COUNTY COURT.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 45, 3 January 1843, Page 2

COUNTY COURT.

Wednesday, December 22, 1842. Before His Honor E. S. Halswell. (Criminal side). . John Smith, aged 40, and James Elliot, aged 23, were indicted for stealing on the 14th day of December, 1542, one piece of cheese, slb; one piece of corn beef, 101 b; one piece of bacon, slb ; part of a leg of lamb, one delf dish, a quart of soup, 101 b; line tin culender, one skewer, the property of Richard Brown, of Wellington. Richard Brown —l am a publican, and live on Lambton Quay; I know Elliott the prisoner; he was in my employ; I don’t know Smith ; on Thursday, the 14th December, I missed some properly ; on going to the end of my wharf, 1 discovered a dish which I know to be my property, which the night before contained the remains of a roast leg of lamb; I went to my safe, and found every thing had been taken out of it; this was about 6 or 7 o’clock in the morning; I had found them all right in the safe, about 6 o’clock the evening before ; I have never seen any of the property since, except the skewer now produced; I cannot swear to the skewer now produced, but I have twelve in a set; there are now eleven ; this is like all the rest; and I have no doubt that this was the one with which I fastened the piece of beef stolen ; I placed this skewer in the beef which was stolen ; the safe was situated in an outhouse at the back of the kitchen; na one could know the safe, except one who was quainted with the premises; I gave information to Burgess Sayer, the chief constable. Cross-examined by Smith—l never saw Geo. Smith, the prisoner, about my premises, unless he came in for refreshment like any other stranger. ; Cross-examined by Elliott —The crew of the Elizabeth were not, to my knowledge, wheeling ballast on that morning. . • i Burgess Sager —l am chief const able of Wellington ; on Thursday the 15th inst., I received some information from the last witness, and I .went, in consequence, to the house of Mr. Jenkins, Manners Street; I found both the prisoners there; I received’ an iron skewer, the one now produced; frsbtti a lad named John Leman ; I gave it to Floyd, the gaoler; this is the same skewer; I put a mark upon it; I apprehended the prisoner; Elliot said, why do. you arrest me ? they went with me willingly ; they said nothing more. John Leman-—l am servant to Mr. Jenkins, of the New Zealander; I know both the prisoners by their coming to the tap ; they came to our house on Thursday the 15th inst.; they did not come/together; I did not see that they brought anything with them; I saw, George Smith cut up the beef; he cut agamst a skewer; the aiteWer nowproduced asked

him for the skewer as he was ggjng to throw® away; he gave it me ; I gave it to the barman* and he gave it to Mr. BuriflgssSayer -in J presence; they had some^^k;, Chops; - therß were twelve orfourteeqperlcWeating the beejfl By the did iSot hesitate to gil me the skewer ; whenlie Was going to .thro® it -aWay, he did pot try vto conceal it; . thJ were . cutting up When I went, in;* was'hidden in the meat; he made no observl tion when he came to the skewer. I Cross-examined by Smith—When you foutl the skewer, you held it up before all hand* twelve or fourteen people, and you said,. B help me God, here’s a skewer; you might hail concealed it if you pleased. I Cross-examined by Elliott—l saw you fryiß some pork chops which Geo. Morris brougl in, and the prisoner brought a loaf in ; Idl not see the prisoner Elliott eating the beef, fl cutting ; I cannot Say that he was in compafi with Smith. - I By the Jury—He gave me-up the skewer I once. , The Jury-found the prisbners guilty.- | Sentenced to three calendar months’ hard ]B hour, in the safe custody of the Sheriff. >B David Gipps, aged 42, was indicted for stealiiß one shirt, the property of William Fergusoß two shirts, the property of Benjamin Ling, aißj some shirts, the property of Alexander Younß on the 18th December inst. B Alexander Young —l am a storekeeper ;I rB side at Lambton Quay, next door to the Po;B office ; I do not know the prisoner ; I saw tlßj prisoner for the first time in my house; aboßj half-past eleven -on Friday evening, I went iB stairs to bed; I had a light; found the prisonßj in a bed in the upper room of the house; IbH never seen him before; I had no idea howlß got into the house; I presume he got in at t|B window; when I went out, at a quarter to niiß! I left both doors locked, and fou'nd them boBI locked a little after ten ; I left the door we stopped up until about half-past eleven jiß fastened the windows I allude to with a staplß which, when I came to examine, I found nß| worked out; when I first saw him in bed, I went to the door, I saw a constable passinß and called him in; there was Mr. Fergusonaß Mr. Ling with me at the time; the constalßl went up stairs, and the prisoner dressed huß self; the constable searched him, and he fouiß the shirt in his pocket; I know this shirt tolß the property of Mr. Ferguson, because Bshewed it me on the previous morning; he\B|; going away, and shewed this tearwhich B-t shirt exhibits; he put it at the top bf hfe ! ebeß| where he and I saw it safe; the prisoner B| not appear to be intoxicated ; he pretended B be when the constable came up ; he knew fi| actly where to find his things; they weie vaßp ously placed; but he was able to go to eaß; clothes; his cap was under a heap of sliißL which had been removed from another plaßp the constable asked him where his cap vB/’ and he went at once to the place where it \Bf* By the Court—lt was light enough for prisoner to see without a candle; he did iBl speak; he pretended to be asleep ; he was B| dressed in bed; he could not get out, exceptß; coming down stairs, and passing through iB/ store; Mr. Ling, Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Hoß> brook, and Mr. M‘Beth, were sitting in parlour adjoining, next the door, which iB/ open the whole time; the room he was in loB& out behind the Post-office; the height of Bl: window is about 20 feet; there was no artß|| removed from its place in the store. I; James Scott —l am a constable of Wellingß|v district; I was called into the store of thelßv witness; I went up stairs, and found the B|f soner in bed ; I told him to get up ; he gotB:/ and pulled his clothes from under the otßp bed close by; I took a shirt out of his cßr pocket; I marked it; this is the one now Bfp duced ; his cap was betwixt the two bßpjj under a box, and the two shirts under the cß|p he said he thought he was at Mr. Coupeßp he did not appear drunk; the shirts now Bp! duced are those which I found. —* Ip Alexander Young recalled—The shirts vß| placed on the bed where the prisoner was lyßp these shirts belong to Mr. Ling ; I knowtlßl to be his shirts. B§] The prisoner, in his 'defence, called Fatter— -I am a constable at "Wellington; lfij| the prisoner that evening, about-seven o’clßH he was the worse for liquor* middling I watched him some way f I found he interfere with any one, and I let The Jury found the; prtsoner His Honor directed tlie prisoner to.H| brought up for judgment the following day-BB . On Thursday, the prisoner was again at the Bar, when Mr. William Couper, BBj with severed others, had petitioned the to pass a lenient sentence, said, T keep theHp adjoining; the prisoner lodged at my houseljp night previously ; he lodged at my house night before; he left a couple of shirts at H|| house; they were blue striped; he didra®| sleep there, the second night; it is an up sflß room where he slept in my house ; is aiBB sixty feet from the one in which he was foura* they are both corner houses ; they are no f ra§| similar. - B| : Sentence—Slix months’ hard labor. Bl