ALLEGED SHEEP-STEALING.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 8, Issue 26, 29 March 1907, Page 5

ALLEGED SHEEP-STEALING.

THE CASE AGAINST WELLS BROTHERS. [By Telegraph.—Special to Guardian] Picfcon, Last Night. At the Picton S.M. Court to-day Daniel Eli Wells and Gabriel George Wells, of Four Fathom Bay, Pelorus Sound; were charged with the theft of some eighteen sheep, of the value of £l2 12s, the property of Captain Cracroft, of Yncyca Bay, between the 12fch January and 7th March, 1907. The Bench was occupied by Mr T. Scott Smith, S.M.,and Sergeant-Major Mason prosecuted on behalf of the Police. Mr McNab appeared on behalf of the accused. The Courtroom was filled with the general public, who took the greatest interest in the proceedings. Before commencing the case all witnesses were ordered out of Court.

Sergeant-Major Mason, in opening, explained that Captain Cracroft occupied a holding at Yncyca Bay, and tho accused held a similar property at Four Fathom Bay. Tho two holdings, which held about the same number of sheep, were divided by a high and narrow range. Captain Cracroft was an old officer in the mercantile marine, and had only been a sheepfarmor for about two and ahalf years. Ho employed a Manager, in whom he placed every trust, and from whom the principal evidence would be forthcoming. The sheep had been mustered on two or three occasions, and sheep belonging to the accused had been found among them and returned to tho owners; on one occasion one had been found and on another occasion some thirty or forty. On the 7th. March the accused sent a notice to Captain Cracroft that they were about to ship sheep. Captain 'Cracroft and his Manager went across to Four Fathom Bay and found a mob of sheep in the yards ready to bo shipped away ; among them were found some seventeen, the property of Cracroft, and on these sheep Cracroft’s brand had boon unmistakably mutilated and transformed into the brand of defendants. The brands would deceive no one, much less an expert. The sheep had actually been sold, and in a short space of time would have been far beyond reach. The Police had brought over six sheep, taken haphazard, for inspection, five of which boro the mutilated brand on tho ordinary brand of Captain Cracroft. The case is still proceeding, and will last a considerable time.