CITY POLICE COURT.

Evening Star, Issue 4166, 4 July 1876, Page 2

CITY POLICE COURT.

Tuesday, July 4. (Before A. Mercer, Esq., and C. S. Reeves,

Esq., J.P.'s)

Drunkenness. Dina Brooks was discharged with a caution ; Nime Murey and James Hessmau were each fined ss, in deault twenty-four hours' imprisonment; Joseph Ireland, 10s, or forty-eight hours'; Mary M'Donald, 40s, or seven days'. M'Donald for being an habitual drunkard was sentenced to a further term of three months' mprisonment. Theft from a till.—John Galloway, charged with stealing half-a-crown from a till in the Rose, Thistle, -and Shamrock Hotel, Green Island, was remanded for a week, Mr Jenkins, the prosecutor, being engaged in the Supreme Court. A Bookmaker in Trouble. John Coleman was charged on remand with having no lawful means of support. Mr Lewis submitted that the Bench should disregard all hearsay evidenoe which had been brought forward. If there had been any truth in the statements made, direct evidence could havejjeen produced, He was in a posi*

tion to prove that-the statement that accused had "fleeced" a man of L6O was false.—lnspector Mallard: He was only one of the parties to it. I will mention the the principal. It was .Mr Brake. Accuser! was only indirectly concerned.— Mr Lewis said the name of the party "fleeced" should be disclosed.—lnspector Mallard said that when two or three young men got inveigled into the clutches of men lik-3 accused they did not like to come forward into Court and to be made an exhibition of.—Mr Lewis submitted that there could be no such, thing as delicacy in a case Ike this. It was an idle excuse to say that young men who had been "fleeced" had a delicacy in coming forward.—Accused, examined by Mr Lewis, said that he left Murray's circus eighteen months ago with L 20 0; that he had not associated with convicted thieves; and that foi the last two years he had n6t been in the company of E restitutes. The various statements made y the police were utterly untrue and false. Witness was now making arrangements for the appearance of the Star Variety Troupe throughout the Colony.—Robert Love, comic singer and negro interrogator, said he was manager of the Star Variety Troupe. Cole* , man made an offer to him three Weeks ago to engage "the troupe for a tour of the Colony. That arrangement was not yet completed, as the troupe were awaiting the arrival of two ladies from Melbourne.—Alex. O'Brien, of "Salamander Sam" celebrity, was called, but did not appear.—James Wilkinson, also of the Star Variety Troupe, corroborated Love's evidence. In cross-ex-amination he said he had been out of Otago for twelve months, and did not know what accused had been doing daring that time. James Carroll, of the European Hotel, said that Coleman'was not in his house when a row over L2O took place a few nights ago.—By Inspector Mallard: He never made a wager with a bookmaker and never looked at a betting-board except to see what was the most likely horse to win. (Laughter.) If a horse was scratched for a race, and a bookmaker made a wager about that horse, witness considered he acted dishonestly.—lnspector Mallard : Supposing I tell you Coleman made a wager of that sort at the last March meetingwould you consider that a lawful way of msAing a living ? Witness: Certainly not.—lnspector sTallard: I can state that such is a positive fact. That is one reason why the police brought accused here to show how he gets his ttving.—Mr Lewis : There is no proof of that.—lnspector Mallard: If allowed I will| go into the witness-box and prove that sdeh a wager was made. —This was the case for the. defence, and the Bench said, they had no alternative but to dismiss the I case. Presumptive evidence had been offered, showing that accused did not get his living as a good citizen should; but a clear case had not been made out.