SUPREME COURT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8065, 22 March 1906, Page 3

SUPREME COURT.

NIW plymc'TH, , MUCK 21st. [Before His Honor j Justice Edward THE MAT/u c.Voli. v*cr: was continued. i?» -liued that lie left JUuncau Poole auu Jteu McL'Dowie sitting on the Voadside when lie went towards the burniug stack after finding accused was not at home. Detective Siddclls, of Wanganui. stated ho had seeu accused on bis farm ou 11th December, and spoke to him about the (ires. Accused was wcariug light leather slippers. Asked accused if he had any idea that anyone in the locality had caused the tires, mentioning that it seemed strange that only Poole's stacks had been fired. There was no direct reply to this, but accused expressed the hope that witness would catch the offender, and said he was very sorry for Mr Poole. Accused said he had not seen people about the premises late at night, quickly adding, " A few nights ago I heard my dogs barking, got up, and saw a man going down the road. I followed him down the road, bat lest sight of him either in Mr Poole's cow-paddock or in my haypaddock." Witness Jeft hiin there, and went towards accused's house. Passing an outhouse about a chain from the dwelling-house, witness saw a tin of kerosene and bottles over it. There was an ordinary kerosene pump. Then examined the pony, which he had seen accused riding about the roads. It was grazing'close to the house and was very quiet, witness walking right up to it. Examined its feet and found it unshod on the hind feet, and without any indication of having been shod 011 those feet. Had been accustomed to horses all his life. On the 25th and 36th January visited the farm again. On the 2(Jtli went to the house, and met accused's wife and two daughters, and held a conversation with them 111 (,hc parlor. Accused came into tbc foein, and witness explained what lie »-a* doing- Accused at once volunteered to aiwouut for his actions 011 the night of the 22ud. He said: " I was sleeping in a pooi» off the parlor by jaysclf,' and was awaker,od by hearing n (jousidprable noise during the night. J gat.upand fame out into the parlor. There I saw my (laughter, Ida, and my jrife. Asked thaw K'Jiyt the commotion "was aIL My »ifji told me Poole's hnyTtack was afire. ] wenl ' t}*ck {0 my loam and dressed. I went OBt of the front door and through the front gate, down the r.oad toward the fire, got ow the barbed wire, and tore w y trousers," knowing the gates in qaeotion, witness «w], "Oh, it's impossible f - you to get ovpt Ujit gate, an o(5 m ... like you." He replied. "Well, i'm-it have got round it." Ac ensed's vjffc staled that the story of Jier husband getting! out of bed was eorrcet, and also that she had lieard n noise,,had got up and gone on to the •Scrandah. As she was going back to .. her bedroom she looked into the parlor aud saw her husband. She did not hea him go out of? the room, but in about ten minutes' time she heard him came back again, and " as Jic was passing by My rooffl he - said,' Thete s 110 one at the fire. "Where have they all "fSSWfc) ?' " Aecu»e<|.liecame somewhat evciteii and eielaimed, '' Fires arc ad-#»g— nuisance," and walked out of Ae r§&*U. Vmsmr'* wife said the hoys had not tonic back at that time. he .had finished with the lady the family, witness again gccused, and walked with him ioWfc front gate, where the pony was gminfl. Witness pjainiucd the pony, and found him shod on one front fool, eigns that tbc shoe 011 the other foot had beenVeecatly cast, aud no shoes ou tkc hind feet. Kuowing that there . was-a side gate by which accused eould have gone to the fire, asked accused if he had not made a mistake,

and suggested that ho might have used the side gkte. He replied, ''No; I " Trent out ofiWs gate," poiuting-to the front.gate,'di'l not "Ot sec or '" r liear anybody about. Witness arrested nccused Ott l»th February on tlio charge of laving (ifiid (.he haystack. To Mr Welsh; There was nothing peculiar iu lindiug kerosene the farm. He was sure of Mrs McL'Dowie's words. To Mr Kerr: Made his notes immediately after the conversation, and tlicy were read over and signed by accused's wife. • This closed the case for the prosecution. Mr Welsh opened the defence by William McL'Dowie, son of the ac- " cused, and a farmer at Matapu, resid- -■ ing with his father; who staifcd that on December Ist, the date of the second lire at Poclc's milking-shed, he was awakened by Mostyu I'oole at about 430 a.m. The latter told him the cowshed had been ignited, and invited liim to come and examine some tracks they had found. .Witness found tracks of two different horses on the' drive between the rodd gate and the-

' . eOwsied.gato.' One was the-traek of a •. - luiivry horse<and; the other a lighter' - S track of a ' Boot with heel and* toe plate. Hjs * Was Hot diiected to any oljier • T track. 'TheyL-followed the marks to ' " the roiftTani'tOwiJls in the opposite direction from witness' house for about four or five chains. Witness went to Normanby and informed the police of the fire, leaving Mostyn following' the tracks. Saw no other .tracks. First knew of the house fire when Duncan Poole told him on the morning afterwards. Poole said he had found tracks at the 'house. Witness had met a man riding on the r jad about one o'clock that mornin ;, and in passing the man went 011 to tlic soft part of the road. Suggested to the constable and to Duncan Poole that he (witness) should compare the tracks in the drire with those made on the road by this late Found* that the horse hud had tires shoes and a half sho. 1 . His Honor said this story had not even been suggested to tbe witnesses for the prosecution. Counsel was bound to do this. Witness continued that the two young Pooles, Constable Davcy. and himself then went down the road towards Matapu, and found tracks identical with the hoof-marks shown liii» m Poole's drive, which were traced right • up to the stable, turning there, and coming out of the gate again. On returning to Poole's from the road, several of them were talking at the front gate, when they espied a bottle lying in the ditch. They picked if up. anil found it smelt strongly of kerosene. • Hi- Wits shown no kcroseue uiatks elsewhere. Dealing with the lust lire, on •lunitary '22 ml, witness -ahl that mi that night he returned home at ll.:)o. His mother was in the d'liingrooni. mending. They spoke together, and lie went to bed, leaving her there. They had visitors that night, and the house tras full. His brother Ken and Mr Alford slept in his room. Witness was reading for some time. Heard a trap piss, presumably towards Matapu. , Was just going off to sleep when Duucan Poole aroused him, calling out. " Come on, for all you're worth ; the h&ystaak's 011 lire, and we vc seen the niau." Got up, and met Poole in the front of the house. He went ouf of the front gale with Puucau Ponle, aud ran towards the lire. Tliey had got about halfway when they nearly ran into Constable I>avey and his sou. They lold witness, " The man's gone towards the shed; run dow 11 there as quick as you can." All ran. meeting Mr Poole at his own front gate. The '.latter asked what they were running ! for. Duncan told him the constable . , had seen the man going towards the abed, and Poole, sen., said, "There's ■. '• BO man gone towards the slied. tonstable Davcy then came up, and Poole asked him how long it nas since lie had seen the lire. The answer was, '••About ten minutes," and Poole s lid the lire bad been burning for 2U or :S > minutes. The latter, app irentlv disgusted, walked oil luw;irdr- hiIvjusc, tbe others remaining, hil'iiui;, ' Witness eoulinucd : " Constable D<iey aiked where father was, and Keu re|He4 that lis w#= at koine in bed, Con-

stable Davey said he would like to see- 1 liim. and Constable Davev anil ken went away towards our house, and iu at the gate. I think Mostyn Poole and young Davey walked away behind them, and Duncan and I remained between Poole's and our gate. Constable Davey returned with Ken in a couple of minutes, and said, ' Your lather is not iu bed.' I remarked,' I'm not surprised at that. He'll most likely be at the fire by this, as we roused the house when we got up.' Duncan and I remained where we were, and the rest 1 went away Inwards the lire. Tliey returned a few minutes later, and father ' was with them. 1 heard Constable .Davey say to father, ■ It's a funny tiling 1 your stacks don't get burned.' I didn't ' |hear what reply «.is made. All of us 1 stayed talking fur some time, and then nent home. Ken, father and I all ' went home together, ft was a dull, cloudy night, but the road was bright near the lire, though it cast no gjjire or reflection where we were standing, the 1 boxlhorn fence preventing that." lieferring to the barbed wire gate, witness said that this was no obstruction to ' getting into the' paddock. It was not 1 difficult to climb, and the fence on either side was not difficult to negotiate. His father's pony was quiet when onqe caught, but was hard to catch. The pony would not stand if left wilh ! the bridle hanging, except, of course, in the small enclosure at the house. It was usual to carry a rope to tie the ] pony up. Remembered his father ■ having a bad foot for a few days in September last, but not in December, 1 Cross-examined: Never refused to. ' examine any marks on the ground, and \ never said they were eow-marks. Never saw any marks on Poole's place of a pony shod on the front feet only. To His Honor: Had not seen the marks there of any hoofs unshod. [ To Mr Kerr: Had no idea then of j how his father's horse was shod. To His Honor: Would not deny , that the marks of unshod hoofs were \ there, but vyas sure that none such j were pointed out to him, sjnd that he saw none. j To Mr Kerr - The pony was easily j caught when saddled and bridled, or when in the small enclosure, | The Court adjourned till 2 p.m. Kenneth McL'Dowie, in the course ' of Jjis evidence, stated that on the occasion of the burning of the haystack ] be was awakened by one of the Poole boys, who told him that the haystack j was afire and that a man Jiad been soenin the vicinity. Went straight from the house, where they awoke everyone b'y ilii! noise, to Toole's front gate. Met Constable Davey anil the Poole's there. He-was asked by Constable Davey, " Where is ybur father." Witlies* replied "In the house most likely." He thi>n returned with the Constable to the house. Went iijsidc j and siw his sister, who told him that his father had just come out. His | sister was sjoepiyg in the parlour. | Witness that ai)y cj}ild, or a man of 70 years, could get over the fentu on either side of the barbed wire gate. His tallies hsd a bad foot in September last. To His Honor : Knew the date because it h'ij.s i|) his mother's diary. His Honor: Of coiji'so, that's not admissible. Witness and .his brother and father returned to their house together. To Mr Kerr: Had never climbed the wire gate himself. The gale was lift, (iin high. It would not be an easy matter for an old man to get over the gate itself. When he got home ' from the store with Mjojtyif Pqolo, 1(0 found the family aiul visitors pjaying card»J fl.e il '*° played for about an hour beforp tetjriftg, His statement to the detective jiiift I}« 4 £ 01 !P straight to bed coujd ljqt be truj!. . William (jhrisfiaiispi), farmer, of Okaiawa, remembered along the Hastings road about midnight oi) the dale of the haystack li"e, ami noticed the haystack on lire. Saw the lire from the lop of the hill. There was uo one about. The centre of the road was well liglilptJi the right side also; the left side was in the »l>t|cjc, L, G. fc hidden, licensed surveyor, practising at Nt'iy Plymouth, gave evidence that ho vj(JfO two farms. Poole shpwcd him the spot oif which he said ho was standing when he" saw a nm At : that time tlierc was a mfllt 'stapdiijg °!t ! the site of the haystack, and wilness recognised this luai) oply because lie wore knickerbockers, lie hud spell this man only a few minutes before, He (lid not think he could recognise a nian as Mp pfjblf said he had done. The roadside fence oj Pooje's haypaddock was of wire ami with almost as njgny S»ps us plants. Towards McL'J)offip'» there was a thick high hedgo—a very good one. McL'Dowie's fence was a mixture of pinus insignis, barbed wire, boxthorn and pickets or palings. From a point of the haystack paddock, about :10 or 10 yards from tl,e stitck. lie had seen part of McL'Dowie's house, a;|cj a portion of a window on the north side of it. Witness considered there would be some difficulty lr t gotlijlg over the barbed gale, bi|t to jjpj orpp the post on- the southern side of it . would be a fairly easy niiitler, To Mr KSrr: On the eastern side of ' Jktcli'Powie's house,: and between it ; and tie-road, was a.fairly thick plan- - tatftra and a He thought it would be possible, for rays from Ibc tarn hi j stack to •. have reached ' prisoner's room. Re-examined by Mr Welsh! It was quite impossible to see north windows of prisoner's house from his front gate. D, C. (.'. Gebbie, ii farmer, ol le ltoti, who had been ensilage making op Poole's farm in the early part of December, stated that he was going to ' put his harness away in the milking 1 shed at night when he found a gun set ' there. He told bin men—about six or seven of them—not lo go neat l the shed, and told thyn of the gun. | Jane McL'Dowie, wife of the accused, was examined by Mr Welsh, iin.l j «tatcJ that on the 14-tli July, date of a . tire on Poole's place, she was in the ( house with the prisoner. The other 1 members of the family came home from -Matapu about 11 p.m. tier t daughter went outside a few minutes s after, and reported ti.': lire over at s Poole's. Prisoner did not go out. On the night of the last lire, cards were } played all the evening, her husband 1 staying iu. After the family retired, she" stayed up, mending iu the diuing- . room. Heard her husband snoring in his l'uom. Willie, her sou, came home

at 11,30, and went to bed. Witness retired at 10 piinules to twelve, her 1 room adjoining the diuing-rooin. and her husbaud's room, to which access was obtained from tin- parlour only. Heard her hu-baiid in his mom. then. Just after retiring heard a trap pass, j Witness was po>itiU' her husband wa* in bed when the trap passed. Whilst dozing off, heard the culling her hov>. Wi'iies- got up, went lo her sons' bedroum door, and met them coming out. Then went to the front door, and saw Mostyn Poole and someone else at the front of the house. Went to awaken Iter husband, and met liiin at his bedroom door in his nightcbthes. lie asked what the commotion was about, lie had his trousers in his hand. Witness tokl him of the haystack lire, and she, with her husband and her daughter, looked out through the window and saw the lire. Witness returned to her room. Did not see her husband again, but heard him come in and ask where the boys were. Was positive her husband had uot left hi-room except on that occasion jicuiciubered her kilobaud wearing a slipper from the I'.'lh to the 2ord oi September last year on account »d having a bad fool. To Mr Kerr: She had kept a diary of die events (produced). Mm had not read over the statement t-tken by Detective Siddelis and signed by her. If it did not agree with her pt>c>eiu evidence the detective's statement wa» not correct. \Vitne»s hesitated. His Honor: And do you mean to a*k the jury to believe thai the detective wrote down something 3*ou didit t , say? and didn't read it over to you before you signed il!" Wilne-s: Jle rea I il over before I

f li \\e no recoiledion ol 11>111iiIK iccl'\<* siddelis mil my husband - lid " There is no one aijbr "fire i twkert hd\c Uiey all »ot t». J " I

Jwrear 1 did not tell Detective Siddolls that. Questioned by His Honor, witness repeated that she could swear she did not use these words to the detective. That when her husband came in he asked '■ here are the, boys ! J I don't see them." Witness said: I admit thai the detective read over that statement to me, but 1 cannot remember him reading those words. I don't lb ink the detective renl those words to me. 1 have no recollection of him doing it. I 'lo .Mr Kerr : 1. remember Detective iSi'ldells reading over my statement lo my two daughters, Ida and Grace, and myself, and my signing them. Her husband's pony was usually shod on two feci. only. Her husband's foot was bad, with a gathered corn, for only a lew day;. To His HoU'jj'; After adiing for the boys, my husband went out again. I think 1 told the detective this, but cannot swear I did. Had he asked me 1 should have lold him. J never thought of it. I had never been questioned before, and have never been in a Court of Justice in my life before. I did not know what was necessary. He did not ask me if my husband had been out a second time. His Honor : Well, he was a very easily satisfied detective, that's all. Mrs Florence A.lford, who was a visitor at McL'Dowie's house on the night of the lire, said she remembered seeing Mostyn Poole in front of the house, and heard him say. "It's a lot of tommy-rot; they running up anil down the road, firing oIV guns." Haw accused in the dining-room, buttoning his clothes. Witness went lo bed and heard no more of it. To His Honor: Saw the accused in the dining-room within a minute or two of seeing Mostyn Poole standing outside. Accused was going towards the kitchen door. Grace Mel/Dowic. daughter of Ibc accused, gave evidence that her lather and the rest of the family played cards on the night of the -lanuaiy up to about 11. o'clock, after which she re tired. Heard someone run lo her brother's window. Woi|l to the front door, and saw Mostyn l'oole. Asked him what was wrong, receiving the, reply that Poole's haystack was on lire, Her mother came lo the dour also, Did not see her father, but after she had returned to bed she heard him come back and say. " Where are the boys?" He seemed lo lie the diningroom. Did not see her sister Ida. To Mr Kerr: Told the events of the night to Detective. fcidiU lls. He wrote as I told him. lie read the statement oyer and I signed it (statement produced). Tljat is my signature. (Witness road the statemeijl). Tljat is what I told him. I heard several people return, but didn't inquire who they \yere. To Ifis Hquqi': Ifcard her mother telling the detective what l|cr father had said. These were not l)is wqrcls. Djtl not think her mother used the words. His Honor : Yoi| may rtai|ij down. It's quite hopeless. The evidence is inponnislent,

Ida McL'Howie, sister of tl|e previous witness, who slept in Ll|c sitting-room opening out of l)oi* father's bed-room that ijigUl, riiiid she runiembered her uiotlior coining into hop room and saying Poole's hayslack wits on lice. Her father came out of his room, and, with witness, looked out of the window in the direction o£ the lire. Her father returned to his room, re-apj)eariiig n few minutes later, dressed. He then went out. AVijijPs.s heard htm come hack and ask, Where are the boys 8 I cannot see them. ' I ler mother replied, " I suppose they've gone t»> the IjM." v in:ds Ken and young Davy eijiuu ii> ai,d asl;c<|, M'hero's father ?" Witness said he had gone oijl |o |lie fife about |ey minutes before. To Mr Kerr i AVas sure lier father went put Ihroiigh the front door. i [<■ was.only in the room on two occasions. Diuiel .Mcl/Dowie, the ai'ru-r.l, was placed in the box. In answer to liis counsel, he said lie related Hi; li.i'j broil at home all I tho evemijg of 22ml Jani|ii'y, relired to,))ed, Jjiiler he beard tins' Poole's stacjf was afire. Went onj, to the sitting room, afterwards returi|ing to his room to complete dressing Wei|t to 1110 boys' roqi'n, ai(d fouipl no one there. Came in again, and asked iiis Wile where the boys were, lie was told l)|cy Iput goipi lo the lire. lie then went straight out of l|ii i)Wi| front gate up the road, got over the right hand siic of Poole's barbed wire gate, il'id went lo the lire. The stuck was ■il! .'ibluao, i|r|d no i|iie was (here. As he c uild do no good, lie ei)ni|; i|wi)v. moving the constable, two J'oole boys, uijd l|U own b(,y<. The constable asked what he was doing there iiud he replied he hnd come to assist, us the Pook' boys had come for bun. All went towards his home, talking as they went along. "Constable Daveyaccused me of setting lire to I he stack, T deiticd it. That is nil I knoiy about it."' Went home then, with his two soiis. " J had no part in selling lire to I hat sliU'k—rfoijo whatever. I have never lircd any of Mr Paolo's properly, or anybody else's, I have 'bjjcii awnie that s iineouci was setting lire to Mr I'oole's property, ) l;a\c been mil ill night searching for him- ni mj wii stacks Mv stacks are opposite Mr Poole's ensilage slack. 1 went down the road, f walked,'' This closed the evidence fur the defence. At 5. lo p.m. the t'ouri adjourned tiil 1(1.311 a.m. 1 lii> mu l 'ning, bail being fixed, accused in £2OO, and two sureties of. t't(li).