Justices Court.

Manawatu Herald, 19 May 1892, Page 2

Justices Court.

Wednesday, 18th May.

(Before E. S. Thynne and J. Davies,

Esqs.'s, J.'flP.)

LAHCENY. Leonard Alexander Langley was charged that he did feloniously steal take and drive away, one horse of the value of £25, of the goods and chattels of one Bernard Spelman. Mr Baker appeared for the accused. Bernard Spelman, on his oith, said — I am a contractor, residing at Foxton ; I know the accused, he is a neighbour of mine ; I was in Foxton on or about the 18th of last month ; I do carting, and am the owner of a certain bay horse ; I lost this horse on the night of the 18th of last month ; I had been working him that day ; I last saw him between 7 and 8 in the evening ; the horse is a vary tall draught horse, with a white blaze down the forehead, branded TG on n«?ar shoulder, and had a certain

mark on him— an old collar-mark ; the horse is shod ; he had old shoes on at the time ; the horse is now in the yard, outside the court-house ; I value the Horse at £25 : ; I made a search for the Horse ; I acquainted Constable OHllespie with the fact that I had lost a horse; on the 22nd I inserted an advertisement in the Manawatu Herald offering a pound reward for the recovery of the hoi'3e ; I continued searching for the horse '; oil the 24th of April last, down dn tn " e F° xt 9 n Heads, eonie three miles from Foxton, at the mouth of the Foxtori river, I had a conversation with regard to this horse : Andreason, James Wilson, arid Alexander Langley, the accused, all live there ; Constable Gillespie was present when I had the conversation with accused ; the constable asked the accused if he had seen a big draught horsa of mine ; he said "No " ; constable asked him would he know him if he saw him ; he said he would ; he also said he didn't know I had lost a horse until that same morning ; accused said something about his father's horse ; Constable Gillespie said he had seen some footprints, of a heavy draught horse coming to and from the heads ; he said it might be the footprints of his father's black horse, as he rode him down to his house the night of the 15 th April ; he put him in the paddock when he took his father's grey mare ; I noticed the tracks referred to ; they were distinctly my horse's footprints"; the horse came back on the morning of the 28th April last; I saw it in the stalls at my place ; it appeared to have come a long journey ; it had a good lot of clay on its legs and tail, one of its legs were much swollen ; I acquainted Constable Gillespie with the fact that the horse had come back ; I took the horse down to the blacksmith by Constable Gillespie 's instructions ; previous to that we took him out on the sand, and examined his footprints ; hia tail and mane were pulled ; the blacksmith took offthesaoe and we traced the footprints along the Sandon road, within a quarter of a mile of the Sandon Hotel ; I have never at any time given anyone authority to take this horse away or dispose of him in any way whatever.

By Mr Baker -The horse had four shoes on when he left, I am positive ; the horse was last seen in the stable between seven and eight o'clock at night ; Ido not keep this horse in all night, as a rule I usually turn them out at about 8.30 p.m. ; I did not give information to the police at once ; I thought he might have broken out and I cannot say he didn't; I examined his feet between seven and eight o'clock that night,. at that time he had four shoes on ; I don't make a rule of examining him each night ; when the horse came back from Sandon he had four shoes on ; I can always tell his shoe from any other, it is a very big shoe, there is a heel on one side, the other side is smooth ; I never lost sight of the tracks to Sandon fo>' more than a quarter of a mile ; I only lost sight of the tracks for not more than two or three times for that distance ; it is a common thing to shoe a horse as this one is shod ; I am not prepared to swear that there are not auy other horses in Foxton shod like this ; % I did not measure my horse's shoe before I lost him ; I never saw a horse in Foxton "with a shoe that size ; I never measured to see ; the horse has not a bigger hoof than any horse I have ever seen ; the horses here are not all about the same size ; he has a bigger hoof than any horse I have ever seen in Foxton ; I never measured him with any other horse to see ; 1 tracked this same hoof towards Langley's house ; I lost it about the eighth of a mile from the house ; I went to examine the horse's prints towards Langley's house about the fourth day after I lost him ; I am convinced this track was my horse's , I never saw him between the 18th and 23rd of April last in Foxton ; the road is both muddy and sandy ; When it blows the sand drifts ; there was no wind that would be of any injury to the footprints during those days ; I did not take a pattern of the shoe, but I measured it ; I have not taken the shoe down to the beach ; did not measure the shoe before I went down to Langley's ; I took four or five measurements of the footprints ; there is a slip in the centre of the toe of the shoe ; this shows in the footprints ; I measured the footprints straight across from side to side ; I measured it from as near as I could get at the centre ; I took a note of the measurement ; I. have not that note ; I compared them with the shoe and they corresponded ; I took the note in paper; they corresponded exactly; I have not searched for the note of the measurements that I made ; I heard that another horse was taken at the same time : I know nothing of it myself ; I only measured the footprints at any time ; it was the near fore foot ; I have eight horses ; I have not any other draught horses as big as this one ; some are nearly as big, they are the same colour ; I have not the shoe here, I think it can be got ; the shoe I measured was very much worn at one side near the front clip ; it would not make as deep an impression in the sand there ; the shoe T took off the horse wai replaced bv

auother one ; I don't think the other s^ shoes wore touched ; the horse has three shoes on now ; the shoe taken off, was taken, off in my presence, by tlie blacksmith ; I did tidt aLsk thd blacksmith 1 to do anything tfith tjie other shoes ; Constable Gillespie, myself, and my men saw the horse when he came back ; I measured the tracks before the conversation with Langley ; I did not hear the constable give any caution to the accused before We spoke about the horse ; tho constable Was not with me when I measured the footprints, but we examined them together 1 ; the Coilstable never accused anybody in nijr presence of stealing ltiy hdrse ; . lie-examined —We went down there in search of a lost horse ; -up to that time nothing had been said about the horse being stolen ; I have been following this horse for close on three years, I know his tracks ; I have no doubt that the tracks near Langley's are footprints of my horse. By the Court —I know the accused's father's horge, he is a black horse, 'a light draught ; I have examined that horse* 1 examined him the same day ; Laugiey told the Constable he had been riding the horse ; the horse had no shoes on.

Reginald Edward Beckett' deposed — I am an auctioneer residing at Martpn ; I know the accused ; I saw him on Tuesday the 22nd April last at Marton ; I think he came into my office on the Thursday afternoon ; he told me he had a horse for sale; I said "yes";' l asked him his name ; he told me " Henley," and that he was a settler living at Bunnythorpe : I asked what the horse was like, he told me it was a draught horse, that he had been doing some contracts and . that the horse was in low condition, that lib wished to sell him before the winter came on ; Tasked him ivhat reserve he wanted to put. on the horse, he told me " ten pounds " ; I put up the horse to auction the following day; Mr Death bid nine pounds ; accused was present at the sale ; I a3ked him if I should accept the offer; he said "yes," and I accordingly knocked him down to Mr Death; I settled with the accused at that time ; I gave him a cheque for £8 Us;-de-ducting 9s for commission ; I saw the horse at the sale ; I think the horse outside is the same one ; a few days after, accused came to my pri« vate house about 9 in the evening, and told me he was in trouble about the horse he had sold on the 22nd; I asked what the trouble was and ho said " the man that had trusted him with the horse to sell, had no right to sell it ; I said " you told me at the time it was your own horse," he replied " Yes, I know I did, but rather than have any trouble or bother about the horse, he' was anxious to get ifc back again;" he then told me his correct name, Alexander Langley, of Foxton, and asked me if I thought the buyer could let him have the horsa back again if be offered him the money or a trifle on it ; I said that I thought' so, that he had better go and see, and I gave him Mr Thomas Death's address as Mount View ; on the following morning accused and Mr Death oame to my private house, and accused handed me back the money for the horse, and took the horsa'away, Mr Death being agreeable ; Mr Death agreed to take one pound for his trouble; no r.eeeipts were given ; I, originally, made entries in my books with regard to this horse in the name of Henley; the account sales were made out in the name of Henley, and handed to ac •

cused

Cross-examined by Mr Baker — I only remember the general. effect of what was said ; I don't remember all the words used; I could not swear that I did not say to the man " Well, what name," and then he gave the name of Henley. - By Bench -I know the accused was misleading with regard to the name, because he afterwards admitted it tome ; on the same occasion when he came to my private house in the evening,-! said to -him "you told me your name >yaa Henley " ; he. said •• I know I did "'; he told me he was selling the horse for a man named Henley, and did not think it necessary to mention his own name ; Mr Death and accused agreed to the return of the horse before they came to me ; Langley gave me nine pounds in notes ; I paid ten pounds to Mr Death ; Langley said he would let me have the other pound, but hag not done so since ; I did not notice the horse when Mr Death gave it back to Langley.

By Mr Baker Can you swear that these were not your. words to Langley •• why you gave me the name of Henley," and he replied " Yes I know I did." No, I cannot swear to the exact words.

By Constable Gillespie — On the first occasion I am clear he gave me to understand that he was selling the horse for himself, and that his name was Henley, and that he had been working the horse on a contract.

Thomas Death deposed— l am a fanner residing at Mount View near Marton ; I know the accuatd ; I purchased ahorse from Mr Beckett's sale, on the 22nd April ; it 'was a big draught horse; I gave him nine pounds for it ; there if) a brand on the near shoulder : the first letter I

.«£»?«<>*•-

think is T, but I don't know what the second letter is. Having examined the hor.-e again 1 Would say the brand is TC or TO ; 1 fern certain that is the Horse I purtiHaetetl from 1 M,r .Beckett's sale,; the first thing I did was to send the horse to the blacksmith to have the lampers ta!«en out; I did not see the accused at the sale so far as I am aware ; I took the horse home to my place ; Langley came the Tuesday night following, the 22nd of April, at about 11 o'clock at night to my house ; I was in bed j he asked hie if I had bought a horse at Mr Beckett's saie ; he said tlie horde was a stolen horse ; he wanted the horse back ; I told him I would not got the horse at that time of night ; if he could wait until the morning, 1 would meet him in Marton and hear what Mr Beckett said before I gavo the horse ttpj accused did stay at my house that night; he 'said that a man had told him to take the horse to Mr Beckett's sale and put a ten pound reserve on him, out of Which he Was to got tftb pdu'nUs. The next morning 1 went down to Mr Beckett's ; I saw him in the presence of the accused ; I said to Mr Beckett " what about this horse " ; that is all I did ask him ; he advised me to give him up ; I don't remember exactly the words he made use of ; I said I wanted a pound more than I gave for the horse for feeding him, and the trouble 1 had with him ; accused told Mr Beckett he would agree to this ; I saw him hand nine pounds to MiBeckett, and he said he would forward the other pound to Mr Beckett ; there was nothing else said that I remember ; he came back home with me and I handed back the horse to him ; this was on the Wednesday ; I saw the accused lead the horse away ; the horse outside in the yard is the same one ; I did not got or give receipts ; Mr Beckett gave me a cheque for ten pounds.

Cross-examined by Mr Baker— l think tint there are :\vo shoes lately put on the horse, two shots at any rate have not been on so long as the other two : they are one front and one back shoe ; I did not see any trace of a slip on the front slide ; it was worn away ; the fore shoes are just the same make, just the same heels ; the hind shoep also are just about the same make and same hoels ; I have been a farmer all my lief ; I don't see anything pecular in the horses feet ; I don't think there i3 anything unusually large about the feet of that horse ; I don't think I could swear to to the traoks of that horse ; I don't think any reasonable man could either.

Be-examined — I don't think I could pwear to a horse's tracks, conscientiously even though I had followed him for three years. By Bench— l have been in the habit of following a horse on the road ; I don't think I could track a horse very far on a road ; I did not trim up this horse's mane or tail : I personally handed the horse over to accused ; when he left my paddock he was shodall round ; I did not take any particular notice of the horse's shoes when I had him ;Mr Beckett said, " You had better give the horse up because he is a stolen horse;" I gave him up to avoid any further trouble, from being afraid of being called as a witness, I did not think anything of losing the money I had invested on the horse ; nil I wanted to do was to save myself further trouble by and by ; I don't; remeir.ber what Mr Beckett said to make me give him up ; I went to Mr Beckett because he was the auctioneer ; I would not have given him up if I had not got the money ; I would pot have stood at the £1 ; I would have given it up if I had got the nine pounds ; I don't know what the horse is worth in his present condition ; nothing was said Pkbout keeping this matter quiet. The constable applied for a remand until the the following day as two important witnesses were not in attendance.

Mr Baker strongly objected. The Court granted the remand asked for *nd fixed Monday as the day of hearing. The report of che farther proceedings of the Codrt will appear iu next issue.