JEMMY UNDER STAIRS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 500, 1 November 1928, Page 13

JEMMY UNDER STAIRS

ATTEMPTED BREAK IN SYMONDS STREET NEW ARRIVAL CHARGED Discovered by night in a yard adjoining a drapery business and a furniture store at the top of Symonds Street. William Roderick Fleming, a new arrival, explained his presence in a manner unsatisfactory to the police. In the Supreme Court this morning Ihe stood trial on a charge of attempted breaking and entering with : intent to commit a crime. Accused i was further charged with being a rogue and vagabond within the meun--1 ing of the Police Offences Act. For the Crown. Mr. V. X. Hubble said accused was found on the prem-

ises at 10.30 on the evening of July 31 by Constable S. S. Wells. Accused explained he was there for a certain purpose. The constable later discovered that two windows and a door of Smith and Brown’s store bore marks of some instrument, lie found a carpenter’s •pinch-bar” under a staircase. It had on it the stamp "Can-.” Inquiries revealed that a carpenter of that name had lost tools when a sited in Khyber Pass Road was broken into. When searched Fleming had a torch on hint. Accused arrived in Auckland last Juno by the motor-ship Hauraki as a seaman. He was since employed as a bricklayer. Cross-examined by Mr. Mackay for the defence. Janies Brown, director of Smith and Brown, Ltd., said the yard was partly open, a portion of the fence being down.

Cross-examined, Constable Wells said he did not take any finger-prints from the pinch-bar. The detectives might have done it. Accused told him he was used to carrying a torch in ’Frisco and on the ship. DRESS OF BURGLARS Mr. Mackay: ITow was accused dressed? The Constable: As lie is now. except for his little “mo.” (Laughter.) You knew he was a labourer? —Yes. Do you think a man would get into his best clothes to carry furniture?— You never know. It is the most unlikely people that do these things sometimes. Mr. Justice Blair: How arc burglars usually dressed? Mr. Hubble: Genius always moves by sudden impulses. (Laughter.) Summing up, his Honour said the yard in which accused was found was not enclosed, and therefore he would direct the jury to bring in a verdict, of not gyilty on the second count. It was for the Crown to establish the rst charge by finding whether the ccused was the man who attempted •reaking into the furniture store. After 45 minutes’ retirement the jury returned asking permission to visit the scene of the alleged break - (Proceeding.)