SUPREME COURT.

Evening Star, Issue 3857, 5 July 1875, Page 3

SUPREME COURT.

CRIMINAL SESSIONS. Monday, July 6, (Before Mr Justice Johnston.) The ordinary quarterly sitting of the Supreme Court for the transaction of criminal business was opened this morning by Judge Johnston, who took his seat on the Bench at ten o’clock. Mr H. J. Maclean, for non-attendance os a grand juror, was fined L 5, unless cause be shown. Messrs J. A. Walcott and J. Alves were excused. The following gentlemen were sworn on the Grand Jury:—Messrs John Cargill (foreman!, Thos. Brown, L. Court, W. Couston, J. E. F. Coyle, Geo. Dodson, Geo. S. Duncan, W. Elder, F. Gresswell, B. Isaac, J. R. Jones, R. A. Lawson, Jno. Marshall, J, F. Mason, j! F, Peake, E. C. Quick, G. F. Keid, C. Shanks, Jos. Black, James Robin, and G. W. Eliott. His Honor, in addressing the Grand Jury, observed that it would be ill-becoming in him with so limited a knowledge of . the statistics of this district to make many general observations with regard to the state of crime in this Province. Nr. doubt, wo had been in the habit— at times a little rashly— of congratulating ourselves upon the paucity of offences of a serious character in the Colony. He thought they might perhaps on a closer examination find that while the proportion of orime to the population was by no means considerable, yet considering that with the gener.il prosperity which prevailed temptations to certain crimes should be less than in other coromusitics, there was still a considerable amount of substantial crime. He was glad to say that upon the present occasion, and indeed in any portions of the Colony he had visited, he had not been abe to discover with the immigrants from other hemi spheres, who had come so plentifully to our shores, any traces of dangerous classes having been introduced heie. That was one of the great' st dangers connected with what everyone must admit to be one of the most im portaht measures for the development of the

well-being of th* country. The greatest oa« would have to be taken to prevent the esta blishment, especially in young communities, ol anything like an organised criminal class, Th< jealous care of the police should be particular!} directed towards diminishing the means of com munication between ill-disposed persons for the, purpose of disposing of property improperly obtained. The present caletfder—as indeed eveiy calendar in every part of the Colony —contained certain crimes, viz., dealing with forged cheques and embezzlement in pub lie offices, banks or mercantile establishments. Unfortunately these crimes have been very rife throughout the Colony. With'regard t« the crime of tampering with cheques, he had often made it his duty to point out the extreme necessity and importance to those engaged it trade,’and especially the smaller traders, of protecting themselves against these crimes. Foi persons in outlying districts there was some excuse, but noneforperaonsin the towns who with ready access to the banks oa which the cheques were drawn, would readily change them. The exersiss of greater prudence and leas anxiety to get rid of their wares would be the means oi preventing this. '1 he police and the law could not effectively protect society, unless society protected itself. In many cases the judges should mark their sense of this practice by depriving such persona, when they were prosecutors or witnesses in oasea ef this kind, of their costs: they had no right by their carelessness to oast upon society the cost of prosecuting such cases. Recurring to the calendar, he said that, as usual, it showed great variety of offences. Of fourteen charges there were no less than eleven of them for different offences. In very few of the casas was it necessary for him to give the Grand Jury any recommendation or instruction. Alluding to Grossman’s case as one of a peculiarly melancholy character, pointing io the nreories and vices of the humblcrolaases of society here in a way that was rather shocking, as it showed that thus early in the Colony’s career some of the worst features of vice were to be found here, his Honor commented upon the peculiar character of the statement of the woman Jeffrey, made when she believed herself to be dying, and observed that whether or not it would turn out to be strictly receivable in evidence he was hardly prepared to decide. The wretched story the Grand Jury would have to examine with great care, and he advised them, unless they saw a reasonable chance of conviction, that they would probably come to the conclusion that it would be in the interests of soeiety that the case should not go further; but if they aiw fair’ ground for believing that the accused did commit the assault upon the woman they would find a true bill In reference to the case Regina r. Griffiths, who was charged with abstaining after he was declared a bankrupt, from giving an account ef certain mining shares which he possessed, his Honor remarked that it would be proved by the trustee that the bankrupt gave no account of the existence of certain mining shares to which he was entitled, and if it was so proved it would be for the Grand Jury to [pay whether there was primafaeie evidence that he willfully concealed them. There was, his Honor believed, some evidence to show that, on being charged, the bankrupt did not deny the fact, but stated that he bad forgotten the shares. Of course, a man was not to bo made criminally responaib’e for forgetfulness; but if they thought it was a mere evasion and that he mast have known of the existence of the shares, it was wilfully concealing and sufficient for the Grand Jury to find a true bill The cose of an unnatural offenee Ms Honor dismissed, with the advice to the Grand Jury not to. hastily iump at a conclusion, for it wonld be for the, benefit of the public that an investigation of this sort should not be minutely entered upon in a court of justice unless there was (a fair chance of conviction And, in conclusion, his Honor said this was a matter he felt bound to call the attention of the Grand Jury and the public to. He know it was a thankless office to find fault, and he knew as well as anybody could know that there was no more distasteful office for a public man than to state things as ho knows them and to call attention to them, when he knows that to d« so will give anxiety, trouble and pain. But the man who shrank from the performance of his duty could not, in his opinion, reconcile it with his own conscience that he had done his duty. He was, therefore, bound to point out that ef the fourteen seta of depositions handed up to him for the preparation of his address to the Grand Jury, only three were framed according to the statute. Eleven were therefore utterly and absolut ly useless for the purpose for which they were intended. By the Act known in England as Jervis’s Actadopted in this Colony in 1855—and the Justices of the Peace A ok, there were specific instructions given as to the manner m which depositions are to be taken in indictable offences It was the duty of ev<>ry magistrate and of every magistrate’s clerk to make himself thoroughly master of the formal details of them. He (the learned Judge) ventured to say that any intelligent schoolboy of twelve years of age would, in the course of one hour, be thoroughly competent to master the business of which he was now complaining. The law ■aid that depositions were to be taken in a particular way—in the presence of the prisoner, to whom was to be given the opportunity of cross-examining, the deposition was to be read over by the magistrate, was to bo signed by him afterwards, and be certified, according to fo- m, that it had been read over, taken in the prisoner’s presence, and that prisoner had had an opportunity of cross-examining. There were certain forms attached to the statute, and he knew that certain printed forms—which he supposed might be procured from any printers’ shop—were issued by the Government, and he supposed that to a knowledge that these formal parts were partly in print, and that certain blanks had to be filled in might be traced this great failure that had taken place. The importance of the muttsr was this: if the depositions were taken in due f. rm, and appeared on he face of them to have been taken in the presence of the prisoner, to have been read over to him, and that be had ha 1 an opportunity to cross-examine, then without any further proof of these matters, and without the production of the magistrate or his clerk the depositions were admissible, if afterwards the witness died, or his he.ilthdidnotenablehhn to appear. The intention of the statute was to prevent any great failures of justice, and a most useful and important statutory provision it was. He was struck with the depositions, unci had gone over them carefully to make sure that he had not airivou at an incorrect conclusion. Not long since ho read of an English Judge of assize fining a magistrate’s clerk LlO for badly written depositions. But ten times LlO would not represent the proper penalty for such a gross piece of negligence as that he was now speaking of. He trusted that, if ever it should be bis hi to again come to this part of the

Colony, in the discharge of hia duties, to hold criminai sittings here, that he would not find it to .be hia duty to exercise the summary power conferred upon him by the law. Not only were magistrates’ clerks responsib'e, but also the magistrates, who must see that these things were done, properly. Before finishing he ought to say, in order to spare feelings, that his observations did not apply to all the depositions, but to the greater part of them, which probably came from one source, for as fas as ho could judge the handwriting was that of one person. Many people might think this kind of admonition on his part might be rash or uncalled for, hut he did not think so. He felt ho would not bo doing his duty if he did not speak out plainly and distinctly. . His Honor, at a later stage of the proceedmgs, in referring to the case of Crossan, said that ho found that the statement made by deceased could not be used, as she had not been

duly cautioned. , Therefore really the only tittle of evidence was something said by accused before the Magistrate when asked to ptead. This, if ueeessaiy, would be supplied by the Police Inspector, and it was for the Grand Jury to say whether it was worth their while finding a ttue bill on tlut evidence. FOB9BBT. William Barnes (19) was charged with forging a cheque for the payment of LlO 8a 0d with the name of Robert Peter Bodin, at Nnseby on April 14. A second count charged him «slh uttering the same. Prisoner pleaded guilty o uttering the cheque knowinit to be forged ; and a summary conviction showing that he had lately served thirty days for larceny wan put in. His Honor said the crime of forgery was oho which should bo punished with' extreme rigor. He was glad to see that reformation was shortly

to bo made in the punishment of criminals in the prisons throughout the Colony, They would no longer be lagging behind. The Executive of the Colony were now wide awake to the proper mode of punishment—marks were to be awarded In the administration of sentences. They were now to have a proper system of punishment, such as the civilized world had already approved ef at their recent international penitentiary conference, and he hailed the ehange with great satisfaction. He intended giving prisoner a comparatively long sentence, in the hope that it would be the means of rescuing him from the course which he was pursuing, and that when he came out ef gaol no might bo returned to society a converted—that was to say a reformed man. Prisoner was sentenced to three years’ penal servitude, Samuel Starrey pleaded guilty to forging an order for the payment of L 25 with the name of James White, and was sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment with hard labor, BOBBBBT FROM THB BEESON. John Cooney was charged with stealing a pocket book containing L2l from the person of Michael Phelan on April 28. Prisoner pleaded not guilty. The facts, as stated by the CroVvn Prosecutor, were that prosecutor and prisoner were together nearly all the day in question. They were at the Sussex Hotel, and prosecutor having occasion to pay for some drinks prisoner was enabled to see what money he had. One Kennedy, prisoner, and prosecutor then went to Kennedy’s house in King street, prosecutor walking between the other two. As they approached Kennedy’s house a woman named Sullivan, a neighbor, saw prisoner put out his foot and trip prosecutor. The jury were asked to presume that it was at this time that the pocket-book and its contents were stolen. Prisoner did not go into Kennedy’s house, and shortly after being there prosecutor missed his book. When prisoner returned to Kennedy’s house some time after, prosecutor questioned him about the pocket-book, but he denied all knowledge of it. He, however, changed a five-pound note and a ten-pound note in town that evening, and when asked two days after by Detective Henderson where he got the money, he denied changing such amounts. Prisoner was found guilty, and sentenced to four years' imprisonment, with hard labor. ROBBERY WITH VIOLENCE. John Sullivan was charged withjaasanlting Andrew Hill on April 19, and with robbing him of 18s. Prisoner pleaded not guilty. This case was fully reported in oar columns when heard before the Police Court, and the facts as now briefly stated by the Crown Prosecutor were these: —The offense charged against prisoner was the heaviest to be tried this session. On the night in question, at about ten o’clock, prosecutor was taking a walk along the Main South Road in the neighborhood of Hillside, when piisoner, a stranger to him, accosted him and asked him te go to some place of amusement. Prosecutor declined, and prisoner shortly after suggested that they should take a walk together. They did so, and, when a short distance off the main road, prisoner asked prosecutor to give him some money. Prosecutor said he had nothing to give him, whereupon prisoner threw him down, knelt on his chest, keeping one hand over bis mouth so as almost to suffocate him, and with the other rifled his Sockets. At this time Mary Maloney, a omeatic, happened to be passing the spot, and seeing the two men on the ground—prisoner kneeling on the prosecutor—she screamed for help, and her screams were heard by two men who were returning home and passing the neighborhood. They ran in the direction of the screams, and found prosecutor on the ground, and blood running from his mouth and nose. Prisoner had by this time made off. 7 he woman’s screams were also heard by Constable Waters, who was on duty at the south end of Lees street, and on his way to where the sounds proceeded from he saw prisoner running down without a hat, and accosted him. Prisoner said that he had been assaulted by some men and was escaping from them. The constable asked him to go back, but he refused to do so, and ran away. He was, however, arrested next day, after the information had been laid, by Constable Walters and Sergeant Sevan. He then denied having been in the locality where the assault took place on the previous night. The hat which prisoner wore on the night in question was picked up a few yards from the scene of the assault. The jmy, without leaving the box, returned a verdict of “Guilty.”

His Honor (to the prisoner): You have been convicted on the most complete and satisfactory evidence possible. There is h«rdly tie shadow o*’ a possibility of doubt about your being the man. You have been convicted of one of the worst offences known to the law. You arc a garotter - that is the name for a man who, like a wild beast, flies atftlie throat of a man with the chance of depriving him of kis life, in order to get a few shillings. This crime must be put down with the strong arm of the law. You are sentenced to penal servitude for six years.

TRUE BILLS. True bills were also found against John Sullivan (robbery from the person), Alf. Chorley (embezzlement), John Sutherland (assault), John Rffey (horse-stealing), Charlotte Schmid (bigamy), Walter Wiltshire Yause (embezzlement). Walter Knights (wounding with a tomahawk), Erancis Henderson (robbery from an hotel), Maggi Antonio (sodomy), Henry Williams (stealing from the person), John Griffiths (fraudulent bankruptcy). The Jury threw out the bill against Alex. Crossan, charged with assault, his Heror observing—l almost anticipated it, The Grand Jury were discharged.