RESIDENT MAGISTRATE COURT.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 591, 9 December 1869, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE COURT.

Monday, Dec. 6. (Before J. Giles, Esq., E. M.) Mary Sullivan, charged with drunkenness and disorderly conduct, said she would like to know where she got any drink to make her tipsy. She was not tipsy, hut had no breakfast or dinner, and had lost her temper with some men at the corners who commenced abusing her. She wanted to convince them that she had done quite as much at the fire as they had done. The Magistrate fined her 20s, with the usual alternative. William Dawson was charged with stealing a boot and an axe-head from the goods exposed during the fire of Saturday night. He was seen by Constable Williams carrying the articles in a suspicious manner, and

after the fire was exhausted. The boot was recognised by Mr Southern as of the same description of boots as were in his stock. Sergeant Kiely admitted that, when the prisoner was arrested by the Constable, he stated that he had been working to save goods, and from the appearance of his clothes, which were wet, he had probably being doing so. The prisoner denied that he took the articles with any felonious intention. He was assisting to take goods to the Quartz Eeef Hotel. One boot could be of no use to him. The Magistrate gave the prisoner the benefit of the doubt, and the charge was dismissed. Owen Martin was charged with the larceny of three pairs of blankets. On Sunday morning Constable Williams stopped the prisoner in Molesworth street, carrying three pairs of blankets and a rug. He asked him where he had got the articles. He told the constable to " go to ," and asked him what that had to do with him, saying he (prisoner) would do with the blankets what he liked. The constable said he must go to the Police Camp with them, and the prisoner threw them down. With the assistance of Allan Maguire he was arrested, and the goods were afterwards identified by Mr Casey and Mr Southern as having belonged to the latter. Mr Dupuis, for the defence, stated that when the fire occurred he took the blankets from the front of Mr Southern's premises to protect his own and other buildings on the east side of the street. Along with the rug, which was his own property, they hung upon the premises all night, and on Sunday morning he told the defendant, who was his brother-in-law, to take them over to a fence, to be dried. He subsequently told Mr Casey of the circumstances. The Magistrate thought the last evidence satisfactorily accounted for the defendant's possession of the goods, and the case was dismissed. At the same time he thought that parties removing goods at a fire should be particularly careful to mention the fact at the earliest possible moment, and to take care that no one should be suspected. In any case where a felonious intention might be proved the guilty person would deserve to be severely punished; but in this case there did not appear to be any felonious intent.

The only civil case of interest was a suit brought by Thomas Dewdney against Thomas Jones for £4O, the full amount of the stakes iu a bet between the plaintiff and James Johnston, butcher. The defendant paid into Court £35 10s as the amount which he had received. The Magistrate held that the defendant was not responsible for more, unless he had given a written guarantee of his liability, and judgment was given only for the amount paid into Court.

Ttjesdat, Dec. 7

Thomas Monsell, a drayman, was charged with the theft of two pairs of boots, part of the property saved from the fire. The prisoner admitted having in his possession a pair of elastic boots, belonging to Mr Southern. The witnesses called were Constable Williams, who stated that, from information he had received, he went to Dutton and Anderson's bake-house, and had obtained there a pair of elas-tic-side boots which had been left there by the prisoner on the morning after the fire. On his way to the lock-up the prisoner said—" It's a very good job the things taken from the fire were thrown away." On the night of the fire he had seen the prisoner working hard at several places, and carrying goods from Mr Southern's to the Empire Hotel. —James Gardiner, in the employ of Messrs Dutton and Anderson, stated that, about half-past two on Sunday morning, the prisoner came and sat down in their premises. Subsequently be went into the bake-house, and, taking off a pair of elastic-side boots, put on a pair of Wellington boots which he had under his coat. — John Southern identified the elasticside boots as a pair bearing his mark, and the Wellington's were similar to those he had in stock. Thomas Bush, in Mr Southern's employ, also identified the elastic-side boots. Neither of the pairs had apparently been worn more than half-an-hour.—The Magistrate sentenced the prisoner to three months' imprisoment.