RELEASE OF THE DETECTIVES.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2114, 31 December 1879, Page 2

RELEASE OF THE DETECTIVES.

The three detective officers —Druscovitch, Palmer, and Meiklejohu—and the solicitor Froggart, who were convicted of fraudulent conduct two years ago, were released from confinement on October 21, their term of imprisonment having expired. Meiklejohu has been chiefly employed in the mat-making department of the gaol, Druscovitch in bookbinding, and Palmer basket making, in which be displayed some ability. It is stated tbatDruscovitch and Palmer have good appointments offered them from America, which they are said to have accepted ; while Meiklejohu is about to embark in a business. The whole of them look remarkably well and did not appear much the worse for their incarceration. In the case of Froggart, he was handcuffed and removed to the House of Detention, and next day was charged with appropriating £3.920 guaranteed stock of the East India Railway Company, and £4,140 guaranteed stock of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company, the property of Kate Walsh Fitzroy, for his own use and benefit. Mrs Fitzroy received her dividends regularly until the prisoner was sent to prison in connection with what was known as the “ Turf Frauds,” when the dividends ceased. It was then discovered that the principal trustee had died in 1877, and up to that time nearly the whole of the money had been drawn out and spent, and since his co-trustee’s death the defendant (being then the sole trustee), drew out the balance, and every penny of the money had been spent. The prisoner was remanded.