MAGISTRATES’ COURTS.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 616, 9 June 1876, Page 3

MAGISTRATES’ COURTS.

CHRISTCHURCH, lo 8. _[BefpreU, L,MjriUsh,BJsq, j ,J - abson. The following ■ .is' toahoncinsion report in this case, frcm the time of going to press yeste^ay/:*■>. - 1 -- Augustine W. Swift, continued—The fire was the Cellar ;, lbhg before it wwio* toners were at my hquso-thelnexth morning to breakfast, and' the prisoner «aid, ‘‘ We don’t kill a pig 1 eVery day:” “ He said he had got a house in pocket, and money in the bank, and that he should not starve, I told Jxim I was very glad to hear dl^ I 'Thomas Whelan deposed—l am in the €mp!6y r bf ! th'| w Telßgtaph ,J department. In tKe , l»feinhih^ ; tif J May 1 list I wils working on the IBurnham line, and camped War the hotel. I was there oearly a fortnight. I was camped ( there:,on'the,l9th of May. I. went tq the Mitel about 7 o’clock that evening ; I enteredby the back.. The bar was not lighted, and there .was no light in it. _ I was shown into the si tti I got a shilling’s worth of tobacciand a* pint of beer. I ,go iphpdh?LbPiF*TJ twas following Catcbpole, to, the bar; When he shaded me intqjhe sittingrroom and said he twaited;- T remained half-past nine. I dranißnFlHW-<r-IKwaitoot <ymy seemed ; , |Q>be ; old'a t }d bad.; ■; -When I w®t away the bar was inrdarkness./ jl had only, once been in thebarabout a before ; it was closed then:* There were seats round, the baz3&d sbdd ''beer “were some bottles omtheyshelyes.bob Leonid-not say what was ,iny them r r L I ywts;; pre-' sent *ht J ' the ."fire, - T A : man named Swift wa* from the -house. I saw bq*h>MiLaald Mrm ChtohpoleqJPesent at? the time. H>q tjKjePEcd* voiy much alarmed and dejefited. UP* heat any laughing going on‘at that time. I found a coat while the fire was,folded up, and laid alongside the road 4 by v the fence. I asked who ewned It,, and .Mr Oatchpole claimed/iti -. 2fcthidg said by ,any bpe abontdhsnrance thfft I examined the siWrol the firb hud iemains of a bottles.-’and Wme delf. The nrisoneVdid not 'Accouaii to mebow the fife oririnat^. ir mark^bodfield/rail way station master at Burnham, gave evidence very similar te.*ha* last,wi|n^iHq: did no't'tiwßid^.w^.Sveil stocked, :#M e been at times tor things that he.could not get just previous to the fire. Tqere was very little business doing at the hotel as a rule ReoOll&ted some goods being sent from the: hotel the lsth Of Mff, Four boxes USA a hogshead of ale. They were booked by Mr Oatchpole, and we; to be sent todphfisteharcb station-Did nofekbow what the; jcaaea -'<^ nt ained -they ftd .hogshead, ka&»t n; eight, hundred rwngUh Witness asked prisoner if the hogshead waste go back ito iWbite ? a>bcewery, Tae , replied in the 'awgottWSJOTOfcSrt; heirwould i «» after nbfc ihavfe .mnehr goods hut not' itffloh: i i The; lust that arrived was,a jar aniaieas&eß.ibftSlst. last beerfor the prisoner "arrived; ou! Jbe,29th Aprj|y-two hogsheida. y O&t <»<? oi them wa*delivered to the hdtel.TO-iThgubthe*was .sent' back to Ohrißtcherchir.r Had on varioua ; occasions spoken business they they..were not doing much and would leave. He after, wards tpM everything; had;been burnt ewepbwhat.be sfegA&U wbat-had. been saved.' ' Speaking the house was one bedstead m the hQU Be - There Were three stretchers bud ihieeJuble* and a doaen or so of chairs, i iiThpre. iweie not many carpets. There was .a sewing machine; and' a couch. Had hatbsomg beer at the house just previous to the fire : it was ; yery fresh and good. Had seen Mr Catcbpole using the .cigar., holder produced ; alio identified-the Ranters produced, and several qthej qf the articles. Louisa Swift, the wife of the ivitnesi Sw*ft corroborated the evidence gVY?, II ‘ ® husband, and added that about a fortnight before thh fire Mra Oatchpole had told her that thdy;bad sent up all their best clothes to their >empty house in Christchurch. The morning ; after, the fire she said she had .not a /dress to, wear, and that she would have > to / buy one. Witness then told h ef ‘ that she could, go to Christchurch and put one of the on ehe Und sent

there. Her reply was, ; that after what witmess had previously said, the things had not been seut |to Christchurch, The female (prisoner went to Christchurch that day, and 1 returned in the evening with one of the ■ dresses on which had been previously sent to Christchurch. Witness identified a number of the articles produced as being the same that she had seen atthe hotel. She had not \ noticed any change in the appearance of the bar just prior to the fire; Hugh Ddhaldson, a carter, gave some corroborative evidence Joseph Disher.m resident of Burnham, said he heard Mr Catch pole on the morning after the fire say, “It was not so bad; he had £4O in his pockets and £l5O in the bank, ann they didn r t„kill a pig-every day.” Previous fothe fire the female prisoner had given him some short pipes and a stick of tobacco, saying, “ You had better have-them, we shall be going away in a .few days.’’ Mary Ann Joyce Maoardle deposed that she lived in Colombo s'leet. She was recently staying at the Burnham Hotel.n Was present when the detective recently searched her (witness’) box, and took out of it a musical box, three, rings, and a cross, a coat, and a pair of trousers, and a cigar, bolder. Witness did pot put those things in her box. She was' not -at,,Burnham when the box was and coat belonged to her brother-in-law (the prisoner), and the musical box to witness, ’ Oouldi hot account for the Way tbe’thingsl got ipto her box, ' The Tingß : and/ the* cross belonged to witness, the charm to her sister;. Tfiis was the case." said he did not propose to comment on the evidence, but he would' submit that, the female prisoner should hot be commitiefi for trial, ; for there was really nothing against her {o connect her with the matter, even if the guilt of the male prisoner was fully proved. It is presumed, too, that awife acts under the influence of the husband, even when he is guilty. With regard.to the,other prisoner he would prefer not to make. any. comment. -The Bench did not. see how the parties coaid be -Pepatated." The evidence appeared to be equal against both the Mr Joynt felt quite convihced that; when thjf whole case was gone into before the r'npremef Court it would be-found to turn out more smoke than firei He still contended that the -female prisons; ought not to be'Committed; for trial, for the evidence against her was; surely not enough to convict, and therefore: it Would be a great-pity- to- commit ‘her for trial. The Bench did not well see how the prisoners could be ' Mr Joynt said that, even if she knew of ' her' husband* burning, the hotel-supposing that be haddone so—that would not prove her t'b-hean accessory, for she -was not bound to give •evidence against her husband. Ultimatelyboth prisoners r were fully committed for trial, the same bailJbeing taken for their appearance at the 'Supreme Court as was before accepted.- ' r