RESIDENT MAGISTRATE COURT.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 708, 8 September 1870, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE COURT.

Tuesday, September 6. (Before E. C. Eeid and S. Thorpe, Esqs., J. P.) LARCENY. Mary Cantwell was charged upon the information of James Bradley with having stolen from his dwelling at Giles Terrace, on Thursday, the Ist instant, a pocket-book containing two letters, a receipt for money, and a bank note for £2O.

The accused pleaded not guilty. James Bradley: I aui a miner residing at Giles Terrace, and am the prosecutor in the present case. I know the prisoner. She was at my hut on Wednesday the 31st ult, between one and two in the afternoon, and remained two or three hours. I enquired her business on her entering, and she replied that she purposed taking up her quarters in the hut I objected, and she then said that she would remain, unless I returned to her two letters I had received. She also wanted some money, and I gave her £5, but declined to return the letters. She replied that she would have the letters, and then went in the direction of Way's Hotel. My hut is next Harrison's store, and a miner, named Robert Tapley, occupies it jointly with myself. I have a stretcher in the hut, the hag of which serves as a pocket at the head of the stretcher. On Thursday, the first instant, I placed my pocket-book in this pocket, and the book then contained a bank note for £2O, two letters, and a receipt. The letters I had received from the prisoner, and were the same demanded by her. On Friday, at 6 p.m. I searched for the pocket-book and, not finding it about the stretcher, searched the hut. I have seen nothing of the property since.

By the Bench: The hut was not

secured, and anyoue might have obtained access to it.

David Jack: lama miner residing at Giles Terrace, and am a mate of the prosecutor. I saw the prisoner at our but on Wednesday last, and was present at a conversation between Bradley and the prisoner, and heard her ask him for money. I saw Bradley on Friday evening, and lie said that he bad lost his pocket-book. He also told me that he had put it at the head of his bunk on Thursday morning. I saw the prisoner in Westport on Friday evening about half-past nine. I then asked her to give up the pocket-book belonging to Bradley. She denied all knowledge of the matter, and said that I could have her searched. I taw thepocket-book in Bradley's possession on the 27th ult. when it contained a £2O note. He asked me for the loan of £2 or £3 as he did not wish to change the note, and I gave him £5. Catharine Way stated that the pri soner stopped at her hotel, at Giles Terrace, on Wednesday and Thursday nights, and left for Westport on Friday. Constable Williams proved the arrest of the prisoner. On learning the charge against her, she stated that she had nothing belonging to Bradley; she wished she had. The Bench, after some deliberation, discharged the prisoner, adding that while the circumstances might have directed suspicion towards her, there was no evidence to justify a committal. CIVIL CASE. Freeth and Greig v. Edward Harris, claim for £3 for passage money. Judgment for the plaintiffs by default in the amount claimed and costs.