SUPREME COURT, WANGANUI.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue 25, 26 November 1880, Page 2

SUPREME COURT, WANGANUI.

(Bdore Judge Richmond.) I ' kumset's cask. Francis Hunuey wap charged with rescu* ing a Native giil named Tionori lukihana from the luck up at Utuki, while the avid Tioriori was under anest f.r larceny. — Prisoner pleaded not guilty. — Tiurioii Rikihaisa, a Native girl, aged 17, rtsidiug nt Otaki, remembered having been arrested tor liiceny, and placed in the lockup at Otaki. liumsey came to the lockup at night, and slid, " This is no place for you to stay in, us dead people have been put here." He also said he would break open the lockup She told him not to. Eumsey then broKe open the door, and usked witnea* to come out, which she did. He smashed the -bottom of the door, and insisted her to crawl through by pulling her neck. — By Prisoner : When witness had got out" she w«nt ono way, and prisoner went another. — Constable A. J. Mitchell, stationed at Otaki, deposed that on the 4th of August lust he had au information against Tioriori, charging her with having stolen one pair of greenstone earrings, the properly of Mary Kcpa. A warrant was issued, aud witness arrested 'Jioiiori and placed her in the watchhoiise, a dilapidated wooden b^ii-ding. At seven o'clock tne following morning he. found that shu was gone. A portion of the ll'>or hud been removed, and, a hole 1U inches by 5, had been made. — Bj' Prisoner : The flooring; of the coll was Very rotten, ai:(i it was not vciy difficult to break. Witness was not in the bnbit of ill-using p isoncrs. Prisoner had escaped from the lockup. Witness did not know that people weie in the habit of passing in hot les of beer to persons who had been confined for drunkenness. Prisoner had been in ens. tody eight times since witness arrived in Otaki, seven monihs ago; six times he was convicted, and twice acquitted. It was been us.j of some technical objection raised tSy counsel, and which the Justice of Peace held to be fatal to the information, thatf Tiui'iwi-i was acquitted on the cha>go o ( f escaping from custody, while prisoner was committed for ti hi though only an as^stant. — Prisoner made a long statement, in Which he attributed ihw case to the animosity borne him by (bnst iblo Mitchell for refusing some time r.go to go tj PaikaUariki to trap a in n who was suspected of sir grog-selling there. Prisoner's %< missis "*~ hud hean confined in the lockup for being chunk, and prisoner went to the place to see hfr, iut she hud been bailed out. He found the girl Tioriori in l he cell and commenced talking to her. She told him she was arrested for larcenoy, and was frightened to siay alone, as dead men had been in the place — the lookup was used as a morgue. He (prisoner) was half-drunk at the time, nnd offered to sit outside tho door and talk to her, and the girl KiuJly passed out a blanket to him. He sat ou the ground for some rime, aud fell asleep. He was awakened bj r a sort of gasping sound, and found it was Tioriori trying to get through the hole. She had got her head and shoulders through, and the edge of the door waH across hctr stomach, tiho was struggling violently, and called out to him in gasps, " Pull !" pull!" He caught her by the shoulders, aud pulled her out. Sho had no clothing on but her chemise. When she., had got out she put her hand through ihe hole and pulled out her clothes. He then asked her what she was going to do, aud she said she was afraid of the policeman. He told her ahe had better go somewhere to sleep for the night, ',> and give herself up in tho morning. The f: itooriug was broken four years ago. A man '; named i.arey was drowned in the Otaki ttiver, and as they were taking the coffin into the cell, the inau who was carrying the end of it got his fingers jammed, as there was no room to turn, and dropped the end of the coffin, which broke away the rotten ends of the flooring boards, leaving a gap, which wan eularged by the wear and tear of persona walking through the doorway. He had seen a sow and litter of pigs run for shelter into the cell through this hole, *nd had often had pint bottles of beer passed to him when he had been locked up foi drunkenness. — The jury found a verdict of "hot guilty," and Ins Honor discharged the pri* souer, cautioning him against making an • other appearance in the dock. — Wanganui Chronicle.