THE WHARF THEFTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 63, 5 September 1911, Page 8

THE WHARF THEFTS.

LAST STAGE. ILVDDEN, EHRMAN AND GLOVER SENTENCED. WHO WAS THE LEADER? BIMMAN PUTS IN A WRITTEN STATEMENT. Auckland, September 3. Joseph Elirman, Arthur Glover and Alfred Ernest Hadden—the three persons so far found guilty of offences in eon ncotion with the perpetration of extcn sive wharf pillaging at Auckland—wen brought before Mr. Justice Chapman -fw sentence at the Auckland Supreme Courl ■this morning, ARTHUR GLOVER—NINE MONTHS. Artliur Glover, who had been foun< guilty of forging a false telegram, an< of being an accessory after the fact o theft, with a recommendation to leni ency, was first called on. Mr. .Lundon, who appeared or him pointed out that 'this was the first w easion upon which Glover had beei charged with any offence. Apparentl; lie had not -been the originator o thinker in .respect to the thefts. W was married, and had been trying t live on small wages until he had the op portunity of entering into a species o business partnership with Ehrman. I partnership had been effected under ai agreement signed in February, 1910. TV this he was to receive £2 a week. H proceeded to point out that Glover wa merely a tool in the bands of other? and that he had no control over th< business of which lie was a partner. His -Honor (sharply): I know nothinj of that, and it is apart from what I mus consider of the scheming and carrvim out of the thefts, and of Glover in forg-, ing a telegram to aid Ehrman, and gettin? away with the goods. | Mr. Lundnn: I will ask your Honor to believe that, in forging -the telegram. Glover was not acting on his own volition. His Honor: He was acting on his own volition in that Ehrman was 400 miles away. Addressing the prisoner TTis Honor remarked that he was sorry to see him ia the position in which he was placed, livery consideration would be given to the recommendation of the jury, but the only effect would be to lessen the imprisonment to be imposed. A telegram had been deliberately forced, and the inry had found prisoner guilty of becoming an aceessorv to the theft committed bv Ehmi.m The telegram meant that and nothing else. Having acquired knowledge thai the goods h,vl been stolen prisoner proceeded to aid Ehrman in <rntting them away, and the goods "■oiild ne-vw have been finally and effectively stolen had not the . telegram *>» en foried, or had not Glover discussed the matter with the Union Company, and persuaded them to part with certain cases on indemnity. For that prisoner could not be exonerated, and Hisi Honor regarded it as a very serious offence for a. man to knowingly take a hand in very extensive thefts, even though he was innocent of the theft when it wa3 perpetrated. A sentence of nine months' imprisonment was imposed. A. E. ILADDEN-TWO YEARS. Hadden was the. second of the accused to be sentenced. He was represented by Mr. Reed, who pointed out that prior to the theft of which prisoner had Wen found guilty, nothing had been charged against him. Standing out prominently in the whole series of thefts was the perfectly clear indication that there had , been a master mind—someone who had organised the extensive stealing that , had come to light. From the evidence ' presented it was clear, too, that Hadden had been drinking heavily, and. while . that was no excuse, the possibility was 1 suggested that a man who was addicted to the weakness was more pliable in the hands of a master hand than the person who resisted drink and was absolutely sober. Counsel suggested that Hadden was kept in a state of drunkenness, and was.supplied with drink from time to time, and while in that state (with his moral force lowered) he could fall into the. temptation to assist in the crime of theft more readily than the man with his moral faculties at their best. ' s His .Honor remarked that it would be idle to suggest that prisoner was unaware of the wharf thieving that was going on, and that suspicion was falling unjustly on innocent people. With the knowledge in his mind that pilfering was going on—because no one could help hearing about it, not only in Auckland; but hundreds of miles away—he ran the risk of taking a hand in stealing the case of goods on which he had been found guilty. Not'only that,,but be had showed himself an active partlcioant in the matter, and had tempted at least one other man to take a hand in a theft. A term of two years' imprisonment was inflicted.. > WURMAN'S WRITTEN CONFESSION. > Ehrman was the last to be dealt with, \ and he was represented by Mr. Singer. I At the outset counsel intimated that, ' in accordance with the undertaking given a. few days since, a statement had been ■ prepared by the prisoner, disclosing all 1 that ho knew concerning, the thefts. ■ With the permission of His Honor, Mr. - Singer read the statement, which is- as ' follows:

''l am i)li years of ago, and have resided in Auckland for 30 years. For many years I was a clothing manufacturer and warehouseman, employing over 200 people. Of late years I have licen acting casually as a commercial traveller, until, in the month of February, 1010, I purchased the business* of A. E. Glover, Island fruit merchant, curried on by him in»Fort strent, Auckland, taking his son Arthur Glover as a partner. T paid £2OO as the purchase price. This business was carried on by me with Arthur Glover, under the name! of Glover and Co. In the month of l July. 1010, Arthur Glover asked inn to come with him to be introduced to a I man whom he knew, and wanted me to, meet. Tie did not then tell me his name, or what lie was. We went down together to Partridge's corner in Queen street, and there Glover introduced me to Hadden. A ease of drapery goods, had already arrived at the. store, and had been received by Arthur Glover, who had told me that he had to give a certain man some £fi for the case. Arthur (Hover got 'the £0 from me before we went out. We met Hadden at Partridge's corner, and Glover then gave the £C> or so to Hn'dden. I was not told anything tba,t day as to what ITadden was, or who the goods had been procured from. Arthur Glover suggested that T should travel with the goods, and, at the same time, get customers for fruit. 1 went to the Wands shortly after tluj-t, and returned at the end of August or thereabouts. I only saw Hadden the once before I returned f.rom the Islands.l On my return Hadden <came to the store I frequently when not tallying. I now knew what Hadden was. The taking of the cases now beeaime fairly systematic, cases arriving at the store about onee a month. Tladden used to telephone to the store Viving information that the cases would arrive. As far :•« T am aware Hadden i- the only tally ele'-k who is concerned in these matters. Tt "■as jo ir.'iihlen that we looked lo »et the cases out of the sheds. Arthur Glover as a rule received the cases at : . the store. Hadden constantly received,

money from me, and I regularly divided the proceeds of my sales with Arlliur .Hover euuaMy, after providing for payments to lladden. To show me how safe it would he to carry out the system, Arthur Glover explained to me how, befare I came into the business, and while rlrthur Glover iwas working for his : ather, and, indeed, before ever I be•amo acquainted, with Arthur Glover at ill, Madden had sent hundreds and lumtretls of cafes of fruit to Arthur Glover a the same way. The proceeds of the ale of these were divided between TTa.dlen and Arthur Glover. In the month if July, 1911. I determined to give up .ny connection with this system, and old the whole business, with some 000 vorth of assets, to Arthur Glover for £SO, this sum being sufficient to cover ay personal expenses and a few bnsiicss liabilities. I myself have made pracically nothing out of these proceedings, never even paid any monies to my vife and family for maintenance. I am . persistent sufferer from sciatic neualgia, and my general health is now eriously impaired. The above statenent is inie. and correct in every paricular, and I mate the same voluntarly. being desirous of laying bare the vhole facts, and exposing my connection herewith.—(.Signed) J. EITRMAN. "I may add! that Hadden's demands or money became so persistent thai I iad the greatest difficulty in complying vith them. On one occasion lladden demanded the sum of £o from me, and hreatened me that if I did not give him his sum he would <ro to my son and ell my son about the business, and, n consequence of this threat, and of my .nxiety thai my son should not know nything. I was compelled to given TJadlen the £,■>. When Tladden came to see ne at Stratford he demanded money rom me He wanted £4. T>oivlv had C.I, and T had to borrow £T from Mr. iodfrev Phillips, to satisfy Had'den. Signed) J. ETTRMAN." ' _ _

WAS EHRMAX THE "MASTER MIND " Mr. Singer remarked that, so far as he could understand, the statement revealed the true position with regard to the system under which the extensive thefts had been carried on for the last twe|ve months. As far as the conception of the scheme was concerned. Ehrman was not what had been called the 'Tnaster mind." His Howor: How am T to know that? Mr. Singer: I ask you to Believe that from his statement. His Honor: Why should I believe a wwd of it?

.Mr. {Singer: If you know Eh man quite apart from his previous conviction (which T will deal with in a moment) you will find that he is not a man of brains or of ability. His whole life has been a business and' mental failure.

Counsel suggested that the only cause for pointing to Ehrman as being the ''master mind l ," was the fact that the cases-; against him personally were so numerous, but that circumstance was explained when it was considered that he was the person into whose possession the goods went. The. fact that he was the party receiving the goods did not necessarily mean that he was the "master mind." Hi.s Honor: The "master mind" may come in at any time, but Ehrman was the man who disposed of the goods. If it had not been for the disposal, the schema could not have been carried on. 'Mr. Singer: The original suggestion that the scheme should be started did not come from Ehrman. His l Honor remarked that the actual facts were patent, and tho patent fact was that the system could not go on without the man acting as a commercial traveller, and disposing of the stolen property. 1 Mr. Singer declared that a document was in existence showing that Ehrman. in tho month of July of this yew, and just prior to his Inst visit to Stratford and Wellington, intended to break himself clear of his then surroundings. He disposed of his share in the business to Arthur Glover, and the trip was intended by 'him to be tiro last. Counsel admitted that the scheme had reached to large dimensions, but it had not been a financial success. Tho expenses of travelling and freight, and the persistent demands—almost blackmailing: demands -Hnatle upon him by others, and the division of the proceeds amongst all sorts of persons, naturally reduced the amount of the illicit profits. In fact, Ehrnmn had made practically nothing out of the stealing and fraud. Mr. Singer mentioned that prisoner had previously been convicted of receiving the proceeds of stolen property. • Mr. Tole: Yes, £soo—a number of £SO notes.

Mr. Singer went on to point out that there was only the one record against prisoner, and explained the circumstances to show that tlielerime was not

as heinous as it would appear by the sentence of two years' imprisonment. He stated that Ehrman was well up in years, that he was in frail health, and was not likely to survive anything in the nature of an extended term of imprisonment, finally contending that he was used as a tool in the disposal of the goods, and his services were eagerly seized upon by those who originated the scheme. F.IIRMAN'S SENTENCE-EIGHT YEARS. "1 was careful to sentence the other men first before reading your statement, because [ thought it was not improbable that you would say something to their prejudice." remarked his Honor, in addressing the prisoner. "I did not want to be iulluenced in my determination of that imprisonment by a fellow conspirator. lam sure I was right in taking that course, because your statement does incriminate those men in numerous crimes, and it would have been wrong to have added to the punishment by being iulluenced in my mind, unconsciously, perhaps, by your statement. Ido not know how true your statement is. I have no means whatever of investigating its truth, and it is not my duty to do so."

I His Honor went on to say that so j far as Kin-man's version (lis shown in the statement of his connection with the thieving) was concerned, it might be true, but it did not make very much difference whether the crime was suggested by one or both of the-11101 sentenced that morning. According to the account given by Elirman, those men were the actual perpetrators of numerous crimes—in fact, of a whole series of crimes. So far as it affected the prisoner, his Honor was prepared to accept his statement that .lie had taken a more active part in the four crimes of which he had' been found guilty. lie alleged further, however, that 'the system of stealing fruit was an old-established one, and 1 hail originated before ho joined tJie business. The important fact, on Khrman's own showing, was that, if he did not scheme and originate the. scheme of wharf thieving, lie rendered it possible and profitable. The system coukl not have -been carried on without the assistance of a man who pretended to be a commercial traveller, who carried the goods to a distance, and disposed of them while standing s'honlder to shoulder with honest commercial travellers. It would have been impossible to get away with suitable quantities of goods and sell them in the city, and the system required an active, trained, commercial man. His Honor did not know wJiether he had made the venture profitable. Idealise a man who had to take friends into iliis 'confidence generally found those friends expensive connections, and, no doubt, Elirman had.found

it so. From the convictions recorded, and what appeared on the statement, it was a fact that Ehrman had been habitually engaged in pillaging the merchants of the city. That was his own character of his doings. It might be that what he had said of Hadden and Glover was true—that Harden confiscated the goods, and that Glover was the convenient "fence" for hiding them, while prisoner was prepared to dispose of them, The police would probably investigate that allegation further. It was a fa«t that the whole system would have broken down had it not been for Bhrman's planning, and it was therefore quite reasonable to say that he was the centre of the system, and his lirains the central brains of the system, while the other men were merely using their force. His Honor imposed a sentence of four years' imprisonment ,on the first count, and four years' on the second, the sentences to be cumulative, with four years each on the third and fourth counts, the latter sentences to be concurrent with the former, making a total term of eight years. At tin: same time Ehrman was declared to be an haoitual criminal. His Honor intimated to Mr. Singer that he had some doubt as to whether he could add the declaration making Klirnian an habitual criminal to the sentence, but he said that he would state a case for the Court of Appeal for consideration. If the Court ruled against it the declaration would be renewed