blame him for it, and he thereupon observed that he did nob care whether she did or nob. Ho then went away towards the hotel, and as he was leaving Mr Quayle noticed that he was barefooted, which was a matter of some importance, as the facts which followed would show. When the prisoner went away, Quayle, his wife, and M’Laren, went into the ‘house ; but shortly afterwards Quayle came out by himself, and while looking at the fire heard footsteps of a person coming from the direction of the hotel. He cqucealed himself close to where the fire had been, and saw that the person approaching was the prisoner, although the latter could not see him. Prisoner halted opposite to the store, and began to talk to himself. It would be proved in evidence that this was a habit of h : s when drunk. Looking at the store, he said, “The old sepew; ttye old miser—the —— old miser. I wish the fife had taken well; I would have liked to have seen a good fire there.” He then went to the bridge, which is not far from the store, and picked up a stone, which he threw in the direction of the house. Quayle saw him do this, and M'Laren heard the stone fall. Quayle and M'Laren then gave him chase, and found him concealed behind one of the arches of the bridge. M'Laren caught hold of him, but the prisoner’s shirt tore away in his hands, and he succeeded in getting away. Some hours afterwards another stone was thrown from the direction of the bridge. Quayle and M‘Laren again went out after him, and saw the prisoner running ip the direction of the flax store in the immediate neighborhood. Following him up they came upon him in the flax store. He then pretended that he had been in the store all night, had been sleeping there, and had not been away from the place. It would be proved in evidence that when prisoner came into the flax shed he asked a man who was there to say, if anybody came, that he (prisoner) had been sleeping there all night, aud had never moved away from the place. The next day steps were taken to ascertain by what means the fire was caused. It was found that the fire had been ignited by means of flax, and that the flax used for the purpose had been taken from the scutching room of the flax mill, about 20 yards distant from the store. It was also ascertained that the person who had taken the flax had been bare-footed, as footmarks were plainly visibly on some decayed vegetable matter laying in the yard. It was then 1 recollected by several persons that the prisoner had been going about barefooted on the morning of the tire, and suspicion was attached to him. It appeared that on the day of the fire prisoner had been entirely unable to prevent himself from talk ng about it. A man named Boylan, who lived in a tent adjoining the prisoner’s, at a distance of only a fow feet, heard the prisoner yom© ifctd liis tent at one o’clock in tie morn-

ing of September 30, and say to himself, “ I will do it, if I get three years’ for it,” and, after the fire, the prisoner, talking to Jones, expressed his apprehension that the police wereafter him, and that if they were he could give them some trouble before they would catch him. Jones then said “If you clear out Quayle will probably not prosecute you ; and prisoner replied, “If I get out of this scrape, I will lead a new life.” On the day after the fire ho hj ft the place where he had been living prev : o'isly, and went in the direction of town on his way to Christchurch, and was shortly afterwards arrested. The Jury returned a verdict of guil y, recommending him to mercy on account of his being drunk at the time of the offence. Sentence deferred. BESTIALITY. William M'Millau was found guilty of this offence at St Banthau’s. Sentence deferred. The trial of Duncan Davis, for obtaining money under false pretences, was proceeding at 4 o’clock.