SUPREME COURT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 155, 5 July 1869, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.

-- criminal sittings; ; / [Before his Honor Mr. Justice Richmond]. ; The si ttings.of the Court were (proceeded with on Saturday. The ; Gran ; d Jury were in attendance, but as the witnesses in the only case left; to, come before /them/ had not yet arrived from the West Coast,' they were adjourned until Friday next. Forgery. ....... John Waterhouse,- who op, jPi>ursday last pleafled guilty to having *forgec^t|vo „bills of Exchange, was /sentenced to two years' imprisonment' with ? ba'r3 labor. ' ; * : '"''.' Larceny. ;:■,■ '„,.;'• .-.,-.,-. ' i Thomas Laurence -Ward was charged.with stealing 1 a-^ash lbox, ; coii taining £60," froni the dwelling of Charges Thomas Cribb,..^of ' Blenheim „7 7; ';' . -A..-, ■>•' •. -7 S „.*• = s.iSr -,o.YP. . Mr. Conolly appeared for -the prisoner, 'who pleaded-^ot. Guilty; JT .siV-njs.v The Crown Prosepjutor, shading opened ';the case, called, ..:._. _„; ..„;:._ ? jChaidesThomaS' Cribb; ji who. »,stated ; : .1 \am the, officer^in/ 'charge-.of^the-^Tejeg^ap/h/r; /lOffic- nrßlenheh_i. .^^^tlvß time "of the •theft, I slept: and 'took' my "meals jn a room commu n i eating with ttie/ offi ce.' On th c, • 4th June; I placed in my/ cash-box two d_lo notes, six^fo/notesj and ten^ll^iotes. fl locked the box, 'and^plo^d^Wp^^Jgeon [ /.hole in the'office//^wdiei^l;l lisiially/kept it. f Sinclair and prison^ : f/time;/* S; Shortly; ; J/office.?arfd:;r c turn cd 1 agaitf/in^helaftei^bV/; - / abou t fpn i r /and left j. again? abou t/ fiy tei 1 .' f-vfraii'.^ S_eft^he took his coat up -.' in ; a 'hurryiiana left without speaking; /which was* v'er^ \ lun^ua^ I>iisslini£hl|^^

the reason he said he had an appointment was because the messenger was in the office"." "About missed" the""box; 'Between the time I. put the cash in the box and the time I missed it, no one \yas there to my knowledge .but prisoner and the messenger/ The office- was never left alone the whole clay. There are two doors to the office, "one through the pubiic .office and one through my .room, which also had an outer door." This door, was always kept locked/ Oh missing the box,.' I I sent for the police. Inspector Emerson I came and searched the premises. He and I then started for Purkis's hotel, where prisoner, wns 'living. On our way we met* prisoner; I stayed aud watched hira, and Emerson went on to Purkis's. I saw him go on to the', bridge,' .aud then "'heard; a - splash, as though , he..- hud "thrown- something into the river. .1 :suw him again at Purkis's that evening, told him what had .occurred, and asked him whafcl should do. He said he could not advise rae. I said, " Perhaps vy'ou have done it for. a lark, to frighten me." This he denied, and recommended me to 'speak tb Emerson, but not to, do anything else for some days. The notes hacl murks by which I could identify them. I can swear to two ofthe notes produced. ' - His Honor, here remarked that lie did not approve of the notes beiug endorsed iv • the Magistrate's Court, as he had no .right to alter the aspect of original documents. '* Cross-examined:. X have knovvn the prisoner for. some months. He used to come iv aud out of the. office to see me as a friend.. He had just accepted a permanent appointment at WeUington. He has always borne. the character of. a. most respectable maa. The key ofthe telegraph office can be reached from the public offico by -pushing back the slide, and putting, the hand in. „ The messenger was in the" habit "of -going to my private- room. When Emerson first asked rae if I could identify the notes" I said I could uot. . I thought he meant, did I know the numbers. I did not identify the notes until after they were found, but I did before they were shown to me. . • His Honor (ook occasion to remark that the bauk votes issued in this Colony were not fit to be haudled, except with a pair of tongs, they were a perfect disgrace tb" the batiks aud were calculated to disseminate all sorts, of loathsome diseases. Anythiug .beastly . -cas the paper curreucy here issued i could not -be fouud in auy other^couutry. in the world. The remedy was in the hands of the public, who, wheu such filthy rubbish was lianded over the counter, should refuse to take it, but sliould demand either clean notes or gold. Mr. Conolly suggested that money!. was. so scarce that the public were not disppsed to be too vice about the state in which it was handed to them. ' : William Sinclair, the messenger at the Telegraph office,, was, called to corroborate certain portions of the. evidence, of the previous witness. "■< '•■■••, F. Eyes, clerk . at the Bank of New Zealand, deponed *to ' '~ Cribb certain notes on the niomibg of' the 4th June.'/ . >,"'* „-.'.. „ - ,J\ .... "-.'■" " ",.j ' .... Charles Pui kiss : I keep the Rainbow Hotel at Blenheim... .Prisoner waa a lodger i of mine. ; ! I: remember leaving my house onthe afternoon in question ;,* some oue who : was! standing by ;remarked th at he had his; great _ coat ou rather Tear ly. r Emerson came on the evening of the 4th June and searched prisoner's room-but-found' nothing; -'Next 'morniDg/PMr^.i Purkiss and I searchrd' again, and under the matcrass- we^lound^ a 1 roil- oft notes, 3 ' including Uvo'fi-^notes^hd'sfx Those produced/are,^ 3 Cross-examined ;: t Jir \ hay.e ; \knp ; $m the prisoner, foi-' three .years and never heard a word "against; his ; character. i bad been in 'ill 'health for'*'-s6'm£ time. *%jhe.n T ■^ri n ,^^-4f?^i^{l , ®i® < was u_thihg stVarige in^ l^is^rnnunerrlie" did npt appeai% t tp,.j^ Prisoner talked- to^me;i_bou^ in; the course of the evening. 3-^9. [J /By -tlie^j pQU^'-l^n^^l^r^! messenger/ ;n;He^ occasionally. ,/- It is possible that he might/ ■ "have; entered ,prigpn'er ? s/rop'm,*bu Iwithou^yld/cno^ M'Mp ' iPoji^/at,^ . tsr§affo^ i S^lpe^^

"bow ' Hotel, where' prisoner lodged and searched his room, but found nothing ""there. Next 'morning Purkiss fetched me and showed the notes now produced}- which . he had found under prisWer's rnattrass*. " Cross-examined :"lp went to : the/tele- - graph office, on receiving information of the robbery, I .observed that the door of the pigeon :hple, : \yhere the casli-J>ox was kept, made a very creaking no.ise :whe*n opened, and could .not have beeu opened • without being heard by auyone; in the ' : office. Cribb told me "the number of notes : - he had lost, but said h r e could not identify any of them. When the aiotes . were " handed to me, T noticed the figures 55 on one of them. The prisoner came into the Rainbow while I was looking at the notes, and I immediately apprehended him; 'He had £.8 ou.himrat- thetime. Re-examined: I had nofc shewn Cribb the. notes when he told me of certain marks on. them. I don't think the noise made by the telegraphic instrument when at work, would drown that made by opening the door of the pigeon-hole. By the Court : I searched the river for tho cnsb-box, but did not find it. The water wa3 clear at the time, aud there, was very-little of it. I think if 'the cashbox had been there, I should have seen it unless, it were under the bridge. The current was hot sufficient to carry the box away. ...... '''■"' This closed the case foi* the prosecution. Mr;, Conolly raised; an -objection, on a point of law. That the prisoner had not been shovvn to be -the' receiver of the money, as the money was found in a room open to the public/ Several other points of law were raised by Mr. Conolly, but were overruled by his Houor. The Crown Prosecutor having summed up for the prosecution,: , Mr. Conolly addressed the Jury on behalf of the prisoner. . His Honor having summed up,, the Jury retired, and after an absence of three quarters of an hour returned a verdict of Not guilty. '" '// / . \