MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 333, 18 May 1877, Page 2

MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

■ YESTERDAY. (Bofore.T. \Y. Parker, Esq., R.M.) LARCENY. The following is the continuation of our report c>f the charge preferred against William John Cray, boardinghouse- (

keeper : L John Little was then called, and deposed : I am a labourer l'ving at Reid- ' ston. 1 know the prosecutor. I was in ' his company on Saturday. I remember ; gwing to Craig's Boarding-house with him on that day. We went into a room and saw Mrs. Craig there. Prosecutor called for drinks. We had a drink each, and Brown paid for them. Pie took something out of his breast-pocket. He turned Lis back on us while doing zo. He produced a bank-note to pay for the drinks, and he got some change, which lie put in his trousers pocket. After this two other .young men came into the same room. They both pretended they knew prosecutor, as they commenced talking to him. I do not know who tuey were. One of them took me by the coat into another room to let me know something. When I got into the room he mauled mo about, and could not tell mo anything. I have seen him in the street since. 1 could see through a gias3 door that the other young man was too near the prosecutor. I went in. Mrs. Craig and the young man were there. I took lio'd of Brown and wanted to pull him away. The two men and Mrs. Craig mauled me about. She called Craig, and said that I had insulted her. Prosecutor was on the sofa. I was knocked into the diningroom. When I came too, I got the blood washed off myself. I went back to where prosecutor was. I took him home. Prosecutor never appeared to want money. Cross-examined by Mr. O'Meagher : Prosecutor and I was at the Northern Hotel that day. I could not say how I long, but it was about two or three hours. I was drinking brandy. Prosecutor [

sometimes drank kvandy and \M could not say ho^v'••many drinks jH there. I spent no money th&co. i| cutor paid for all the drinks. Y'fl went to Craig's. Mrs. Craig came I her bedroom when we went in. SlicH sit down. 1 had no other drinks \M to those at the Northern that dfi could recognise the two young inj| saw them. I did not insult Mrs.ll I am quite certain on that point. 9 cutor was lying on the sofa, null young man was lying forward upon ]tl when I looked through the glass] Mrs. Craig was standing at the taliljjl face was turned to the young man. li blood ciuno from my nose. ]\M struck me for insulting his wife, Jl said I had done, lie came out of M room. Prosecutor paid for the drill silver, at the Northern Hotel ; hog more than a shilling there. It wasiJ a thought of mine that the two ffl men were pretending to know pros.fl I paid little attention, as soon as pritl wife told me I had insulted her. H soner knocked me down. I am quill tain that I did not insult her.ffl blow I received on the iioscH a pretty severe one. I cannot i| whether both prosecutor's wuiJj were open when I went out M room. I never observed him weani|| clothes in that manner generally. J the time Mrs. Craig brought the d|f until the two young men came in, urn not leave the room. Re-examined : The men came <h| the diningroom. She had to le:iv|| room in order to get the drinks. Shu the change in her pocket. Mrs. 1 did not leave the room before I left iJ To his Worship : The front doonjj house opens into the diningroom. lgg nninieatos with the kitchen, also. ]j| not s:iy whether t!io young men caijj by the front door, or not. ? Prosecutor was re-exaiuinud : 1 uiJ toned my waistcoat just now to J wliere I usually kept my pocket-bnuil generally have it buttoned. ; | To Mr. O'Meagher : .1 do not kcejtj outer waistcoat always buttoned;« when it is line weather, like ioi There w:\s one button buttoned wljj went into Craig's. I will swear tlmi inner wais'.cat was buttoned within! buttons from the bottom, when 1 I into prisoner's that day. i Thomas Meredith Smith deposed : Sub-inspector of Police, stations; Oamaru. I went to Craig's boavi house about half-past 10 last Sal.u evening in company with Constable 1) van. 1 asked him if he know anyl about the robbery that had taken p He said, " No ; that as soon as 1 can and put the horses in the stable, 1 \ out to collect some accounts. Win came back 1 heard about the robl and 1 know no more about the roll than you do." I asked him who wn the house at the time that prosoc was Miere. He said that one of them Johnny Madden, and some other yo man, and .John Little, who came intu house at the time. 1 left then, and Sunday about 1 o'clock 1 went to Cr; house again. * From what a girl sai concluded that prisoner was in bed, :u should iind him upstairs. At the til spoke to the girl I saw Mrs. Civig la; on the sofa in the sitting-room. 1 psisonerin the bidioom, The bedr is about 12ft. from where 1 spoke to girl. 1 wi nt into the bedroom, and lirst person I saw was Mrs. Craig, i was standing by the bed, and the prisn was undressed in the bed. lie was in act of handing a roll of notes to J Craig with his left . hand. (Notes] ducjd). I said, "Never mind, Crai, want to have a look at those. I tl took the notes out of his hand, and «■ to the foot of the bed. I told him ab the robbery that was committed in house last night, and said 1 heard abi his changing L2.) notes. I asked li where lie got them from, lie did I reply to this. 1 went round to the «• (low and counted the notes. 'The anim was LtG, consisting of one LlO note, tin L 5 notes, and L2l in single notes. J »a " Now, Craig, unless yon account to I where you got the L2O notes that y changed on Saturday night 1 shall Im to arrest you." Prisoner made no audit reply. I Jien arrested hnn. After: resting him, I searched the place, a Constable Donovan was present. Prison said before we left the room that he li L2O notes in the house for three or fo weeks. 1 said it would bo much better he would tell me the name of the perso from whom he got them. Ho replied, " can't tell you who 1 got them from." 0 the way to the watch-house he stated agai that he had the notes in his i>nssossio three or four weeks. Constable Donova hand 'd me a sovereign (produced), an stated he found it on the prisoner. 1 pro duce two L2O notes, which I recaivc from Constable Donovan. Cross-examined : 1 do not know any thing about the habits of Johnny Madden Prisoner had nothing in his hand on Satin day night when I saw him. He was dressed I imagine, in his best clothe:*. Constahl Donovan was not in the bed-room at th time of my taking the notes. 1 did no ask the prisoner to hand me any money I afterwards asked prisoner if he had an) more money in the house. The witnesi Little came to the poliee-o/liee with tin prosecutor when he gave me the informa tion. I do not know the name of the ofc'iei young man. I told prisoner that if he die not satisfy me regarding the notes, ] would have to arrest him. Prosecute! saw the two £2O-notes on Saturday night, He told me he was quite certain that all the notes, with the exception of the £l- - were on the Bank of New Zealand, He told me from whom lie had received the money. When I heard that Madden and the other man were on the premises at the time the,.robbery was committed I gave instructing to have them searched.

JS was not present at the time they were •* searched. I did not ask Craig wiry he had changed the notes. When I arrested him he appeared to me to have been drinking heavily. Walter Smith deposed : I am bookkeeper at Hood and Shennan's. I have seen the note produced before ; my initials are on it. I received it from the prisoner last Saturday evening, about six o'clock. He gave it to me for an account, and I gave him the change due him. I made no mark on the other notes. When prisoner first came he asked for change, bnt I told him I could not change a £2O- - He then said he had an account to pay. This account had not been running three months. I noticed that the prisoner had other notes in his hand. He left the desk after he had received the change. Cros3 - examined by Mr. O'Meagher : Prsoner did not appear to have a desire to concsal the notes in his hand. I put the marks on the £2O-note when the police came for it. Mr. Shennan has access to the cash-box as well as myself, but no one else. Alfred Cottrell deposed : I am barman at the Star and Garter Hotel. I saw prisoner between 5 o'clock and ten minutes past 6 o'clock on Saturday night. He called for a glas3 of liquor, and tendered me a note. I did not look at it until I got to the till. I saw it was a L2O-note. I told him I could not change it, but that he would probably get it changed at Hood and Shennan's. He told me he had just changed one there. 1 asked him what he •wanted to change another for. He said he had paid the whole of the change, from the first note, away, and wanted to pay someone at his house L 5. James H. Clejhorn deposed : I am a draper. Prisoner came to mj* shop between 7 and 8 o'clock on Saturday night. He asked me to change a L2O-note for him. I got the change from Mrs. Whits, and gave prisoner LlO. He owed me 14s. or 15s. I gave him credit for Ll, and his ■wife was to take out the balance of the Ll on Monday morning. I saw some more notes in his hand. I do not know what bank the L2O-note was on. Cross-examined by Mr. O'Meagher : I did not see the faces of the notes, but I can swear they were notes. I do not know how many he had in his hands, but I'll swear there were more than 20. He unfolded the notes, and counted them. One by one he counted them out, crumpled them up, and put them in his pocket. He said he was keeping the single notes by themselves. Re-examined by Mr. Hislop : He had two different bandits of notes in his hands. The large notes were in his right hand, and the single notes in his L-ft haud. He did not have the single notes in his hand until I came back with the change. Win. Maitland df posed : I am landlord of the Commercial Hotel. I saw prisoner on Saturday night, between 8 and 9 o'clock. He asked me if I could change a L2O-note. I saw a L2O-note and a handful of notes in his possession. He handed ii u the L"Ji -note to take payment for four or f'vj drinks. I did not change the i-. V. He said we were very poor pubHe tn~ at my end of the town if we could n f change a L2O-note. He showed me a number of notes, anil I said it was strange he should come to that end of the town to get a L2O-note changed, when he had so many single no':es in his possession. He said he wanted change to pay some people to whom he owed money. He said, " I have made a 'rise' to-day." Cross-examined by Mr. O'Meagher : He never said it was handy to have small notes ix« the house on Saturday night. I thought it was strange for him to ask for the change of a L2O-note when he had so many small notes in his jJossession. Anthony Stewart Brown deposed: I am in the employ of J. K. Brown and Co. I remember seeing the prisoner on Satuaday night in the Imperial Hotel, at a quarter to 31 o'clock. He had some bank notes in his iiossession. Two LlO- - were spread oat, and the others were rolled up. Stanley Martin deposed : I am barman at the Imperial Hotel. Between 7 and 8 o'clock on Saturday night I saw prisoner at the Imperial Hotel. He tendered me a L2O-note, and asked me to change it. I told him I could not, and handed him the note back. I saw another note in prisoner's hand. John Harbison deposed : I am assistant to Mr. Cahill, grocer. About 8 o'clock on Saturday night prisoner came into Cahill's ; store. He had a L2O-note in his posses- ■ sion, and lie tendered it to me in payment of an account of L 6 10s. The account : was not one of long standing. He told me he had some laud in Auckland, and ' that his son had sent him over a draft. He also said that he was going to pay his ; debts off. ] Cross-examined by Mr. O'Meagher : I , am quite sure he used the word draft. Joun Madden deposed : I am a laborer, residing generally at Craig's Boardingholism. About 3 or 4 o'clock on Saturday afternoon I went to Craig's with my : brother, Raymond Madden. He does not ' live at Craig's. I saw the prosecutor and Little sitting on a sofa in a parlour next the diniugroom. I saw prisoner when I went into the house. He came there with his express. Brown asked me if I would } have a glass of beer. Craig was in the j room near me. Mrs. Craig was also pre- i sent, and Little commenced pulling Mrs. j Craig about. Craig was standing at the i door leading oat of the diningrooui, with < Brown. A young man named Frank White was also present. Craig remained ; in the house about ten minutes, and then * went away with his express, I saw Craig J come in again at tea time. Brown was j ' still in the house. Aboat 9 o'clock that j j night Coustable Donovan told me that a j j robbery luid been committed in the house, j \ This w;ts 't'.uV first I heard of it. I went i '. back once sittingrooni, at about i j

j 5 o'clock. Brown was still sitting on the sofa. He seemed very drunk, and was | supporting his head with one hand. j Cross-examined by Mr. O'Meagher : I jdo not know what Frank White is. I do I not know whether Craig struck Little, or ! not. Little did not go out with any one but Brown. I did not see Craig near Brown, while Brown was on the sofa. I saw Mrs. Craig sitting on a chair two or three yards away. She conid not have interfered with Brown without my noticeing it. I was in the room when the scuffle took place between Craig and Little. About ten minutes or a quarter of aii hour afterwards I left. Brown was awake duriug the scuffle. I did not hear Brown state that he had lost his pocket-book and money. He could not have said so without my hearing it. Mrs. Craig was in the room after the scuffle. I was sitting on one sofa with my brother. Brown was sitting on the other sofa. I never saw Craig change a L2O-note in his house, but I have often seen him change L5-notes. I do not remember seeing Little and Brown leave the house. As soon as Craig put out Little, he went away with his express and did not return till five o'clock. He might have been in the room ten minutes after he put Little out. I saw Little lying down very drunk with his head on Brown's, who was also lying down. This was before the scuffle. I did not see Frank White near Brown, in fact the onlj'- person I saw near Brown was Little. Re-examined by Mr. Hislop : Both Brown's feec and Little's feet were on the floor at -the time Little had his head on Brown. Constable Donovan deposed : I accompanied Sub-Inspector Smith to Craig's Boarding-house on Saturday night. This closed the case for the prosecution. Mr. O'Meagher said he was not prepared to proceed with the case that night, He wished to have time to look through the evidence, to consider whether he would call any witnesses for the defence or not. He would therefore ask for a remand till the following morning. Prisoner was remanded accordingly. THIS DAY. (Before T. W. Parker. Esq., 1t.31.) LARCENY. William John Craig was again placed in the dock on the charge of stealing a pocket-book, containing a large amount of money,.irom John Brown. The case for the prosecution had been closed on the previous day. Mr. O'Meagher, who again appeared for the prisoner, said that considering the absence of any identification of the notes, the want of proof that the notes found upon prisoner were the property of John Brown, and the absence of any direct proof of the theft, he would like his Worship to say wh.ther he considered there was sufficient evidence to commit the prisoner for trial.

His Worship said there certainly was some difficulty in regard to the identification of the notes. The evidence, too, was of a somewhat conflicting nature, and was not so clear as might be wished. Still, he thought the circumstances of the case were such as to call for further inquiry, and he felt bound to send the case for further investigation. There was no doubt that a. prima facie case had been made out against the prisoner. Mr. O'Meagher : That being the case, your Worship, the prisoner will reserve his defence.

The prisoner was then fully committed to take his trial at the next sitting of the District Court, to be held at Uaiuaru on the 7th June.

On the application of Mr. O'Meagher, bail was granted—prisoner in LIOO, and two sureties of LSO each.