The Waring Taylor Prosecutions.

Manawatu Standard, Volume VIII, Issue 144, 28 November 1884, Page 2

The Waring Taylor Prosecutions.

Afc the Wellington Resident Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, William Waring Taylor was charged with " that he did on the 6th day of June, 1882, and other days, being ti'UHfceo of 778 fully paid shares m the Iknlc of New Zealand,the property of Ernost Arundel, unlawfully convert tin) bhhl property to his own use and benefit." Mr Jellicoe, and with him Mr Stafford, appeared for the prosecution, and Mr Edward Shaw, Mr H. Gully, and Mr Brown, for the defence. Mr Jellicoe, m opening the case for the prosecution, aaid that the evidence m this and other charges would disclose one of the grossest and most systematic cases' of frajid ever known m the colony. The; charge was* the misappropriation of 778 bank shares, which were left to Jonas Arundei and .others, by one, James, May, and the charge was preferred under the 79 th section of the; Act of 1867, which makes such an act a misV demeanor. 'Mi May 'died m jLondon m 1881, and hy 1 Tils' .will lie made certain persons m England 1 executors of his English estate,- and another j gentleman m New Zealand the exe;cuter for thevNew Zealand pqrtion of •the'escate. By thafcwill Mr May bequeathed specifically to certain legaitees shares m the Bank of New Zealand, of which he had 1014, fuHy .paid up, and wbioh the prisoner him- Iself m a statement to the Supreme Court, valued at £22,688. 665 of these shares were bequeathed ito per-' ; sous m the colony . of New Zealand, 49 falling to Mr Jonas Arundel as residuary legatee. Accused obtained'; administration of these shares by piobate on the 6th Jiirie, 1882. His criminal career m connection with this estate seemed to have commenced very early, for evidence would be called to show that before he obtained probate he bad sold 305 shares aiid paid every farthing of the receipts into his own private account at the National Bank of New Zealand. He should be able to prove that the whole of the 778 shares forming the subject of the charge were, together with others, subsequently transferred into Mr Taylor's own bank account." The whole 1014 sbat^.having^been transferred m this .manner, accused immediately set to work to appropriate' 778 ot them to his own purposes. He (Mr Jellicoe] had already observ-ed-that previous to probate being obtained, a number of shares were sold. They were sold by Mr p. T; jStuart, a sharebroker m Wellington, ■'<[ who paid the prisoner the proceeds jofcthat sale by cheque. The . cheque* he. should follow until it was paid into accussed'a own banking, account at, the National Bank of New Zealand, an account which was then, considerably overdrawn. The, proceeds of the whole of the shares sold appeared, m fact, to have been always paid into (hat bank, for the reduction of the accused's overdraft. Subsequently m August, 1882, Taylor sold another 50 shares, receiving for them £1154 which he also paid into his own Account, appropriating every, farthing" to his own use. In February, 1883, he sold another 100, the proceeds-^---£2Boß—being paid inco the same account. In connection with the Rhodes' estate., Mr Jellicoe proceeded to explain that the. prisoner was indebted to that estate, and by way of satisfaction he represented to Mrs 1 "Rhodes that he hah invested her money to the extent of £6965 m the purchase of 298 Bank of New ' ZBa-* land shares; What the accused did clo wa>» this—^heifaudalently! transferred' iihe 298 shares from ofie ' ke> count to another; In the same way 80 shares were transferred to- fMisir Rhodes, now Mrs Moorhoitse, m 1884,. and another §0 shares -We^e' transferred to cover accused liabilities to the : estate. In June, 1 883, adcused sold w&rth of shajres^ap^ :' propriating every farthing to his own account at the National Bank, which wan again overdrawn. In considaring the course the prisoner |ook kt regard to the* legatees, ahdi which would be detailed m evidencp, they found lthitin JSfcuary ,'lßß3^ ( he was m communication with a (firm of solicitDrs m Sheffield ac£?ug -foR- .the English legatees, and on the 25th: 1 ofthat month he wrote to 'that 1 firm a letter proposing -a scheme m reference to the' realisation of ' shares and payment of "duties, which time the shares; 1 with the exception of jSO^tiaU all been ebnvertedi 1 doming [o 1884, they found thitt the prßbner was still playing this farce' with : the legatees, and issuing a circular letting forth the actual amount i t 6: which eachf, legated was entitled On 1 tte .13th May, 1884, he forwarded" to; Ernest , Arnndei £18 15s, amount of dividend on his bank Shares; The receipt; was' returned signed, and had been found m Taylor's possession^ There were, as a matter of fact, no shares in*exis--1 tepee at that time. When Jonas Arundel came lo Wellington j on, the 19th May last he had an interview with the accused, who then admitted thai he had disposed of these [ shares, and knew perfectly well that 'he was doing it, excusing himself .by; saying that Mr Rhodes had' "jumped on him." That was not true, inasmuch; as £9000 worth only had been trans.' ferred to the estate; In conclusion, 'Mr Jellicoe said tnat- ! thV accused would be found one of the most skilful thieves of the present age. After taking considerable evidence, the case , lasting all day, the hearing was further adjourned till Saturday.'