RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Grey River Argus, Volume VII, Issue 465, 7 January 1869, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Tuesday, January 5. (Before W. H. Revell, Esq., R.M.) CHARGE OF ASSAULT. The adjourned charge of assault against Thomas Gourlay, bailiff, brought by Mary Sutton, was again gone into. Carlisle Hammond stated that on the evening of the 12th December, between eight and nine o'clock, he was in his store on Mawhera Quay, and hearing a noise he went to the door. He saw a crowd collected a few yards off, and the defendant with one hand on Mrs Sutton's right shoulder, and holding up her dress about the middle a few inches high. In crossexamination, the witness said that Mrs Sutton was standing with her back to him ; she appeared to be refusing to take something the defendant was offering her, and he supposed it was the key of her house. She came into the shop for protection ;. the defendant threw the key in after her, and the witness kicked it out. For the defence, Mr Perkins called J. C. Gourlay, the defendant's son, who said that on the night of the 12th December lie offered the complainant the. key of her house on the street. She refused to take it, and he told her she must take it. He then laid it on the counter of Mr Hammond's shop, but that witness told him not to leave it there, and as he picked it up his father arrived, took it, and offered it to the complainant, and when she refused it he threw it at her feet. She was standing on the threshold of Hammond's shop. The defendant did not touch Mrs Sutton at all. He only offered her the key, and when she said, " I must see my solicitor first," he threw it at her feet. He did not touch her dress. Witness was close to the parties watching them, and the defendant did not lay his hand on complainant's shoulder. Thomasßatchelor remembered some time ago seeing the defendant and his son meet near Hammond's store. They talked together, then the defendant went up to Mrs Sutton, and offered her something like a key. She appeared to refuse to take it, and went into Hammond's store. He did not see the defendant touch Mrs Sutton, lay his hand on her shoulder, or raise her dress, but he saw the defendant throw the key into the store after her. Other two witnesses were called, but they gave no material evidence. The Magistrate said that the evidence given by Hammond did not corroborate that given by the complainant, but was at variance with it in many particulars, and he gave no credence to Hammond's evidence. There was no evidence whatever to show that any assault had been committed by the defendant,

and the case would consequently be dismissed, with costs. BURGLARY. Magnus Hunter was charged with burglary, on the morning of the 28th ult, in a cottage in the rear of the Canadian Hotel. Martha Dickson stated that she was a dance girl and lived in a cottage behind Paul's Hotel, fronting a right-of-way. On the morning of the 28th December, between two and three o'clock, while she was in bed she heard some person blowing the fire. Did not hear any person enter the place. She had been in bed since eleven. When she heard the noise she called out "Who's there" twice, when a man's voice answered, "I want a light to my pipe," and asked for a match. She said she had none, and he replied that he would not go without one — that she was not in the house without matches, She told him to search over the fireplace, and she heard him searching, and he said there was none there. She said she would give him in charge if he did not leave the place, He replied, "You'll give me in charge, will you ; if you do not give me a match you will rue it," and then went out. There was a man named Bruce in the house with her. Bruce told the other man to go out or he would put him out, and she said "He knows your name." The other man then left the house. She was sleeping in the inner room, and the person who came in was in the front room. She was certain he left the house, as she heard his footsteps on the verandah. Bruce got up and fastened the front door, and a few minutes afterwards he said he thought he heard someone in the other room. She said it was the rats, as she also heard the noise, which resembled something picking the paper. There were three rooms in the house, and in one of the back-rooms, opposite the room in which she slept, she heard the noise. The door of the other room was locked, and the key was hanging over the fireplace. She went to sleep again, and in about ten minutes she woke up and saw three dresses hanging behind the door on fire, and blazing up to the roof. She got up, pulled down the dresses, and got the fire out. Bruce also got up and assisted to put the fire out. The door of the room next hers was locked next morning as it was left, but the key was not in the same place where she had left it. She heard the man move the key while searching for matches. The outer door of the house was closed and was fastened by the tongs, as the lock was not in good order. She was not aware of any person having opened the door that night after it was closed. It would require some force to do it. When she heard the man who came in speak she thought he was in drink, and that he was a Scotchman from his accent. She had since spoken to the prisoner, after he was admitted to bail, but she could not identify him by his voice. She did not recollect having ever seen the prisoner until he came to speak to her after he was bailed out. After the fire was put out she and Bruce took a look round, and she found that she had lost £15 10s from her trunk in the front room, and Bruce said he had lost £15 from his coat pocket. She had not left the house before she made the search. The coat was hanging up in the room where they were sleeping. It could be reached from the other room, as there was a hole through from one room to another. It was about two feet wide, the paper having been ripped down by a knife. It was pinned up when they went to bed, but after the fire they found that the pins had been removed. She saw the money safe in the trunk about five o'clock the previous evening. There had been other persons in the house, but they could not interfere with the trunk. After the fire she did not notice whether the front door was open or shut. By the Bench : When the prisoner came to me after he was bailed out and said he had a very heavy charge laid against him, he said that he was very sorry ; that he did come into the house for a match and was blowing the fire to get a light. Hugh Bruce, a miner, said he remembered on Sunday night being in the house occupied by Martha Dickson. He went there about ten o'clock. There were three or four other men there, but they all left, and he stayed in the cottage all night. He saw the front door closed with the ordinary catch, and then fastened by the tongs. He had £15 or £16 more or less in his coat pocket. He hung his coat and trousers at the head of the bed. During the night he heard a man's footsteps on the floor of the front room. After the man went out he (Bruce) got up and fastened the front door again. He heard the man's footsteps outside leaving. He had not known the prisoner until after this charge was made. After he was admitted to bail he spoke to him, and to the best of his belief the voice was the same as the one that he heard in the house asking for a match. After fastening the doors he went to sleep, and in about ten minutes he was woke up by Martha Dickson saying the place was on fire. The dresses hanging inside the bedroom door and the wall paper were on fire. He assisted to put the fire out. He noticed that close to the place where the fire was there was a hole in the wall— a slit in the paper about 16 inches long — between the two bedrooms, and any person in the other bedroom could have reached his coat where it was hanging. After the fire he looked for his coat and found it lying on the floor of the front room, and his pocket-book gone. It contained about £15 or £16, in notes, some receipts, and three photographs. He had not seen any of the property since. Martha then looked into her trunk and missed some money. He did not know there was money in the trunk. The front door was not then as he had left — he had put a box behind it, but that had been removed back, and the door was drawn close. The door could have been pushed open. Before the fire he thought he heard a noise in the other bedroom, but was told by Martha it was made by rats. After the fire was put out he looked out and saw two men walking together and the prisoner a few paces behind them. He was not talking to them. This was an hour after daybreak. The prisoner appeared to be walking steady enough, and to take particular notice of the house. Constable Maguire said he was on night duty in Greymouth on Saturday and Sunday. At half-past one o'clock he was passing the United States Hotel when he was called by Jane Anderson to come back to the Court House Hotel to put a man out. He then saw the prisoner standing with his elbow on the bar. She wished to have him removed, stating that he had got six or seven drinks and had no money to pay for them. He went out,

saying that his mate had his money. The prisoner appeared to be perfectly sober. About half-past two o'clock he heard a noise like the closing or opening of a door in rear of the Canadian Hotel, and going in the direction he saw the prisoner coming out of Martha Dickson's cottage. Prisoner closed the door as he went up and on being questioned as to his business there said he was looking for a mate. He was told to go home, but said he had no money to pay for a bed ; he was put out of Rugg's Hotel because he could not pay for his board. There was no other persons near the cottage when they left it. He afterwards met the prisoner in Albert street, about three o'clock, but he went on round by the Edinburgh Castle and Gilmer's corner, and that was the last he saw of him. Cross-examined : When he first spoke to the prisoner he said that he had been blowing up the cinders to light a candle that was in the fireplace, as he had no matches. Mary Goff remembered seeing the prisoner at the Victoria Hotel at a quarter to five o'clock on the morning of Monday, the 29th. He came in at the side door with the cook at the hotel. He went into the kitchen, and witness ordered him out. He asked a drink, and at the bar the cook, her daughter, and witness had drinks with him. He gave a note in payment, which he took out of a chamois leather bag, which appeared to contain other notes. He had three drinks, which he paid for. He said he had been out all night, and sat down on the sofa. He used insulting language, and offered her a £20-note for a bad purpose, when he was ordered out. Constable Keating proved the arrest. The prisoner said he knew nothing about the charge. He found on the prisoner a £1-note and 1s 6d, in a chamois-leather bag. He said he had been in Martha Dickson's house, trying to light a fire, when a man called out to him that if he did not go out he would shoot him, and he left. Mr Perkins addressed the Bench, and the prisoner, having been cautioned, said he went to the house, thinking one of his mates was there ; but when he found there was another man in the place he went out, and was not near the house again. He told the policeman all about it next day. He did not sleep in Rugg's house that night, because they had given his bed away. John Hunter, prisoner's brother, said he had been working at the Eight-mile, and came to town on Christmas Day. Before leaving to come to town, prisoner showed witness that he had seven or eight notes and some silver. The Magistrate said there was no evidence to connect the prisoner with the robbery. The only suspicious circumstance was the threat used by the prisoner that, if the girl did not give him a match, he would make her rue it. But there was not sufficient evidence to warrant a committal, and he would give the prisoner the benefit of the doubt by discharging him. There was a charge of larceny against the prisoner, but as the evidence would be the same as in this case, it was withdrawn by the police, Wednesday, January 6. (Before: W. H. Jtevell, Esq. R.M.) Furious Riding. — Augustus Hildebrand was charged with riding furiously through the streets. He admitted the charge, and was fined L1 and costs. — Henry Holt was also fined L1 and costs for a similar offence. Larceny. — Kate Murray was charged, on remand from Hokitika, with the larceny of a brooch, of the value of L4 10s, the property of Martha Dickson. The complainant stated that for four weeks she and the prisoner lived together in a cottage behind the Canadian Hotel. While they lived together, she missed, at different times, four nuggets, a brooch, and other articles. On a Saturday night about six weeks ago, she left her brooch on her bedroom table, and did not see it again until it was in the hands of the police. The brooch produced was the same. It cost L4 10s. — Mrs Coutanche stated that the brooch shown her was given her about three weeks ago by the prisoner, who asked the loan of L3 to pay a bill in Hokitika. She hesitated to give the money, when the prisoner left the brooch for it, to be returned when she paid the money. A constable called afterwards and asked if a man had left a brooch there. She replied that a girl had left one, and gave the one now in Court to the constable. — Con. Keating proved the receipt of the brooch from the last witness.— For the defence, Mr Guinness admitted the evidence which had been given, but that the brooch was pledged for means to pay her rent, meaning to release it on Saturday when she got her wages ; but in the meantime she was called away to Hokitika, where she had been ever since. He pleaded, there was no felonious intent proved, as the girls had been in the habit of using each others property while they lived together. The Magistrate sentenced the prisoner to fourteen day's imprisonment with hard labor. Larceny.— Sydney Percy, on remand from Friday last, was charged with the larceny of a cash box, containing money and property of the value of L22, from Singer's Hotel. Mrs Singer stated that she left her house at half-past eleven o'clock on the evening of the 1st January, after locking the three doors, leaving the keys of the back and front doors inside. She returned about half-past seven o'clock in the morning, and found the back parlor door and kitchen-door open. The parlor door appeared to have been unlocked. She had placed a broom across the kitchen door as it had no lock, and when she returned it was open and the broom in the yard. She examined the house found the bedding turned up, and the cash-box missing from underneath the bed, where she left it when she went out. The box contained between L18 and L20, and 17s 6d in lucky money — marked shillings and sixpences — some letters, receipts, a nugget, and some likenesses. I had the key of the box in my pocket. That night she was at Mrs Burchell's, and as she wanted the loan of a lamp she gave the key of the side-door to the prisoner to go for one, about 12 o'clock- He returned in about ten minutes and gave her the key. She then handed it to Mrs Burchell to take care of it for her, and afterwards she saw the key lying on a parlor table, up stairs. She had since seen no portion of the property contained in the box. She thought it was not possible for any person to have entered the house without the use of the key. The kitchen-door could not be broken open from the outside from the manner in which it was fastened. She

did not see the prisoner that night after he returned with the key. Mary Burchell corroborated the evidence given by the last witness as to the lamp. The prisoner was her cook, and after he returned he was asked to go into the other bar, but she did not see him until two o'clock, when she found him in bed. He had been in her employment for six months, and had always found him very honest and sober. She had placed money in his charge often. He could have been absent on the night in question from the house without her knowledge. Sergeant O'Donnell said that Mrs Singer reported the robbery on Saturday morning. He examined the house and found that the door between the parlor and kitohen had not been forced open. It must have been unlocked. He afterwards arrested the prisoner, and told him the charge. He said he was innocent, and knew nothing about it. There was no property found on him except a purse and a few shillings. The prisoner, having been cautioned, said that he was in the parlor during the time he should have been in the bar. He fell asleep on a table, and when he woke up he went upstairs to bed. Mr Maxwell was called, and gave the prisoner, who had been in his employ for eight months, a good character. Mr Crogan offered to bear similar testimony if required. The prisoner was discharged,