DISPUTED SALE OF A HORSE.

Patea Mail, 21 October 1880, Page 2

DISPUTED SALE OF A HORSE.

Fit OSEC UTIOIV for PERJUR Y. M'Carthy v. Dennis Carroll was a civil action to recover the value of a horse. Mr Hamcrton appeared for plaintiff, and Mr Farrington for the defence. Michael M'Carthy, labourer, near Patca, deposed: At the end of July last year, I left a mare in the care of Dennis Carroll, landlord of Manntahi Hotel, when I was going to work at Opuuaki. He told me the marc was worth £2O. He lent me about £7 to release the mare from running with a stallion. I fetched the marc and 1 clt it with Mr Carroll to graze at Is a week, and I paid him £2 back out of the £7 the same night, leaving £5 due. I did not agree to sell the marc at all. Mr Farrington : If I were to produce a receipt for the mare, signed by you, would that be a forgery ? Plaintiff : I never gave a receipt for the marc. Mr Farrington handed a written paper to him.

Plaintiff : I cannot read writing, but can write my own name. I did not sign that and never saw it before. Mr Hamerton asked him to write his name in court, which he did. The receipt was not signed in the same handwriting. It was witnessed to by Michael Callender, but the plaintiff said he did not know a person of that name. By Mr llamerton ; I had some drinks at the Manutahi Hotel the night before leaving for Opunaki, and plaj-ed at cards, losing about 7s, but was not drunk. I partly knew what 1 was doing. 1 had given £ls for the mare before she was two years old. Mr Barrington said the defence was that the marc had been purchased, and a receipt taken for £l7, and there was a witness present who would be called. Dennis Carroll deposed ; While I kept the Manutahi Hotel, the plaintiff spoke to me about buying this marc. He said Hearn and Kennedy wanted to buy her, but they wanted him to chop for some horse that was no good. He asked me to buy her. He said he had had to pawn his watch for a loaf of bread at Norman by, and he pressed me to buy the mare, which was then at Hearn and Kennedy’s. I agreed to give him £t7 for her. I gave him £8 some odd shillings, the exact amount he said was owing on the marc to Hearn and Kennedy, and he brought the marc back. 1 paid him the balance of the money when he gave me that receipt. He started to write his signature to the receipt, and wrote Me, but stopped, saying lie was a bail writer, and asked me to Jinish the signature for him, as the coach was about to start. The witness was present and went in the coach with him. The plaintiff was sober, about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. The first time he again spoke of the matter was six months after, when he asked me to lend him a pound. He then asked for 10s. He said “ What about the marc.” He said “ Did’nt you sell her for £25 ?” I said 1 sold her. He said lie would sec about it. lie did not ask for the marc at all until I received a letter from his solicitor six weeks ago. I sold the marc to Sergeant Shield at Manutahi for £lB. By Mr Hamerton : When lie went to Opunaki 1 paid him £4 10s or £5. Ho did not pay me back £2 the night before. 1 did not give him any account of the balance. It was for meals, cash lent, and refreshment I never received any notice from the bank that my cheques were dishonored. Michael Callender, constable at Cape Egmont, said : I know the plaintiff well, and witnessed the signing of a receipt in a room behind the bar. Plaintiff said he could not write very well. I saw money passed to plaintiff, and I went in the coach with him to Hawcra, where he remained two or three days, spending money freely in drink. He was “ shouting” for men at Haweva. I heard McCarthy say, at the Manutahi Hotel, that he owed Mr Carroll an account, and had come to sell the marc and settle the account.

By Mr Barrington : I heard him say afterwards that he had sold the marc to Dennis Carroll.

N. Hcavn deposed : McCarthy sent a mare to our place. He came for it and said he had sold it to Mr Carroll. 1 had offered him a horse valued at £l3 and £o in cash, in exchange for the mare. Mr Hamciton, for the plaintiff, then argued that a receipt given in a hotel for payment made was wrong according to common and statue law, which did not recognise receipts so given. No statement of the balance of the account had been given to the plaintiff, at the time the receipt purported to be signed as an acquittance. The plaintiff was evidently intoxicated, else he would have written his own signature to any receipt given. lie must have been so drunk that he could not understand the transaction. He was entitled to recover a balance of £8 3s 8d on the value of the marc.

The Magistrate : It seems to me the plaintiff knew very well what he was about. The fault is that he is too knowing He is now trying what I consider to be a deliberate fraud. There is no doubt in my mind that this was a bona fide sale. He had mentioned to several people before the sale that he was going to sell it, and after that he had sold it. This document is evidence of a bona fide sale. Beyond that, there is good ground for supposing that the plaintiff is committing drink-perjury, and I shall be quite pleased to lay an information against him for perjury. Judgment for defendant with costs. See that the witnesses remain. The witness from Opunake—his evidence will be required in the other case. Mr Hearn : I don’t want any expenses. The total costs were LlO -is, and the

plaintiff’s counsel’s fee would he additional. COMMITTED FOR PERJURV. The plaintiff was taken into custody, a warrant being made out charging him with perjury. Tho depositions of Mr Carroll, Mr Hearn, and the constable Callendar were taken. The prisoner was forwarded to Now Plymouth.