ON SUSPICION

NZ Truth, Issue 1180, 12 July 1928, Page 8

ON SUSPICION

Hunt Has Roun&pith The Police ; i (Prom "N.Z. Truth's" Auckland. Rep.) What is at present puzzling the. detective force of the Queen City is what Cecil Francis Hunt has done with the two suitcases he took to the Criterion Hotel on the night of June 25. r THT3 deteotives have reason to know that Hunt .arrived at the hotel that night with two cases, one of which was of leather, and the following morning: he left the hotel with the same cases, later taking a taxi. Since then, the suitcases have eluded the best efforts of the force, and Hunt professes that he is ignorant of their whereabouts; Such were the. facts elicited when Hunt stood m the dock, and later, the witness-box, at the Magistrate's Court on a charge of being an idle and disorderly person. . Detective Moon related how he had arrested Hunt m the Grand billiard saloon about 3 p.m. on June 27. He then asked the young man where the two suitcases were which, he. had In his possession on the night 6f ; the robbery from Meltzer's, pawnbroker, Victoria Street? '-. ' :- .■ : • " - .'•■ ': ■'„ ■^■■'• ;V ' thief who visited Meltzer'sy by the way, may be classed as orie v of the cat .variety, for he entered by way of .the roof, having prized up a portion of the roofing, before descending into the~ shop through a man-hole. He got away with approximately £200 worth of valuables. • Hunt s replied that he had left the cases- at the railway station and that during Monday and Tuesday they were full of beer. On being searched, Hunt was found to have £1/17/- m his possession. -His answer as to where he had Obtained this money waß that where he had got it would stand Investigation. GOODS GO WEST Lawyer Sullivan, acting for Hunt, cross-examined Detective' Moon as to the grounds for his arrest, but witness said that Hunt had been seen- m company with a man named Rae, and had been at Rae's house. Evidence was given by 'Detective O'Sullivan to the effect that Hunt' had told witness, when questioned as to money, that there were "plenty of mugs about town and when there was a mug to be got he'd get him! : Pressed to explain this, Hunt said that sometimes he got beer for the mugs, and sometimes. they did not get it. The two suitcases ' produced m court he had 1 bought at George. Courts. These two cases, the proprietor of the Criterion, swOre were not the ones Hunt had, with him the night he stayed at the Hotel. : All he had there was bed. and breakfast. Before putting his client into the witness-box^ Lawyer Sullivan, submitted that he had no case to answer. It had not been proved that Hunt was a rpgue and a vagabond. The fact that he had , money. , on him proved to the contrary. •' : "•''"..' £'■ Giving an- account of himself, Hunt said he had been; working at Te Arai for a man named K. R. Moore. He did not know. Rae well, but he might have met' him more than once. The money heVJba^- on-.Jiim Ke ha_d got "within the ,iaw# Jas #6 put ft; r - i jsI Finally Hunt said: "I got it. for tellipg people wherevthey/ could get!a:'g"ood time." V ~" ; ' t . '"■ ■ ■'-■'. '■.■ '■■■'■■ ■-■■[■ ;" "-. • 'He looked down at his boots modestly, as he gave this explanation, and went on, "telling people m pubs where there were dances, and where they could get liquor after hours." "That's an honorable occupation," commented Chief-detective Hammond. Further, he said he had been to the labor bureau every day. IIONOBABLE OCCUPATION Cross-examined by Chief Detective Hammond, Hunt swore that the suitcases he had bought at Courts were for. clothes, as. he was going to work on Wednesday^ .The other cases might be down m the King Country seeing that they contained liquor. He couldn't say where he bought them, and ,he had given them to men who bad met him outside the Criterion m the morning. The prosecuting officer, referring to Hunt's mariner of obtaining funds, suggested that he was acting as- an agent for houses of ' ill-repute. ; - '• This Hunt denied, and hls"cpunsel raised a vigorous' protest. He contended that Detebtive Hammond wafe transgressing the law of the country. Hunt admitted that he knew Hilda Jackson of Nelson Street. She's a respeotable woman," said witness. "Is she?" retorted the chief deteotlve. 'CDid you tell Hilda Jackson that you had done a £200 "job" on Monday night?" Hunt denied that he had. When Detective Hammond produced the crime-sheet of the accused and began to question him on it, Lawyer Sullivan again rose m protest and having gained possession of one of the statute books, from the.be nch, he pointed out that under the Evidence Act of 1908, the police were not entitled to confront an accused person with his past offences. - The chief detective insisted that it had been done before and that this was a case for a rigorous examination. However, he contented himself with asking Hunt if he had not been convicted "pretty often." The latter- deriled that he had. He said he had turned twenty-four years of age. "Yes, and you've been m reformatory or gaol all your life,"; said the police officer. "Your last sentence was two years for the job at Hugh Wrights." 4 ■ Magistrate McKean stopped further questioning of this nature and asked the -accused himself to say what he. had said to the detectives. Hunt replied that he had said: "The money I had, had nothing to do with them. It was my way of answering." He did not admit the use of the word - "mugs." He might have said there were plenty of people around town to give him money if he told them a good story. . . •■• . "He's a dangerous criminal." commented Chief- detective Hammond. "I've not had much of a chance," retorted Hunt. The Chief- detective: "He came out m January. He has had four days m town, arid he's made his presence felt since he's been here." "I can't sentence him for that," observed the bench. "The only thing seems to be a term of imprisonment again." "Why did you not stay In the country?" asked his worship. "The roads were too bad. The detectives mean to put me down as far as they can put me," answered Hunt. "It's no good saying that," replied the bench, and he donated Hunt three month's imprisonment. ' ,V, With a look of resignation, Huitf.left the ; dock, but the detective force' of Auckland are still looking for those two suitcases which have mysteriously disappeared. .