R.M. COURT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1408, 19 June 1883, Page 2

R.M. COURT.

|; ; day. •(BeforejHisvcWorabip the Mayor and ='■■■.'.. ■'; ; ; tt^i:-W. ; _|^Ai^ ; -J.P.'B)-. ; : - Soren.. Neilson: was charged with stealing,from James Ewirigton five white blankets and one colored rug, of the value, of two pounds fifteen shillings, pri the 13th inst... ' ' The defendnat • pleaded' not guilty, saying that he found the blankets in a : straw,staok. v .; '/.C:.:i): : "'.'-'l '■ '■'''.' ;j James Ewington^'proprietor of the. Argylo Boarding 'houie know the accused. On the night of the 13th kst, he' waa, dh3turbed' ; about one, o'clock byjaSnoiie, and;: carae\down stairs,butMldseenoofie; -Whenhe' agMn'h6jheard;B(3ie one run but'ofthe gafte;'• When' 'lie gdt% ■in themornihg-'he foundsome blankest missing froni' a; detached ibuilding;near the house' which had been left un : .locked/ j ■■=.■-■/. .■.■.7>!.i^'i-'i: 1 ' - .Anne Ewington, Wife] of. the pre-; vidua fitness, 'corroborated his eyi-; dencei she ;saw them stretched btf a xlothes -line'; ■yesterday morning at the house iat 'the. i ;baick of her premises. The; woman in I charge of them idid'her taken them'into washl Witnessiden--1 itified the blankets' produced by com-' 1 Ipaiirig'ttem with corresponding blan- : ikejßmherown.house., ]■ , Mr Renall asked if it was'possible that witness might be mistaken as to I the identity of the blankets. ! The ; witness said "she could .not be ' mistaken, she could swear : to , one \ blanket by a slain on it, to another as an old English blanket which she had ,*! recently bought.at'a sale. 1 ;' The woman ! who'was washing thbm said, her husi 1 band found them in a flax bush. ', Constable Leahy deposed'that he ■ arrested the accused near the Camp on • a charge of stoaling the blanket's pro--1 duced. . [

. The accused, in answer to Mr lenall, said he found the blankets in. .a; straw stack about a-chain from the road.. '. Archibald Martin, for,■the defence, said he was a farmer residing near the Ruamahunga bridge. He found the blankets, at a straw stack on- his own land on were jn a. nnt] )}o dji| not .undo it, Ho 'tl|qugl|t't||oy l)e)qngqc| |q' the laboring men who had been sleeping there; He saw the blankets, in the same spot on the following morning, and subsequently he saw them spread out on a wire fence ia the same neighbbrhood, Witness mentioned to one of the railway employees tliat he had seen the blankets but the man he spoke to knew, nothing about, them; Had often seen men about the stack, as he gave straw away, from.;it to persons requiring it. ' Patrick Dunn, one of the railway employees, saw the blankets at the 'straw stack. He untied thorn' and

found five of thorn and a rug, The. blankets were there on Wednesday but he did hot open them till Friday. They, were wet, and he arid his mates spread thein out on a fence. They told Neilson that lie ljacj better; tajje home and get tljeti}';washed;'arid if the owner turned up he could pay for the washing.

EmmaSarali Nejlson, wife of tlie accussi), ~ remerfi, b ered,..THes(3ay nigj)t last. Her lmsband was a||}qp ||jat. .night, He went.tq eigl)t o'clock and rose, at si; jn"%j inorning.. He brought jijio blankets hptne ; qn. Friday night and witness .washed than). She

refused, to give the blankets, up toifrs Ewington because her Mini brought them home to be washed from the men

ontheline,, Mrs Ewington told her that if she didn't give'them up she would give her six months in chokey. The Court dismissed the case and

expressed an opinion that the accused #? pprfcpfe innocent; of .stealing themr; Th 3 he. rp : turned (o Mrs Ewington.' ;I '