Supreme Court.

Manawatu Herald, 7 June 1894, Page 3

Supreme Court.

■ ■■■■♦ The criminal sittings of the Supreme Court were opened at 10 o'clock on Monday morning, His Honor the Chief Justice presiding. John Canning, alias Campbell, pleaded guilty to stealing at Martinborough. Sentence was deferred until Tuesday morning. James Edmonds pleaded not guilty with having on the 7th April, at Wellington, forged a cheque for £4 Bs, purporting to be drawn by 3. Brennan, hotelkeeper, of Wanganui, in favour of James Phillips or bearer. His Honor observed that there was no evidence of the manufacture T of the cheque or that the prisoner was aware it was forged. He therefore thought it unnecessary to pro ceed with the case. The jury then, at His Honor's direction, acquitted the prisoner. Henry Devoy was charged with having stolen, on the 18th April last, a mare belonging to Matthew Doyle, of Levin. The prisoner pleaded not guilty. D"nder cross-examination, the prisoner admitted he had been thrice .previously^convicted of horsestealing, besides haviug been convicted forgery (4 charges) and the lar- _ ceny of a saddle and bridle. The jury returned a verdict of guilty, and His Honor sentenced prisoner to three years with hard labour. Martha Tuhinui (with four aliases) pleaded guilty to (1) having on the BdfeMay forged the name of Wi Pa. ■rtf/^fcf Waikanae, to a cheque for £5 and (2) to having on the same date forged a warrant for the delivery of goods whereby she obtained cer-

tail! articles of clofching from AU*. Murray, _ His HoHrir i_ setter: cine tlie pri , soner said she had been convicted oi house-breaking when she was only 15. and thafc she had been convicted of larceny. in 1892, 1893 and 1804. Ifc was very sau tHafc ii yoti^'g woWan like this should give way to acts of this character. He was very sorry to sentence her, but he hoped her husband would look after her when she was released from gaol and keep her afc the Native Resei'YCi The prisoner was. theti Sentenced to six tiiotifchs' imprisonment; William Albert Edwards Was j charged with having, on the 19th April at Palmerston North, .forged the name of I. Levy to a cheque for £1 7s, drawn in favour of 0. J. Jackson or bearer. The prisoner pleaded not guilty. In cross-examination prisoner was asked if there was any previous conviction against him. Mr Wilford objected to the question as not being a fair one to the accused. After argument, however, His Honor allowed the question to be ! put, and Edwards admitted having been convicted of stealing an overcoat oti the 26th April, a date after the time he was alleged to have forged the cheque. He had done a term of imprisonment in the Wanganui Gaol for ifc. The coat belonged to Mr Linton, of the , firm of Mowlem and Linton, whose office was in the Theatre Royal, the same room from which the blank cheque was alleged to have been abstracted. His Honor summed up, and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. The Grand Jury returned true bills in the following cases : — James Hackett and Priscilla Hackett, conspiring to defraud by means of spiritualistic seances ; James Eastwood and Thomas Eastwood, con- j spiring to defraud ; James Eastwood and Thomas Chatterley, John Street, larceny ; Christopher Lockyer, keeping a disorderly house ; T. W. Twist, forgery ; Ceoil Murray, larceny ; Lily Hansen, fortune-tell-ing ; Charles P. Manning, fortunetelling ; Zinga Lee, fortune-telling ; H. Harness, cheating afc play ; George Anderson, defrauding his creditors; Walter Charles Prior, forgery (four charges) ; Henry Tompkinson, larceny ; J. Oakley, forgery and false pretences. The Grand Jury returned no bill iv the case of Arthur McKee, charged with libelling D. Gain. J. Oakley was then placed in the dock, and he pleaded guilty to the three charges of forgery and false pretences preferred against him, and His Honor ordered thafc he should be brought up at 10 o'clock on Tuesday morning for sentence. Henry Tompkinson, charged with the larceny of a silver watch and chain from J. -Henderson, pleaded guilty, and His Honor ordered accused to come up on Tuesday for sentence. Tuesday. His Honor the Chief Justice took his seat upon the Bench afc 10 a.m. SENTENCES. John Canning, alias Campbell, who pleaded guilty the previous day was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment with hard labour. John Oakley, who had pleaded guilty to three charges ot forgery and false pretences, and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labour. Henry Tompkinson, who had pleaded guilty to fche theft of a silver watch and chain received a sentence of nine months' imprisonment wifch hard labour. Thomas Webley Twist surrendered to his bail and was charged with having afc Palmerston on the 4th April lasfc forged the name of J. L. Kirkbride to a Bank of New South Wales cheque for £7. The jury retired afc 12.80 p.m. Twelve hours afterward they returned, when the foreman intimated that they could not agree. Mr Chapman, Acting Crown Prosecutor, said thafc the Crown would proceed with another trial. His Honor then remanded prisoner until tomorrow. Twist applied to be let oufc on bail for the nighfc. His surities were not there, the hour being very late, but his father was, and he would go security. Mr Chapman said he did not care about accepting fresh bail without enquiry. His Honor agreed, and said he did nofc think it would inconvenience prisoner to be kept in a cell until to morrow. Cecil Murray was charged with having on the Queen's Birthday, afc Ofcaki, stolen a totalisator ticket from the person of Wirihana Hunia. In this case the jury returned a