SUPREME COURT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 70, 1 July 1910, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.

ALLEGED SHEEP STEALING. (Before His Honor, Mr. Justice Chapman.) The hearing 0 f the charge of sheepstealmg M , as hi uit jesterday morning. • Oscar Bayly's examination bv Mr. T. eston was resumed. He deposed to having asked Wood if he Jwu bought sheep from Jack Lueena at the jast! Douglas sale. Wood said he had, Uuu j he had bought some wethers, 'out he did' not say how many. At the moment .witness had hold of a sueep and he asKed the question because he knew Lucena's earmark was something like theirs I -Bayly s), but he was not sure on which I ear Luceiia put. his mark,. To His Houor: At Wood's pjace ihey picked their sheep by general appearance and verified the selection by :iie earmarks. They made few mistakes. One or two that the)' picked out could not ds» identified owing to mutilation or the ears, and they picked two or three that proved to be not their slieep. To Mr. Spence: The gate "B," leading into the back paddock, had now been replaced by a new one, owing to the old one being heavy and awkward to open. The gate might have been open on April sth. pis father's registered earmark was a nick out of the middle of the ear, but' it was sometimes placed nearer to the tip of the ear. Wood's earmark was the tip of the ear cut off, and it follow-, ed that if Wood was marking s-heep bearing his father's earmark the latter would in such cases be mutilated, owing to its being too close to the tip. It was quite possible that in the cases of six of i the eighteen sheep outside the court this [was what happened. When lie asked Wood if he had bought from Luceia, i Wood did not reply "If Morgan Richards is Lucena's manager, yes, I did." He admitted buying the sheep, but afterwards he told Detective Boddam that he didn't know the vendors. Glasgow sold wethers at Douglas with Bayly's earmark, and without his own mark. He didn't -know about Anderson. He remembered Wood asking Bayly, sex, if he intended going further in the case, and -he heard Detective Boddam say "Now then, young man, I'll step in if there's going to be any funny business." Did not hear Wood say anything about retailing possession of the sheep. He was positive that Wood had made the remark that things looked pretty bad for the boy, "No more I would," added the witness. Mr. Spence: Now was it necessary to make that remark? I asked you what Was said, not for your opinion. •Witness: Yes, and I told you. And no more would I like to be either of i tihem.

Mr. Spence: Aticl yet you say your'e not vindictive. Fred Bayly, sheep farmer at Tututawa, the prosecutor, said that at the supposed gap in the fence the rushes had grown right up to the wires, and though there had been thousands of sheep along it in .the past four or five years, no sheep had ever gone through. When he and, Detective Boddam looked at 'the 'Spot Recently these rushes had been, trampled down, looking almost like if they had been rolled. It was not the work of stock. When be first went to Wood's place and. mentioned the less of his saijLAe, ,had .ni'jfeed upn.CLstrangers, that Re had bought "all the sheep at the last Douglas sale. Witness said "I'd lik'e to have a look through them," and'walked into t»he yard. He recognised his rani, but said nothing. Then he picked out Oodkin's sheep and made a remark about it. Wood said, . "I bought that sheep from McMillan, a neighbour. He hasn't got Godkm's earmark." Witness said ■"I don't know Godkin's earmark, but I'll swear that's the sheep I saw Godkin raddle and put into my paddock on the way to Stratford." Wood then said he had bought it at Douglas. He remembered Godkin putting sheep in his paddock at about six o'clock on the morning of February Ist. Told his son to catch the ram, called Wood, and asked him where he had 'got it from. He replied "I bought it at the last Douglas sale amongst a lot of ewes." Asked whose ewes thev were, and accused replied, "I don't know, but they were amongst on» of t'>e lots." Witness said, "Wood, wlm 1 ''o you mean by cutting off th° ton of the left ear as well as the richt? TtV .">t your mark?" and lie answered. "T. mode a mistake." Witness said "It's funny that you should make a mistake i"i marking, the only ram you say you bought. I mark a good many, but T idon't make those mistakes. Youv'e mutilated my earmark, and that ram beI longs to me." Searched a little further [throush the mob, and,found no more of , his, sheet* on that day. Remarked to [ Wood, "I think you know more about [mv Nsheep than you care to say," to which, (he replied "Do you think I stole yoair kfieep ?" Witness replied "If the can fits, wear it, but those two sheep 1 quite satisfy me." Then witness said to his son Oscar, 'We'll take the ram home." Wood said. "No. I object, the.' ram belongs to me." Witness said, "Wood, I would like to have further muster of your sheepA' and Wood said it could be 'lone in the morning. He returned in the morning with liis two sons and Svdnev Kendall. The three lads, with Wood and onfe. of his men. went musterinsr. Tn the ' meantime witness walked to Wood's whare. where the accused Appleby was cleaning up. After talking a while, witness asked Applebv if he had seen a ram between Don si as saleyards and witness' yards whilst he was driving Wood's sheep, and he replied "No. the first T herd about the ram was last night." Witness replied, "It's a peculiar coincidence that mv sheep were seen in my pa.ddock at halfpast ten o'clock, and a few hours alter you hnd left mv vards there was not one in the paddock." He said. "Yes. it in. T saw vour sheen in vonr paddock ,is T drove Wood's sheen atonsr towards your vnnl. and there 'were fortx of tli'Mi'. Tint when T went back to iv" f, t Wood, T did not see them, and thought •inm-'hodv Ind mustnred theim" Annle|>i' I.lm'h wenl lo h'*ln the othej-i to vai'd tli.i AVilness looked through the f-u'il. lnif. I lien 1 ; were now' of bis sheep il|i"vc• Ik"" wove ewes, Told Wood so, nnd "1 would like to have ;i look Ihfun"' l I we had in vesterdav." 11..,,1,1. ••Ydiiv'e upim tliem. surely von do)i'l wnnt to see them nwin." Wi(:«i*>ss mild, "Yes, 1 do." r Hiev were then n.it in (i t i, ■ nt'd. The sheen that lvnl been I,rm.lil fvoiv ITine wns then caught. Hf\ filled Wood lo him, n,, d where j 1„. Hi:' I "'elltev, TTe tflWI "Tt's onir-j T l.nnMll, ~»(• but h* d"l ii-riw from m'l'omi, Witness d 1 . „ ulieen 'I hnilffht from Hilie." Wnofd . acVed if witness hod sold miv wether? I M.k r nit v. 0«..l hj» iinnHnd. "Vo. "Of one.';' p;(Ved nvt vrpfjiorcs. asV'P^J Wood wli wiierft hj" got. them.,and {•• na (In 5 \

■- - I his answer was that he bought them. He put the eight wethers, the ram, and Codkin;s wether, into a separate pen, saying "Wood, those are my sheep. I'm a lot of sheep short, and I believe some of them are here yet, but youv'e mutilated the ears in such a manner that you don't give a man a chance. I'll leave those ten sheep with you here for a few days, Put them in a secure paddock." Left the sheep in the yard, and went home. Next day he sent Wood written notice by his son Oscar not to remove any sheep from his place, as he (witness) 'required a further search. Came to New Plymouth the samfc day, and informed the police that evening. The next time he saw Wood on his farm was on the morning of the 26th April. His two sons, Kendall, and Detective Boddam went with him. Jold his son ( Howard to ran the ten sheep that he had picked out on the 17th into a small pen where witness was standing. As they were running through the gate he said to Wood, who was standing close by, "There's a sheep there that I did . not pick out." Wood said, "I put him there." Witness said, "But there's one of mine, that I picked out, missing.-' He answered, "He got out with the others." * The ten sheep were then put in' the yard, and shortly afterwards his two l , sons, Kendall, the accused Wood, and a friend of the hitter's who seemed; deeply interested, went out to mustersome more sheep into the yards. When ;these came in, he and his sons picked out; nine more sheep and claimed them as Uis property. Wood again said he had bought them at Douglas. The nine and the ten sheep

were put together. When he iwas aoout to leave for home with the sheep Wood said, "Mr Bayly, if you take those sheep,' will you go any further in the matter? He answered, "I don't know. That's my business." The nineteen sheep were then driven home, put in the woolshed, and tar-branded next moiling ,under the supervision of Detective Boddam. The same sheep were outside the courthouse now. Most of the sheep in Wood's yard on the first day were cull ewes. There

were about fifty wethers, close-woolled, ! "well into the Romneys," His own were, "well into tlie Lincoln," bar one, which 1 showed the Leicester cross. The ram he had intended killing for the dogs. There was very little room left on the ram's : ear. for Wood to "tip" the ear. In the case of an old ram like that he wouldn't have 'bothered to earmark at all. Wood's earmark was a tip off the right ear and a slit in the left for males, and these marks reversed for ewes. For years he had used only portion of his registeied lKi'k, and he considered the Stock Department greatly to blame for not drawing his attention to it., , At this stage the Court inspected the sheep in dispute. Mr. Bayly pointed out the different earmarks, and the two accused and both counsel were present. . To Mr. Spence: There-were about 3500 .sheep on 'the property. He considered that on a few of the sheep in dispute more than'a fourth of the ear had been cut off. On most of the ears his marks , were intact, and on all of them so much of the mark was left that he was satisfied it was his mark. Wood bought some . of his cull lambs last year, and these would now be the same age as most of the sheep outside. He understood that some wethers sold by Glasgow to accused bore witness' mark. He would be surprised to find that sheep had been i sold in Douglas yards bearing witness' earmarks, but not the vendor's mark. In that case he could claim them- Boddam asked Wood to examine the nineteen sheep for vendors' earmarks, 1 copies of which earmarks he showed to Wood at the time. Understood accused had bought five wethers from Anderson without'°the vendor's earmark. Even if Wood bought sheep at Douglas, well up in the Lincoln, he would still claim the sixtooth wethers outside. He was not concerned whether Glasgow earmarked or not the six-tooth sheep he sold, and which he had previously bought from Bayly (witness). He was positive it was his" sheep, because of its appearance and its earmark. , Cross-questioned as to his evidence in the lower court, and its suggested incompatibility with some facts since adduced, the witness directed a few shots at Mr. Spence: "I'm as truthful a man as there is in this court. I don't want any insinuations from you. I expect to be'treated in this court as a gentleman, and (hotly) I hope you're one." Counsel proceeded to a fresh topic, j The Court adjourned for luncheon. ;. j Frederick William Webster, manager and auctioneer for Mr. Newton King at Stratford, deposed that on April 4 last he conducted a stock sale at Douglas. Wood bought 34 w#thers from Mr. Glasgow at 10s 6d, 16 wethers at Us 3d | from Mr. A. F. Anderson, besides ewes and lambs. 'The sheep yarded at that sale were mostly culls. Other wethers sold that dav brought 12s 8d and 12s 6d. There were'only four pens of wethers, for the autumn sheep fairs had been held. • , T ,' Cross-examined by Mr. Spence: would not be impossible, but it was unusual, for ? man buying eyes to find a wether or ram amongst them. I To His Honor: In such small lots such a tiling would be hardly likely. , John Norris, a farmer residing Tututawa, deposed to a conversation with Wood, in which witness remarked that it appeared to him that Wood's aijl Bayly's sheep got mixed. Wood said:. "Yes, Appleby- had to cross a creek to stop those sheep. There is no doubt that the sheep are Bayly's, but I'm going to prove that I bought them at. Douglas." Witness asked, ''What about Godkins' sheep that he claimed V' and Wood replied, "I'm going to get McMil-' lan to prove that I bought that sheep from him." Witness asked, "What about the ram?". Wood answered,..." I must have got that amongst a lot of old ewes that 1 bought at Douglas.") "But," the witness continued, "The lact of your asking Mr. Bayly, when he was leaving your yards, if he was going to wo any further in the matter*-, seems against you." Wood said, lt'3, but I | wasn't on my oath then,'' '* That was about all. I

Cross-examined: He had read the newspaper neport of the proceedings inj the lower Court. or,-at any rate, a por- ( tion of it. He told several, including, Mr. Fred Bayly, of this conversation. He told the detective, but not as much 1 as lie had just Riven in evidence, "be-| cause he wasn't particular." He hadj never lmd a rotf with the accused Wood. But about this time last year, a man limed MoCool put a sheep in witness's paddock, with some lambs.: For some time afterwards witness was "crutchins" on a neighbour's place, and Wood came into witness' paddock with some sheep. Witness' sheep disappeared, and he had not seen them since. As Wood was the last man in the P he went tersoe him it °°A said he had seen the sheep* in the paddock when lie left. He coiteidered the circumstance strange. Woocj said, TU meet you in the loss if theji don t turn mp" The sheep had not 1 turned uft nor had Wood met him in tjie loss, m

and the accused Wood were still on good terms. Re-examined: He inferred, from Wood's conversation, that Bayly's and Wood's sheep got mixed in the paddock whilst Appleby was trying to bring, his ..n back into the' yard, and. the mixing \Vas quite accidental. R. Muiiro, stock Reposed that Mr. Bayly was using only a por tion of his. registered earmark, m that he marked oi\e ear only. He .also gavedetails of.the earmarks of various sheepowners mentioned duving the proceedings. Tlicimas Godwin, sheepfarmer residing at Puniwhakau, deposed that when passing Bayly's with a mob of sheep on February 1 last, one refused to travel. He raddled its .. back from head to tail, and threw it over the fence. His earmark was a tip off the. ear, with a notch out of the cut tip. The next time lie' saw the sheep was at Bayly's, when Detective Boddam was there. The left ear had been slit, and his earmark slightly altered, very recently. He had no difficulty in picking out his sheep. By Mr. Spence: ,The alteration in the earmarks was caused by Wood placing his mark on the ear. Ee-examined: Wood must have cut away witness' earmark to get his own 08.

Edgar Hine, farmer residing at Toko, gave evidence of having sold 380 mixed hoggets to Bayly last September, and none of the same age to anyone else but Borthwick and Sons' freezing works. Amongst the sheep in question, Seen by him at Bayly's, ei'ght were 'of- those he had sold. He sold no ; sheep to the accused Wood.

The witness, having examined some sheep penned near the Court at the in-j stance of accused's counsel, said that one of them bore his earmark and Bayly's. Mr. Spence undertook to prove that this sheep had been bought, by the accused at Douglas. j Charles Wm. Giflord deposed to! the sale of some she#p at Douglas on' the date mentioned. - ; Keill Anderson, farmer, of Stratlixkore, gave evidence that of sixteen wethers sold by him for his brother at Douglas, eleven had his brother's registered (ear- 1 mark. The others had not, for ftiiey 1

had been thrown out of a mob he! had ( juat bought. The sheep he sold were closer in the wool, more in the Ronpey,than those he saw at Bayly's, wiiio&e sheep were longer in the wool, and were , bigger. One of the sheep held by the: defence near the Court was sold-by'jhim to the accused. 1 ' Duncan Stuart Glasgow, of Tolw, de-' posed that he had bought wethers three years ago from Bayly, and sold them at the Douglas yards on April 4. These '.vere now six-tooth sheep, good otes. of the Romney-Lineobi cross. He' had seen the sheep in .dispute, and he did riot, think that any of those he sold (were amongst them. Bayly's sheep Vere machine-shorn. He wouldn't like to.' swear positively concerning the ownership of a certain six-tooth wether. <

To Mr. Spence: It was unlikely that' any of his sheep would be sold without his earmark, but it was not impossible. Bayly's sheep were Leicester-Lincolns, and his (witness's) were Romney-Lin-coln's. Some of his had" the Lincoln characteristics predominant. The ram outside the Court was a Leicester, 1 aaa in the Leicesters the rams Aid not prominently show their masculinity. This one./iowever, was of a fairly strong masculine -type. ' I To His Honor: He'was a bakl-headed old ram, who "looked his part." i , Re-examined None of the sheep uU,tside the Court was sold by him at Douglas. Alter seeing sheep held by the de-. fence, the-*wiffiß'Si said some of them were soldi by him to accused at Douglas, and about nine were good sheep, as well framed as Bayly's, but Komney breed predominating, whilst in Bayly's the Lincoln predominated. Morgan Kiehards, manager for the previous witness, gave corroborative evidence. One of the wethers sold at the Douglas sale that day had Bayly's earmark only. They were an uneven, lot, mostly culls. They were not "bonny", wethers. None of the' nineteen sheep bore Mr. Glasgow's earmark. The three ram-stags only had a tip out of the ear. He was positive that the six-toovh wether outside was not one of those sold by Mr. Glasgow at Douglas. _ Cross-examined: The big sheep in the lot held by the defence was not the six-tooth wether mentioned in his evidence. Sheep often grew to the' same size. Edward G. Barlevman, a Tututawa slieep farmer, stated that on the morning of April 5 last he was passing Bayly's homestead, and saw some sheep in the home paddock. He knew the class of sheep, for he had just put some of them in himself. He would be able to pick them out of the sheep, such "as Wood bought at Douglas. They were ■fit for killing. He knew .Daly's property well, and had never know'n sheep, even lambs, which were fattening there on rape and turnips, to cross the gwampin« ground under the "raised feitee'." Off April 7 he examined the 1 grount.there, I and the vegetation was in itijr natural state. He examined it subsequently, | and then the vegetation had/been trodden down, but there wei^no signs of stock having done Cross-examined; Appleby lost somewhere about forty of Wood's sheep, and ! witness saw them on the road. (Mr. Spence said that thirty-four of these had been, recovered from Whangamo-

)1~-01ia/) . . j.- 1 „4. Tudor Boddam, detective stationed at New Plvmouth, deposed on April 2SB last he went with Ms. Bayly to ; i' the accused Wood's farm, and *aw Wood in a small paddock near his house, s alone. Told Wood he was a detective,, I and that lie had been informed by Mr.l I F. Bayly, who was standing close by, that on April 5 last between thirty and ' forty sheep were missed from a pad- ' dock at the back of his residence. Bayly then called witness's attention to ten sheep in the paddock 111 which they were standing. Bayly remarked: ' "These are the sheep that I recovered

from Wood- on April 17 last. The ram and Godkin's sheep are among them," Said to Wood, "Where did you purchase these sheep?" and he replied, "At the last Douglas sale on the 4th of April." Asked who the vendors were, and he said he did not know for certain, but he could ascertain that from Newton King's office at Stratford. Told 'Wood he had made enquiries there, and read out to him a sale note received from Mr. Webster, and which gave particulars of the sheep purchased by Wood on that particular day. Wood replied "Yes, I think that is correct." Asked if he had purchased any sheep at that sale from any person other than those mentioned in the sale-note, and he replied that he had not. The ram, to. added, was among otv of the lots (£1 i ewes. Then showed Wood thrown, paper folio (produced) on which tnej vendors' registered earmarks were meted. Told acc*sed to see if anyjrf the ten sheep had the vendors' on Wood appeared to be somewhat agitated He had neve* seen the accused ■ iv \

before. Told him to take his time, that there was no hurry, ami i.uit tie (witness) had not come there to trap ami or take luiu by surprise. \\ oud replied, ■j.Vo, there are nolle oi those earmarks on these sheep." iiajly men requested W Mod to make a further muster. This was done, and took from three to four hoiurs. The sheep, wlieu mustered, were examined by Mr. Bayly and Jus O on 0: far, and nine other wethers , were . id.-ntitied as Bayly's property and placed auart. Wood, who was standing a short d|»tan«e awaj>, called witness over audi stfid, "If Mr. Bayly takes these sheep away, will you go further in the matter I" Told Wood, "I am not going to answer such a question as that. A'one of the sheep claimed b'y Mr. Bayly Jutve the vendors' earmarks. You say you purchased the first ten sheep at the Douglas sale. Where did you purchase ' these nine from?" and he replied, "At the last Douglas sale, at the same time as the others.'. He said to Wood, "Well, if the sale note is correct—and I have every reason to believe it is so, for Mr. Webster gave it to me himself, —it is in his own handwriting, ana he took it from a record-book in his office —the .sheep in question must have been purchased from either Messrs. v Gifl'ord, Anderson^Glasgow or Bowater." Wood

replied, "Yes, that is so." The nineteen sheep were vlien yarded together, sand while.this was. being done he said to Wood, "As I told you before, I tell you again now " and handed him the brown paper folio again and told him to have another look for the vendors' earmarks. TolcJ him again he didn't want to take him/by surprise, but that the accused's version of where he bought these sheep jiemaiided further enquiry. Wood said /he could find none of those vendors' ear-

marks on them. The nineteen sheep were being taken away towards the gate, when Wood called out to Bayly, who was standing a short distance from him, "If you take these sheep away, Mr. Bayly, will you go any mrtiier with the matter." Bayly replied that he didn't know, and that it was his business. The nineteen sheep were then driven off to Bayly's, placed in the woolshed for the night, and tar-branded next day. They were subsequently seen at the homestead by Messrs. Gilford, Anderson, Glasgow and Sine, who dis-

claimed ownership. The same nineteen slieep were now outside the Courthouse. Before leaving Wood's place, witness told him that on April.s. last Ji? had been seen in Mr. Bayly's sheepyards. Wood replied, "Yes," and that he had put his sheep into Bayly's yards to allow another man to pass, and that although lie had obtained no permission, he had power under the Stock Act. On May 0 last (in company with Mr. F. Bayly) saw the accused, Stanley Appleby, at Puniwliakau, and ascertained that he had driven. a mob of Wood's sheep from Douglas to Wood's on April j

5. Appleby admitted that he had been ;in Bayly's* paddock that, day, driving' some slieep to.viirds the yards. Some of : h's a.ietp, he -.aid, had of the 1 yards into the paddock. Asked now ohey got out, Appleby replied, "They ' pushed the gates open." Asked, "Do you rear! th» gate leading'from the holdirg ycii'u ... wigside the woolshed, and the gate into the paddock?" and he said "Yes." Bayly remarked tnen, '"l'llat is impossible, Appleby," and Appleby replied, "Well, that's how they, got out." He- made his notes immediately after the conversation. Told Appleby he had , seen him at Wood's place on April 26, and remarked that he had not said then that lie had been in Bayly's padr/ick that dnv, to which he replied, "I was never asked." Witness , had not known then that Appleby was concerned, and he was not present when witness spoke t<? Wood. . The detective gave evidence, previously adduced, in i reference to the earmarks on the sheep taken by Bayly from Wood's place. At the "raised fence" there was a maximum space of eighteen 1 and a half inches from the bottom wire "to the log, on April 27. The space was much greater now. The 4e<jetation was virgin uii'lonrowth and rushes in swampy groun ', ' ~*:h, on the roadside and the paddock ' the •f,fence. There were no apparent no tracks, no woo! on the wires—of sheep having recently passed through there. The surface, of the jogs had not been grazed. Examined the spot again on' June -23 last, when he saw that the rushes and grass iix the immediate vicinity had been trampled down, and the space between the bottom wire and the log was two feet. The logs had been shifted, and. the undergrowth trodden; down, by whom he did not know. He woujd not like to say " whether the treading down was the work of man or of stock, but there were no traces' «f stock. He produced a sample,of the rashes from the opening, and they were over four feet in length. When he cut . them these were lying on the ground. Gate "A" could not be shoved open by the sheep, and probably not by cattle, ' unless theV were wild and jambed. I Detective Boddam's examination m I chief was just concluded when the Court i adjourned till this morning. •« . - "