EARLY HOTEL VISIT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 383, 18 June 1928, Page 16

EARLY HOTEL VISIT

LEADS TO BURGLARY CHARGE JURY FAILS TO AGREE (From Our Own Corresoondent) HAMILTON, Saturday. A plea of not guilty was entered by George Albert Hedley Nixon (Mr. J. J. Sullivan) before Mr. Justice Blair, in the Hamilton Supreme Court today, to a charge of breaking and entering the Grand Hotel, Te Aroba, on February 24, with intent to commit a crime. Evidence was given that on February 24 the proprietor of the hotel, George Page, slept in the office. At 4.30 a.m. he heard someone enter the office in stockinged feet. The intruder used a torch. Page got up and grappled with the man, who struggled, but was detained until the police arrived. The intruder was Nixon, who explained that he was looking for a man named Jackson. A small flat file was found in accused’s possession. John Jackson, billiard saloon keeper. Auckland, said he knew Nixon slightly, hut had had little to do with him. He did not stay at the Grand Hotel on February 24. Nixon gave evidence that he went to the Grand Hotel to get a cup of tea. His feet were wet, and he took off his shoes so that he could dry his socks. He used a torch at his house in Auckland, and carried it with him. The file he had was used in manicuring his nails. When accosted by the proprietor, accused said a man named Jackson, who he thought was staying at the hotel, could vouch for him. Nixon denied that he entered the hotel with intent to commit a crime. He admitted that he was not allowed on a racecourse, but he went. He had no luggage with him on February 24. The jury failed to agree, and a new trial was ordered for next session.