Supreme Court

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 2, 21 May 1914, Page 6

Supreme Court

NEW PLYMOUTH SESSIONS. WEDNESDAY, MAY 28. ALLEGED THEFT OF MO\ 7 FA'S. . AOCi'SED FOUND NOT GUILTY. Tlie hearing of the charge of breaking and entering a dwelling suid theft of £45 2s, and a further cfaarge of theft of 1 £4l, against Arnold- Victor Smith, a young Russian Pole, was continued yesterday Doming, Mr C. 11. Weston prosecuting. Accus?<l' again conducted his own defence. The first witness called! by the prosecution v as: Wincentz Drcwinowski, a driller working at Moturoa, who said he had £4l when at Moturoa on Jan. 31: At night he gave the money to Roick. Could nut say whether anyone besides Roick knew tliat Roick had the money. To awused: Sometimes Oio kept his money at home and at others sent it to his wife. Sad kept the money in question for two and a ball months. Could not swear exactly what the no^ji^were. His Honor: It does not matter what notes they were so long as they were

stolen. Accused: Witness stated in the lower Court that the notes were three £lo's, and £5 and six £l's,. Now he says he cannot recollect what* they were. Witness to accused: Could not say bow many drinks he had. Remembered a conversation with accused and others at Christinas time, but could not remember what transpired, though something was mentioned about work. Philip T. Birch, a master painter of Aueklnnd, said accused was employed by his firm and earned lis a <lay. He 'left in November. Saw him some time after anil askfed him why lie left. About the ena of December accused again applied for work, but was refused. He stated that lie had been to Sydney and was in low water. About January 9or 10 accused again personally applied for work, and on 15th wrote for work, stating he had been unable to find work for the ten days and begged' for a job, as he was in a very critical state. The letter was not answered. Ta accused: You had been working for ab'iut a fortnight, and your wages total: ed £7 Bs.

Captain Norbury, of the Rarawa, said { suniflnl was working on the boat from Nov. i 7 to the end of December. When accused joined the sltip 'he was in tinancial difficulties. , His earnings u uu!i.l be about . £9. Accused worked hi;!.par-age from Onelmnga to Xew Plymouth. Accused returned to Onehunga twice in the ship. Could not remember the last time accused come from Oneliungii when he said he had very little money and asked for a. free passage. Suggested accused should pay steerage f n re. To accused. You drew no money from Hie, Jjul from the office. Did not remember accused paying 'his- passage. Remembered accused stating he had been wnrk'n:* at the. here, tluit the bore had stopped work and lie could get. no } money. I . His lloivor advised accused not to ask witness any more questions. I Detective - Serjeant Boddam ' said that on February 2, in consequence of a complaint by Hoick, he went ' 'to Moturoa and saw accused. Asked him if he knew Frank Roick. On his replying in the affirmative told accused that Roick had £4l stolen from a drawer and that Roick had given him (accused) permission the day'brfore to take a writing pad out of the drawer and that purse and pad were sidu by side. Accused admitted taking the p:ul, but saw nothing of the money. Accused he would not do anything like, ili.-it to Roick, who, with. the. others, j had been very good to him toy giving him food and shelter when he was hard up, and getting, him work at the bore. Went with accused to Koiek's cottage. Accused invited witness to .search, which he did, but found no money; »'on» | scaled and addressed -envelopes were on the mantelpiece, and oxcused, at witness' request, opened tlie letters. On : February 10 accused told witness he was going to Auckland, and remarked that In* *;ipposed he was still suspected of the theft, and stated lie had only a few shillings in his pocket. Cecil F. Putt, employed by the BlenI licim Oil Company, said a-ocused had .1 worked at tlie bore, and was paid on j February 10 £3 18s when he left. The ! rule for paying was for amounts over ' £lO to give a £lO note. Tlie other Austrian.? had received £lO notes in payment. John Summers, m.otor car proprietor, Jiving at Mangere, said he remembered accused. Fi'st saw him ill February,when he ,a*ked if hei could be taken to Auckland by car. Took him to the Centni/1 hotel, one of the fashionable hotels. Witness drove accused to several places and eventually to (liy.y Lynn. Accused I g»t out there and 1 invited witness to I lunch. Accused left the room but came back and asked witmfs to change a £lO I note, which witness did and subsequently chunked another £lO note for accused, I and after that accused asked witness . to change a third £lO note, but he could not. Accused paid witness £5 for the trip. In explanation of tlie possession of the notes accused told witness he had SOO marks sent him bv his father, and also stated hj» was going to 'Frisco. Accused was a total stranger to witness. To accused: Thought accused put down a .sovereign to pay for drinks at the hotel. Accused said that his father verv often- sent him nwiney. Emily Can said accused had boarded at her house ofT and on for six months. When accused left he did not leave any money in her care. When accused came again -'he advised him to leave his money with her. He had two £lO notes and one £5. On the hist day of his stay accused said he was going to Rotorua by car. lie left no money behind. To accused: Remembered on one occasion accused left £ls in sold' lying about. Accused was always going and [ coming. Remembered accused changing two £W) notes, Imt not bis saving that his father sen); it. Tn asking accused to leave moiu'v with her win afraid he might, spend all his money and come on her for free board, lie was money freely. Knew accused had given a, silver purse to a- lady. Tlios. Herd Patterson, a motor-ear driver employed by Mr. We-t. said lie remembered takiirr accused to Stratfoifl on a .Saturday—February 21. They stopper! at Hie County Hotrl. Accused asked witness for change of a £lO liotri, awl as witness could not give it accused went into the hotel and changed' the'notc, pavins- witness £3 in £1 notes. Thomas Kirkwood. of the Countv Hotel, deposed to changing a new £lO note for accused. Fi'"d, Whittle, licensee of ■ the Stratford Uctel. said-accused was at his hotel j on Saturday, February 21. and stayed till the Monday marniiig. but had no meals. / ' being in. th,e bedroom most of the time. | He cangjlit the mail train 011 Monday nioruiiiT . ) Constable Boulton stated that in February he went to the Austrian drillers' to

house and found that entrance bad lieen effected through a window and portmanteaux, etc., forced open. Ascertained that about £4l had been stolen. Subsequently received a hat string from KowaJski, whose lovi-denco he confirmed. Kowalski gave accused in charge for theft of money. The hat showed sigin of the missing string. Searched, accused and f-i-und £43 4s oil- on lite-eight £5 notes, two £1 notes, and the balance in silver and copper, also a railway ticket from Stratford tw Auckland. Accused stated he had the money for so-me time, and that Mrs Canp. had been taking care of it, also, that lie had been cn the rocks at Now Plymouth the night liefore and got wet. This closed the cc-se for the prosecution, B'.'forc calling witnesses for the defence, accused briefly addressed the jury, pointing out that the evidence against iiim was purely circumstantial. ITU witnesses would prove that he had . money ho had sa'vod. He also -pointed- out that the evidence for the prosecution differed from that given in the lower court hy one of his witnesses who would have "ire important evidence that wmild clear him was unable to 'be ru-esent. He had a written statement that he would lead. He then mailed* V. ptenckl, wTio aaid - ho remembered seeing accused a little bit drunk on, .Saturday, January 3, in Queen street, Auckland. Asked accused liow much money he had. Sometime in January accused showed him £75 in ten and five pound notes. Witness: took care of it and took accused homo and put him to bed at -i[rs Cane's house. •To His Honor:* Accused had six £lo' notes and three £5 notes. He gave the. money to a, Russian man who was wit-' ness' mate, so that witness might" not be tempted to spend tli,e money himself. G-avo he money back to > accused. . Did not see accused for some time.. Saw him again on the verandah of his house later, when accused said he had £si> left. Had not seen accused since. Accused i tho first time was not much drunk, but ,1 drunk enough. To Mr Wteton: Was a laborer. Had been in the Dominion for yj months. Was a Russian. Accused was not. quite a Russian. First met accused'Sh Auckr itind about IS months a, got when lie was ) J?' ln^ln S- Only saw him a few times. • They were on friendly terms. For the I last six months saw accused two or three times a week, but did not tell witness what lie was doing. Accused had always plenty of money. Said lie ni«d« hi* money in America by translating I and in New Z'eala.iuli by painting. Accused diil unit sav where :his father lived' or whet.iie.n bis fath?r w-nt lvin- monev. On the day accused ga.ve witness the £75 to take care of they lud be«n drinking together. Could not say whether accused lud just returned from s'viinev. Was net surprised at accused ha vim* £7;,. as he reckoned lie mi.jht have £OO, as alh j cused implied lie had enough to keep him foir a year. Had not prjviouiiv seen accused with a large sum. o! money. Did not advise accused- to put his money in the Sayings Bar-k, as it was against'witl»ss' principla to put money in a hank. Cave the money the name'night to his friend, whose name was Erosimenko. Tho-ught his friend was nn-w at work at a e0,.! mine. i hics; money , buck in th.» morning and returnrd it to I accused.

j Alfred'll. Crane, Dor-mia painter, emj ployed by 'W. Collins, of Ae -kland, re- | nie.n-b ! -ed sreing accused; in ;.]■(. Waver. lev lintel, Auckland. on February 13 or j 14. when accused asked, him- to have a j drink. Noticed accuse,:]' had ilir-wi £lO . notes, -soVne -gold and -silver. Advise!, accused not to be ?o foolish as 'o rTorinee Jso much money. Siv* nceupod later in the mull again advised him to taJce earn of his money. Had worked- with accuse-!-' for -mrne, -t-sre. nn-i found him a ffood tradesman. Thought accmed had work-d fo" M.eK'nlev for a, v-nr nr IS m<>n.ehs. .Accused lewl lent- witness and others money at diilTe.veiu times!. Jas. JMah. -oaiiri-!oi-r»l ■>.+ a, "«n in New Plymouth, thai acnned came. to the garage between 8 and Sls a.m. to hire a car, hut there was n 0 ear in at the tiuv. an-l there would not be any back until 0.:!0. Accused si-id he hail an appoiuluient tit Stratford. Witness we-nt to West's toget a car.

I Accused elected toi give evid'enee and the usual caution having been administered by the clerk of fi,;. eourt. accused entered into a long, rambling statement of what lie had*done since comin? to the Dbni-inion. His TTonoir intimating that lie would take no urtiee of anything not connected l with the charges. After luncheon His Honor stated that he would not allow the time of the fount to: he taken up with irrelevant matter. Accused proceeded to detail the events in connection with his wo,rk on the Tarawa, when he was 4°PF"- bv His TTfmor, who said accused lYmst eoiraii" himself to the else. Accused said hj" liadi tried for some time to find work in Auckland, but couldi not. fo he ranie to New Ply. mout.li. w-'i 're he met the Austrian*, who gave him some drink and food, and on J accused saying lie wanted !o go to ! 'own to borrow money one ■»{ then; lent him £l, not, that he waited it. for he had £,"> in his pocket. He sV>pt in Kowalski's room. Told Tvowalski he lntenTe.d to sfa.rt work next da v. Worked fir a. fortnight. On the Satin-day ewniiig thev wei 1 " drinking, and Hrenowski ;;ave TJoick sen-.'i nitoney to mindi ITe je-ked fo'i' envelop?s and paper next day to write anm-i letters. TTe went out and c-imo hack about 2 o'clock. TTe asked where Hoick's paper was. and was told they were in a drawer. ■ He went to t:he drawer and took out. some paper and envelopes. Drewnowski was jwvwnt all the time. After comin.o' back from the breakwater Pioick went into his rornii. looking IVh m one\, he t-liouQiit. He caint'i out ant said to Drewinowski that. the. money was 1 <~-l and Tiiriii,. :i terribh' fuss. Recused said t.o 1 Roick that the money i-oiiid not liav- been, stolen, and: that be wo.n'd get it back. Left at, fi a.m. to ?o" to work. Drewinowski left, to go to Tikoranci. and aeeused considered that he took the money with him for a lark. Accused worked till 3 p„m, vyivii tlie detective to 1 h inn a i:,-l; a.'ked hi.Tn if he hr.d got, the money. TTe gues.":l ;tf what tlv detective was driving. Tlie iletective said, "You know d well tvhere the money is'. M'lie.rr. ;; 9 You've it somewhejn" Tie took the detective to where lie lodged and all his tilings were seareh«l. ICowalski then c:une in. TTe thought lie was going to be arreted. Hut the d 't.eetivft "left. He te.1.1 Kownl.-ki tiiat he did. not feel like going to work hat Kowal-ki 'Kivi.-ed hinv to rexiun- work, which he did. He denied taking (he menev, lint was treated as if he h id taken it. He -pointed oat that none of the wilnes-ps could swear ho t«ok the money, and it. was almost, impossible for liiuii to prove that he did not steal it. Afte.r liaving so,me ivords with the m{iua,n;-r at the bore, relative to the diirtv work lie -was put to accused left the bore . After being paid up he had £ll 125 reduced by expenses -lo a little, / <>\er £!). Tie took passage on the liara- | wa. .frff Oneliunga, ami, when he. arrived there had litW* more than £4 left. / Took a car to drive honve. While there I at, limcli ill's Oaniii mentioned a flirii and witness knowing that he liad, £7,5 in ) notes between the leaves of three different books lie went to see if it were safe, tad found the notes (two tells and one

live in each hook) quite snfc. Altogether he had £7O. The car driver tried to bluff accused that he (the driver) could buy accused up, and tlwt was '.how lie cam© to show the notes and. ask for clmngc. Ho bought a silver .hand-bag for a lady friend, giving £3 10s for it. Boforo going! for a drive he changed two ten pound notes. His landlady urged him to give iher half of his money to care care of, but lie only gave her £2O. The next thy lie .had a terrible headache. The day after he and some friends had a joy drive ■which cost. £B. I-fc meant to luvve a, real good time. His Honor refused' to hear the details of .his expenditure, the jury intimating that thay did not wish to hoar the particulars. Accused then stated' that drink and cart hire cost £4O, and that he only had ■S3!) lefit. He returned! to New Plymouth, and detailed his movements to show that instead of hiding as the. Crown Prosecutor alleged, his Inovements were open, rfa.vino; arranged with a woman friend to see her in Stratford) the next, day, he. slept on the rocks. Having lost the morning train, and wanting to keep the Appointment, hs took a. ear, changing a £lO note there to pay for car hire. He went into the bank to change' a £2O nr.to and would like to have the note produced. Hi! [Toner: Whatever you are, you are not a fool, and' you know very well the notes cannot lm produced and shown to he the stolen money. ' Accused, continued his story as to his T.ovniients on Sunda.v and his arrest on the following day. when he had. eight £> notes on hi.un, which 'he produced, lie -iffiiin-it insisted that the evidence, was cireuni-tantuil and did not prove niivtliins against him. ITe. gave the details of his earninffis to show that, thev amounted to £155, so that he. could easily have saved £7."». He claimed to be moderate. drintasv and a non-smoker. A teetotaller wculdi not look in a whisky bottle for sense. Tin. prosecution could onlv sav that -nrobably he hu] tilie opportunity of stealing the money, but could not- connect, hiini with the theft.. Tt was just as likely Drewinowski might not lie telliivr (he truth. He commented <rn the unreliability of the evidence as to the hat strina' being his, and sr'vc his version of how the nr'cc of string niiaht have be"n found by Kowalski. He ridiculed the idea. of anvonp breaking into a house dioin!>: so> wit.hl n straw ha! on. ft had not even been nrov-d that the -trine was the same a-- Miat on his hat. ITe i)i'rvil;ii(.,Ml a letter from th» Northern Shippina ComMnv, to the effect that there was uo' trace, of money beine on id to him in advance. ITe trusted the jurv would do justice. Tr West on: TTv , f-«n i„. 'O'ned the l-'loi"'- F'« nut. t.hn £7.". 'mlo m,„. fjcmnn honks before eomimr Us New nn the second oeeasion. (lot (lie hooks ii\ January. T's; w l t.o-ca.rrv the 11 "ney with him, and hid it in his Admitted tellin'i' li.es because he anxious to tret, work. To t»lliiv Vomers th'it h w father '■-■ mi 1. liini n.ntiev '■" s onlv kid'-ltne'. Adi" : tt.«-i fo'i;,, - 1 : "--. hut, nor, habit unlit-. Pnuld not. rewhat he said in th" lei,lev to "Miss Williams. Tt wn.s tjie hlo"- ra"=ed bv her not rontvine' that, made Vm 1"'-" to motor*, drink, end 0i1..... v T>:,l ""*■ tell "Mrs Cann he hid left £75 ir the house. His TT'irioy firofis-ovnni'ued abused ■>: °ome leivfh relative +o t'"> vo'-inivWhem he wis tr, meet at Stratford, hut "d refused to'mention hor nam,?, or bring he- iut.o the ease. Tn answer to His Honor accused said

the robbery was discovered at 12 o'clock on 21st. Tie laft New Plymouth before !) a.m. Tt was a coincidence that he nlept I on the rocks on th,s night of the rai>I bcry, and that he left New Plymouth j tlie' same day. He preferred to keep his I monpy rather than tank it. I Mr Weston did not\iddress the jury. I The foreman of the jury asked for evi- | denee as to the position of the hou.se in I relation to the bore. I Constable Boulton stated that the I house was 200 yards from the bare. The window broken open was not ia view o5 passers, but opposite some treesi | To Mr Weston: The wiindow was not lon the side of the bore, 'Hie distance ; from town was about two) miies. ' In summing up His Honor pointed out the number of untruths told by accused. On February T £4l was stolen and with what he received fromi the Oil Company he ha/i £."i2, and' ihad clianged- notes of tlijS denomination of those, stolen. The jury could not ignore the fact'that accused wns no fool, bu,t a very shrewd man, well educated for a man of his class, speaking English with fluency, and several other languages. He showed a wise discretion 'in not -having, a lawyor. Accused asked -permission to address a few wards to the jury, and the foreman intimated that accused .being a. fore.itme the jury would give him every consideration, whereupon His Honor allowed accused itbe privilege of saying- "a few words," which were of ■some length in answer to TTis Honor's summing up.

His TTonor said there was 110 doubt .the man could' have saved £7-5, -hut it wa» for -the jury to see whether -lie was the kind of young man to do so. The) jury retired at 5.13 and retrvned into court at 3.39 with a. verdict of not guilty. Tin* prisoner was thereupon clischarged. TTis Honor ordered that the expenses of the witnesses r or the prisoner were to be paidl out of the money found 011 him when arrested. The court adjourned till 10 a.m. this, morning. TTIJ- OGTEPv CASK. Johnstone, in ref»rrinir to the ease of William de (iroucihv Offior, who was convicted of embezzlement. 011 the previous dav. put in a strong plea for probation. TTe snaa'ested' that Mr O, A.bier be called to give, evidence. Mr Ahicr lia.d been employing the, accused vars ago. and also quite recently, and '•< hj" were admitted to rn'obation was 'viliin" to do iw> awiin. even in a. linsit'r.n of trust. Accused hfld lately made a stroivr eli'orl to rehabilitate his <=«•!? and if li>' were ient to- orison., he *"->" rd that t.hit would be undone. Tt h-- 1 come to bis knowledge tli'at win-.- thint'S bad gone 011 in connectiim with 0"' :^ -r's difficulties, which -had not to 'ifht. and that- b" had been the- viet.i'" of ir<u who had taken adian.t-age of his weakness. TTis Honor to take !'ie evidence of Mr Ahier, and pa---; i (his morning. MANY A (SLEEPLESS NIGHT. "Nothing gives me more pleasure than to recommend Chamberlain's CoueTi Kcmedy to all my customers," says Mrs Alice Morrison, Cr. of Carr and Fitzgeral streets, Perth. W.A. '"'My childmi were subject to bid colds with difficult breathins and T had many a sleepless nijrht, tvit.li them until I tried Chamberlain's Cough Remedy. Now I would not be without a bottle for anv money. Jf mv children get a slight cold I give them a [ dose and the cold is no more." All chemists and stoves.