WAS WRIGHT RIGHT ?

NZ Truth, Issue 140, 22 February 1908, Page 6

WAS WRIGHT RIGHT ?

WAS THE CHAIN SNAPPED OR SNATCHED? A CASE-CHASING COP, ; Trap Taylor Taken to Task. Helier Eli Wright,- who- works on. the wharf, is an unfortunate creat-.j ure, aged 37, whose mental condition might be described us a shingle short, or ihdisnositicii of the upper storey, or a rat m his garret, or whatever may be the vernacular for the state which describes a person when, he isn't all there. His experiences of the night of February 3 nearly landed him m gaol, and the problem of . whether he "snapped" the gold chain of Mrs Williamson at the sate of 213 Adelaidesroad, Wellington, has not been sent up to a jury for -.solution, owing ..to the flimsy nature of the evidence. The husband oi Mrs W. is a farmer at W-aituna, ami the lady was on a. visit to her brother-in-law m tfce. Capital City. It was quite dark .when she entered ' the gate of that gentleman's place, and as she closed it. she felt a gold chain, valued at .£2O, disappear from her neck, and, clutching a watch and locket, which, were attached, she saved those articles,. Loudly bewailing, her loss, she ije-opentjd the sate and observed a man "on' the. middle of the: road, to whom she said, "Oh; my: chain is gone. Where is mv chain ? Someone has taken ,my chain." Wright was the person 1 on the road, and he says she exclaimed, "YOU have taken my chain." At any rate, the startled 'individual bolted down the street, passing a man named .James McNab' on the 'Way, and fell into the arms of Peeler Taylor, who was m; plain clothes. • Taylor, who has THE JAW OP A' PUGILIST arid the brow of. a burglar, said he was seventy .yards frojn the scene of the alleged robftery, and; could see Wright come away-from Williamson's fence quite, plainly. M6Nab swore that the night was so dark that •nobody could be seen distinctly at. a distance of fifty; yards. Mrs Williamson followed 'Wright down the street, an-d, according to Taylor, she remarked to the polscemaa more than once, "He .'snapped -my chain" (indicatang Wright);. .Now, Mrs W. is a lady of some refinement, and it is unlikely that s-he would! make use of a common slang term like. "snapped,", a circumstance commented, upon by solicitor Wilford (for the defence), who later, called the lady, and she indignantly denied using, the word "snapped." or even " snatched." McLebd also used the word "snapped," but acknowledged that a person had leic the Court' and told him (McLeod) ,that if Wiiford 'gave -him such a hot time as he wa-s then giving Tavlor, hell would be a mere circumstance beside it, or words ■to that effect. Witnesses had been ordered, out of Courjt-^io prevent them duplicating the evidence, and aithough McNa;b denied that anything was sr. id by the interfering person from the Court about "snapped" t&tefre is the assumption that tile term ■'mipht have been the subject, of, conversation.. At any rate, doubt wac cast on two •sections of the arresting 'bobbys-evid-ence, ' and lie fell furl-he*' into disgrace, by narrating a long cross-ex-amination of Wright after the unfortunate- person had .been arrested. It is the duty of the police., always to warn a raarson apprehended "that .anything he might say will be taken down m writing and uskl m evidence' against him. ilnstead of giving this warning, truculent Taylor suhiected his victim to a lengthy list of ferocious interrogations, but, fortunately, didn't obtain * any damaging admissions, When Taylor '■' HAD BOOBED HIS BIRD; he and HcN&b mSwle. an exhaustive search for the missing jewellery, with the aid of avlantern , both inside /and outside the gate, but discovered nothing ; a youth named James Wil-^ liamsoit found the' trinket next morning m a conspicuous, place 6ft.' inside the gate. . Bobbies Kerr and Taylor subsequently experimented with the gold circlet. . Kerr stood on 'the middle of the roa-d and hurled it over the gate ; it caught on a branch and when Taylor shook the tree it dropped on the identical spot where it was found by the boy. The Taylor theory was that Wright "snapped" the chain and cast it over the gate ; the intelligent length o? links concealed itself m the tree till the peeler and the lanteriUbaVl disappeared, then droppeil oii to tn&'side walk^ Wright had nothing /to d 6 with the eccentric behaviour, of-tlftj chain, as ho was m quod at the time and couldn't exercise any. influence unless he did it by long distance hypnotism. Wright's explanation is that he was out at Happy Valley all the afternoon, and was returning to his home m Vogel-street, when ,he heard a sound like a moan inside Williamson's pate, and stopping, asked "What's the matter ?" when the excited woman appeared and accused him of stealing her chain, and he took to his heels. "I thought she was mad," said Wrierht, who suffers from insomnia, and has a mental lack. "I thought it was . A PUT-UP JOB. and someone might come out and go through me, so I ran." ■ Magistrate Riddell, didn't think there was sufficient evidence for a jury to convict, and dismissed the information. His Worship , animadverted strongly upon w-hat he characterised as the improper, way m which Peeler Taylor had crqsis-examined the accused person after his arrest. He quoted an authority m support of the statement that the police were not expected to prevent" an. accused person from making statements if he so desired, but no question should be asked to entourage the making of such statements ; moreover, the arrested person should be warned that am- thing ho wight Bny would betaken down m writing and used m evid- , ence against him. Taylov has been twelve months only m the police { force, and it is hoped. this will prove a salutary warning, not only to him ; but.' also to other over-zealous offii cers - i