>From The Moreton Bay Courier, 16 October 1860 -- CENTRAL POLICE COURT. Monday. Before the Police Magistrate. Frederick Redan was fined 5s for drunkenness, or in default sentenced to be imprisoned for 24 hours. Thomas Smith, said to be a West Indian, who was on a former occasion remanded on a charge of burglary, was again brought up and again remanded for further evidence, bail being allowed self in £80, and two securities in £40 each. It will be remembered that he is charged with robbing the shop of Mr. Ahearn, Edward-street, of a sum of money amounting to between £5 and £6. ------------------------------------------------ Historic Australian Newspapers, 1803 to 1954 http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home Aherns in Australian Records http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~aherns/ahcrim.htm ------------------------------------------------
>From The Moreton Bay Courier, 25 October 1860 -- CENTRAL POLICE COURT FRIDAY. Before Mr. G. D. Webb, and Mr. R. Cribb. . . . Thomas Smith, a West Indian, who has been remanded on several occasions charged with robbing Mr. Ahearn's shop, in Edward-street, of £5, was further remanded until next day. . . . SATURDAY.--Before Mr. G. D. Webb, and Mr. R. Cribb, and the Police Magistrate. Thomas Smith was again brought up on the charge of robbing the shop of James Ahearn, in Edward-street. The case was initiated before the bench on Monday week last. On that occasion the prosecutor stated that he saw the prisoner in his shop on the previous Thursday morning at 8 o'clock. He remained in his shop for about an hour, and said he wanted work. He then went out with a man who said he would give him work, and prosecutor did not see him again until the next morning. On the Thursday night, however, at about 11 o'clock, constable Riley told him that the shop was open. Prosecutor was in the habit of locking up the shop at night, and going to his father's hotel to sleep ; he was quite certain that he did so on this occasion. Upon examining the shop he found that between £5 10s. and £6 had been abstracted from a loose box under the counter ; he also saw a bundle of clothes belonging to the prisoner lying on the floor of the shop ; it was not there at half-past nine at night when he locked the place.--Cross-examined by the prisoner: You did not say that you would leave a bundle in the shop--Cross-examined by the Bench: I keep the key, and after locking the place on the night in question I brought it down with me ; I think the door must have been opened by a hammer or an axe, as the lock or catch was bent.--Timothy Ahearn, a lad 12 years of age, deposed that he saw the prisoner in his brother's shop on Wednesday, and served him with a fig of tobacco ; the prisoner said he would owe his brother for it, and that would make 4œd he owed altogether. Witness replied that he did not believe in trust ; prisoner then said "You have not change of a £5 note," to which witness replied that he had, and at once proceeded to count out the necessary change on the counter ; the money was taken from a box under the counter, and the amount of change tendered was £4 19s 6d. He was going to add three-halfpence, when the prisoner said "Never mind, here's a shilling." Witness then put the money back into the box and gave him change of the shilling. The prisoner soon after went down the town with the steward of the Clarence. On the Thursday morning about 9 o'clock witness took charge of the shop whilst his brother went to breakfast, examined the box and found it all right. On the same morning he changed an Ipswich note for Southerden's man ; thought he would know it again ; was there all day until 4 o'clock ; went back to the shop about 9 o'clock in the evening to put up the shutters and found they were up ; he then returned to the hotel in company with his brother about an hour or so after a constable came to his father's house and asked his father if the shop did not belong to him, to which an answer in the affirmative was returned ; the constable said the door was wide open ; on going up to the shop witness found the box but not the money. Saw a bundle of clothes there consisting of a pair of blankets, a pair of trowsers, and a coat ; the lastmentioned article he recognised as having seen on the prisoner the previous day (clothes produced) -to be continued ------------------------------------------------ Historic Australian Newspapers, 1803 to 1954 http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home Aherns in Australian Records http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~aherns/ahcrim.htm ------------------------------------------------