SIMMONS—HIS MYSTERY!

NZ Truth, Issue 1184, 9 August 1928, Page 9

SIMMONS— HIS MYSTERY!

How Hard Knock Put Novel Idea Into Charley's Head

(From "N.Z. Truth's" New Plymouth Representative.) One-eyed Mike, the two-handed gunman, and Saw-toothed Tom, the fire-eating desperado, were just common, blundering figures who bit the dust now and again m a line of questionable fiction.

IN fact, they were just splodges on a coarse canvas of fancy compared AVith the light colorwork of Charles Edward Simmons m real life studies. He painted a delicate vignette of life, so artistic, so temperamental, and so j romantic. Money! He spurned it. Why, he burnt a £1 note belonging to Ivy Rogers. A fig for such trifles. Certainly, he did take l%d, a hair clasp worth 6d., a string of imitation pearls valued at 2/- and a gold brooch assessed at £1/2/6. But then, boys will be boys. He was only about 19. ' : ■ i- And Lawyer A. A. Bennett told the court m New Plymouth the other day that it was all caused by a lump on the head! I Messrs. E. C. Hayton and O. E. I Flygeiy J.P.s, who heard' the sad tale, decided that Charles Edward might be called for sentence m six months if he were not good. They would not consider an application for the suppression of his name, but ordered him to return the note that had hot been recovered. Give ear to the story. Charles Edward earned an honest crust milking cows and doing other odd jobs for Albert Bettridge at Rahotu. Among the odd jobs was minding the children while Bettridge and his wife and three girls m the household went to the Grand Military Ball m the. local hall on June ■25. . •,. ■■;■ To while away a pleasant hour or two, Simmons got down : to some of the thrilling adventures of Deadwood Dick and his he-man companions. Then, hist! Was the baby getting out of its .cradle? Or, were there spooks? Charles stepped along to the front of the house to see what the low was about. He opened- the door and poked m his head. Whack! '- Some cruel hand had laid Charles low m the dark. When he recovered he telephoned the police the awful news. ■ '

Charles was very distressed «-md had a big lump on his head when P.C. Brenchley and Bettridge arrived on the scene. Two rooms had been ransacked and drawers lay all over the place. • ■ The shocking story was communicated to Detective Meiklejohn, In New Plymouth and next day he went out by bus to get the details first hand. Hoof marks were found near the house, towards which, it was reported, "someone had been seen approaching early the previous evening. Later, a horse had been heard galloping along the road. Then occurred .some of those little indefinable "somethings" for which the police seem to have a special sense of direction and smell. They sensed something peculiar m something Simmons did and something wrong m something he said. . ■ Constable Brenchley again went to see Simmons and obtained a full admission that it w.as he who had been the cracksman. He had burnt the £1 note and hidden the other articles. The police knew of nothing else against Simmons, he said. • - He had succumbed to a sudden temptation and did it on the spur of the moment, pleaded Lawyer Bennett m extenuation. ' That knock on the head was the explanation of the whole affair. Simmons had entered the room with his head down and received a hard knock from some unsympathetic piece of furniture. - It was when he came to that he started his crusade. . He had lied to the police to cover his tracks and then lied again, but only made matters worse. His conscience began to trouble , him and this had affected his conduct. He was an industrious.'' youth' and, counsel understood Bettridge would even i take- him back* '. *