Feilding R.M. Court.

Feilding Star, Volume X, Issue 85, 24 January 1889, Page 3

Feilding R.M. Court .

Monday, January 21, 1889.

(Before W, L, Bailey and C. Butt; Esqrs.

ALLEGED LAECE'NT.

R. T. Price was brought .tqp on remand and charged that he did between 4th August and 13th September, 1887, feloniously break into and enter the store of Messrs Stevens and Gortonat Feilding, and take therefrom a gold watch and a large number^ of other articles described in the indictment, of the total value of upwards Of j£6o, the : property of Daniel J. w, Edwards. . „, Sergeant Manning "conducted the case for the prosecution^ and 'Mr Staite appeared for the accused. •-••-■ Mr St&ite asked if the prosecution was prepared to furnish evidence of the accused having broken and entered the aforesaid premises, as he said the breaking open of a box was not ' breaking and entering according to the Act; and he could prove that- the accused was employed on the premises at die time of the alleged offence. : The Bench decided to hear the evidence, and Sergeant Manning 7 then opened the ■ case for the prosecution, and cited several ■ . .. authorities in support of the line of action he was about to pursue ia conducting the .-; case. ' • . . ' David John William Edwards deposed ; [ He was a farmer now residing at Awahuri ; resided there also from March to August v 4th, 1887 ; on that date owned the property mentioned in the information of the different values referred to ; contemplated going to Patea, thence to England; the ■ goods named were at the .. Awahuri ; Hotel contained in three boxes (described) packed by himself on the 3rd of August ; Mr Summers at witness' request carted , them to JFeilding next day, and left them at Messrs Stevens and Gorton's stores; ';' had previously arranged with Mr Norman "Gorton to take care of them till he returned from- Patea which he did on the 13th September; went, to the store.? to - . open the boxes, take Eorrie things out ; and repack ; found them strapped and corded as he left them, but die locks were : smashed on two of them ; spoke to Mr N. Gorton, and then went to Constable Meehan ; before tl is he had missed some ' of the property, comprised in the list ; given to the Constable ; there were a orown cord suit, value £5; blue serge suit, £4; light dust coat, 80/- ; pair of : velvet cord riding breeches, 80/- ; pair box .. cord gaiters, 10/- ; velvet cord waisooat, ''30/-; gold English lever half hunter watch, : .£3O ; small Geneva silver hunting watch, £8; set gold studs and sleeve links, £1 ; three gold waistcoat studs, £i; gold pin, . 10s ; two gold sleeve links, £% ; two silver rings, 4s; gold mourning ring, £1 ; another ditto, '£!', meershaum pipe, 10s; pair brown leather leggings, 16s ; piece of oox cloth, 2s; big soft felt hat, 10s; silver watch chain, 10s ; set of cartridge loaders, .. 16s; cash box, 10s; crows piece, 5s ; and several other articles ; after the 15th 'September went to Wellington, and sailed ~ for England in the Tongariro shortly after; communicated with Constable Meehan and Mr Gorton on the' subject; returned from England in the Ruapehu in January of this year ; prior to i omirighad received a Communication from Constable Meehan, and on arriving at Wellington telegraphed to him ; saw Constable Meehan accidentally on the platform at Wellington and he told witness to remain at Palmerston till the 12th ; came to Feildingby noon train, Sergeant Manning with him; had previously been to a magistrate to take out a search -warrant"; went with the Sergeant and Constable Meehan to the 'accused's abont half-past 12 noon ; saw accused in the front sitting room ; heard the warrant read, but the accused made no reply ; we searched the house, and . several articles were found, which witness identified as his property ; (witness de- " scribed the respective positions in the house in which the goods were found, and they were here produced and again identified by him) ; the witness' name on match box had been partially erased, but he ; : <jould trace his name assisted; by a glass ; . bad examined his boxes closely since his. - return, and found he had also, lost a breast, plate value 10s ; new double rein snaffle fcridle, value 16s; and two pipes 7s, ;.cbiitained in the boxes ; gave no orie ap^hor--1 ity or permission to deal with his property iii any way whatever. " • By Mr Staite:. Have not made up the > itptnl value of the: goods, produced and : -found in accused's, house ; fixed their c value chiefly by their cost; had no in- .. voices, but .knew; the value of the articles . named, and put a rough 'estimate on them ; would not awear his estimate was not , over the mark ; two ' suits he had never worn, neither the breeches nor the gaiters ; had worn some of the clothing and the •dust coat a considerable -time,' Wt had worn none of the other articles; there was a saddle in one of the boxes and this . was still at,the store ; its value was about £5 ; had not ibund either of the watches ; it was about 6 weeks from the time Mr Summers brought the boxes to the time witness missed his goods; didn't know if the Police had obtained any clue to the watches; did not previously know the accused, and was not aware that he was ■employed by Stevens and Gorton ; when he spoke of his loss did not suspect any particular person; several articles enumerated in the loss are not produced today; after finding the boxes had been' ransacked still thought it safe to leave them with Stevens and Gorton, as they were not worth taking Home, and he had no use for the saddle,* there was nothing in his communications . with the police (bo point suspicion to anyone in particular ; some articles (mentioned) were in a box at accused's house and the others were in no way concealed;, a dust coat hung in the passage, and. a pair of breeches on the line in the yard j and a pair of trousers on the accused ; the accused made no objection to the search warrant being executed; the cords were as witness left them. By the Sergeant : The goods were not over estimated; the goods in question were the only articles he had ever handed to Mr Summers for a similar purpose; , identified two bits of cloth (produced) as same pattern as suit found on execution of search warrant in a tin box in accused's bedroom. By Mr Staite: Only found one of the lost' rings at accused's house ; the other one has the name of "David- John Edwards" engraved inside. W. Si nvners, cordial manufacturer deposed: lie knew Mr, Edwards the] last witness ; saw him about 18 months ago at Awahuri, and got- instructions to bring, three boxes for him from the hotel to '" Messrs .Stevens and Gorton's store at Feilding (witness described the boxes and how they were strapped and fastened) ; handed them to Mr Norman Gorton, ■ placing them on the floor of the auction room ; they were then in the same condition as when he received them ; this was the only occasion he had had charge of Mr Edwards' goods under similar circumstances ; received payment for the carting. By Mr Staite :■ Had known the accused about 9 years, and his general reputation was very good ; the accused was employed •^at Stevens and Gorton's at the time the boxes were delivered to the best of wit- •'■ new' knowledge; could not say if he had £h©-keye of the auction* room, r hut had .jpefn-bw in charge of^the proniiseß. ".[ ' Sy^the Sergeant ::Did ndt 3 «ee the ac- ' eased ob this gartroular date, and had no jjfryn* <if Vnmsmff that he was then em-

ployed at the store except by supposition ; would not be surprised to hear if Mr Gorton was not able to say if he was then in their . employ ; could not say for certain if the'accused was employed there either three months before or., after the date of boxes being delivered. Norman Bannatyne St, George Gorton deposed to. being manager <df Stevens and Gorton's FeiMtmg branch of business ; knew Mr Edwards, and had conversation

with him about July, 1987, over the storing of some boxes ; Mr Summers brought some cases (described) about the beginning of August, but could not give exact date ; the cases belonged to Edwards, his name being written on two of them (fastenings described) ; met them just inside the store; they remained there about a day, and were then stacked to take as little room as possible 4 they were partially coveredwith chaff, and remained so till Mr Edwards came to open them about 13th September ; Edwards spoke of the loss of his property from his .boxes; went with him to Constable Meehan ; they returned with the Constable to the store, and the boxes ' were examined to see what was gone, when Edwards wrote a list of the missing articles and gave it to the Constable ; two of the boxes were left with witness, and Edwards took one away ; the two boxes remained with witness till after Edwards returned from England; heard the list read, and had heard the enumeration of the missing articles in the information to-day ; the accused had been in the employ of Stevens and Gorton as a servant in the capacity of storeman ; from October 1885 to 1886 he was permanently and had since been employed casually by witness for the firm ; was employed during 5 days in August 1887, for which witness paid him 80s, and one day in September ; accused, while employed, had charge of the place in witness' absence ; had reason to suspect somebody of the larceny ; had a slight suspicion the same day, his suspicions being afterwards strengthened; accused had not been in their employ since September. By Mr Staite : Kemembered the boxes being corded and locked to the best of his belief, and one was strapped; will not swear the accused was in their employ on the day the boxes were delivered by Summers, but did'nt think it was possible, or he should remember it, but it was possible he was in their casual employ afterwards; in witness' absence accused always had the key of store ; had thorough confidence in him during the employ ; thought it was possible and probable that accused was in their employ at the time the boxes were ransacked ; Edwards took one box away, after the ransacking, but could not swear to any of its contents ; told the Sargeant he Had reason to suspect the accused of the larceny; their rooms were open to the public on auction days ; on the first occasion accused was not dismissed for any doubt of his honesty, nor had they any doubt of his character on the second occasion.

By the Sergeant : Since accused's services were finally dispensed with had had reason to doubt his honesty ; accused had always been employed when available, and assistance was required; had frequently employed other labor since the alleged afiair, but not the accused, as he thought it better not to have him for several reasons, but chiefly suspicion of his being concerned in the larceny ; his suspicions were greatly strengthened by seeing Price m a coat exactly answering to the description by Edwards of the one he had lost ; had no other cause of suspicion.

By Mr Staite : About the time the boxes were deposited there was a large window of the store broken, and was nailed up with boards ; did'nt know how it was broken, as he did'nt think he was in Feilding when it occurred; the store had not been otherwise broken into as far as his knowledge went. By the Sergeant : The store might have been broken into without his knowledge ; he had missed several things on different occasions.

James Charles Morey, draper, identified the ring produced, marked " David Edwards" inside, as the one he had found at the door of his shop in Fergusson street about 11 months ago, and remained in his possession till the 16th instant, when he handed" it to Constable Meehan.

James Meehan, Constable at Feilding, deposed to seeing Edwards on September 13, 1887, in company with Norman Gorton, when the former made a complaint to witness, in consequence of which he accompanied him to the store about 11 a.m. ; was shown some boxes about which complaints were made, and Edwards gave him a list of the missing articles (copy of list produced) ; circulated the list through the district ; previous to this had received a letter from Mr Edwards in England ; next saw him on the 10th instant on the platform of the railway station in Wellington, they feeing passengers by the same train from Palmerston ; saw him on the 12th on the railway platform at Feilding with Sergeant Manning; went with the two to the accused's house in Eyre street, and -saw the latter ; the Sergeant said to accused he wanted to speak to him, and that he had a search warrant relating to Mr Edward's property; accused did not say a word as to how he became possessed of the goods ; (witness identified the articles produced as those found in accused's residence) ; the accused was arrested and charged with the offence; his suspicions were first directed to the accused about October 1887, when he saw a brother of the accused wearing leggings answering to the description of those stolen; in the following December Baw another wearing a cord velvet vest answering to the one missing by Edwards ; in May, 1888, saw accused wearing a suit of. blue serge, answering to the one stolen ; the charge would have been formulated sooner but for Mr Edwards being away in England; mentioned the facts to Sergeant Manning soon after the robbery was committed; the ring produced was the one given him by Mr Morey.

By Mr Staite: Could not say if Price was in the casual employ of the firm at or after . the time of the robbery ; believed Price's brothers lived in Feilding about the time of the alleged robbery ; did not suspect these, as the accused had a better opportunity, knowing all about the store, and he knew the brothers might wear the clothes by getting them from their brother; beyond having had to caution one of them for playing truant he knew their character to be good ; he never saw these boys in the store ; would say the goods were not concealed as stolen property ,• there were plenty of lads in Feilding who wanted looking after, .hut not jor stealing. '' B,y the Sergeant: Did not consider playing truant as. an. evidence of, bad character'; did not expect the goods to; be hidden after 12 or 13 months had elapsed.! William Manning deposed to being Sergeant of Police, and stationed at Palmerston North; knew Mr Edwards,. whom he saw respecting this matter in Palmerston in September 1887 on his way 'to "Wellington ; knew the accused j next saw Edwards on 10th instant relative to this matter at Palmerston ; went with him to a "magistrate to get a search wan-ant; came to Feilding with him on the llth : they went to the accused, and said they had

a tsearch warrant; Mr Price, senior, objected at first, saying, the house was his

and not his son's, but he afterwards said

witness could do as he liked; searched and found the goods described by former witnesses ; accused was present, and made no reply. By Mr Staite : Had known the accused

casually iabout 7 years, and his father (late Constnble in this district) for about 9 years ; heard nothing against the accused before ; had not been able to trace the other things missing, including the gold watch ; probably the goods produced would not fetch J-10, as several of the articles are not in the same condition as at first.

The witness Edwards, recalled by the Bench, explained apparent discrepancy between his evidence and that of Gorton's as to the number of the boxes when Edwards left for England, that there were three boxes when he left, one being inside another, which would account for Mr Gorton saying there, were only two boxes. This concluded the case for the prosecution.

Mr Staite addressed the Court, and submitted that the Bench had power to deal with the case as Sergeant Manning had stated the goods produced were only of the value of .£lO.

The Bench said they had come to the conclusion that a prima facie case was made out.

Mr Staite still expressed a wish to be heard, and urged that a summary conviction should be recorded if the Bench was satisfied of the accused's guilt, citing several authorities; in support of his contention.

Sergeant Manning replied, calling attention to the value of the goods, viz., ±'60 or more, alleged to have been stolen, and of which those produced were only a part, and gave authority for submitting to their Worships that under the circumstances they had not power to record a summary conviction.

The Bench said they had decided to send the case for trial,' and as against Mr Staite's contention referred to Edward's statement that the goods produced were worth £L 3.

The accused was cautioned in the usual manner, and asked if he had anything to say in answer to the charge. He said " I am not guilty." Mr Staite asked for the case to be heard at the Palmerston District Court on Wednesday.

Sergeant Manning explained that such a such a course would be futile, as the District Court had no jurisdiction in a case of this kind. The accused was then committed to take his trial at the Wellington Supreme Court on April Ist.

Mr Staite asked for bail to be allowed which was granted as in the former proceedings, viz., the accused in £200, and two sureties of .£IOO each.

The Court then adjourned.