A GUMDIGGER'S TALE

Gisborne Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1429, 13 April 1905, Page 2

A GUMDIGGER'S TALE

VICTIM OF ALLEGED CONFIDENCE

TltlCE.

XPer Press Association.} Auckland, last night. Matthow Gear, a gumdigger, was the principal witness in the Police Court when Alfred Stringfellow' was charged. with stealing £230 from him on March 23rd at Auckland. Stringfellow pleaded ‘ not - ’?, guilty. Chief Detective Marsack said it was a form of the evergreen confidenea trick through which cornplsSnant, a respectable old man, had boon robbed of £230, the accumulation of years of toil. Matthow Gear said that ho cams to ‘ Auckland on February 2od, and saw Stringfellow in tho street on March 9th. Witness withdrew £239 lls lOd from the . Post office Savings Bank, as hB~V had an idea of going to~ Australia. Ho was given a cheque upon the Bank of New Zealand. Witness c eloven £2O notes, nineteen £1 notes andt'i some silver. He carried the notes about in his pocket for several days, and then went to the. bank to open an accountV When ho found that he would have to payX; for the account being kopt ho deoided nob y to place tho monoy in tho bank. He told ■ Stringfellow that he was thinking of putting tho monoy back in the post office, as he had decided not to go away. String- yrfellow said that witness could give him the money, and he would place it in his own banking account, giving him a cheque for tho amount. Witness ,aj paid him £230, and Stringfellow wrote out a cheque, telling him that ha could, by means of this document, get tho money at any time. Stringfellow told him it might not bo safe for him to carry a cheque about, so he gave it backr-X. Stringfellow put it into his poekot. On • \ the following day witness looked about all ovor the place for ’.Stringfellow, whom ho saw in tho evening. 1 “I told him," said Gear, “ that I was upset over the cheque, because there was no security. ‘ You might,’ I said ‘ clear off to the other sido of the world, and I’d havo nothing to show for it.’ ’’ • Prosecutor said ho did not get the cheque. Stringfellow saying, •“ Surely you oan trust me when we have known each other so long.” Ho found next day that Stringfellow’s boxes had gone from the hoarding house, and accused had disappeared. He consequently gave information to tha police. After other evidence had been given Da. tective Dodge, of Wellingtonl-'gave. evid eace that he arrested accused on steamr Athenio at Wellington, on March 19. He _ had booked a passage for England, and would have left next day. Stringfellow replied “ Yes,” when witness informed! him of the charge. He searched accused and found on him a bank draft for £2O, a S™. cheque drawn in favor of Gear, £2O for a X ticket foe England.

Accused pleaded not guilty, and w&s committed for trial at the Supreme Oourti