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THE HOTEL SHOOTING CASE.
J. H. CQNNELL BEFORE THE COURT.
CURIOUS DEVELOPMENTS.
At tbc City Court (No. 3) yesterday, bo-
fore Mr. ' Dobbin, P.M., and Messrs. Cook,
Bc-nuett, Cherry and Lancashire, J's.P.,
Jolm Henry Council, for 20 yours manager
nt Young and Jackson's Hotel, Stvnnston nnd
Flinders streets, surrendered to his ball on
two charges of (1) altering a patent cash re
gister with latent to defraud, and (2) of
shooting at Detective Burvett with Intent to
kill. The circumstances attending tlie case
wero narrated, iu "The Age" of 29th and
30th July last. For the prosecution Mr. J.
G. Eagleson, instructed l)y Mr. Fookes, ap
peared; for the defcuee, Mr. J. L. Purves,
K.C., and Mr. G. J. Dctliridgc, instructed
by Mr. Westlcy.
Mr. Eugleson, in opening tho case, said it
was Council's' duty to look after the bar
men, and he was supposed, whou on duty, to
couut tlic cash in the registers, uud uote ou
slips of paper the uiuouuts he took from each
till. Iu no case was it his duty to tamper
lu any way whatever with uuy of the re
gisters' In Uuy of the bars. If anything
weut wrong with uuy ot the registers it
ivus Coilucll's undoubted duty to at ouce re
port it to Mr. Youug.
Heury Figsby Youug, examined by Ml'.
Eugiesou, said the duties uf Council, who
bad been In tlie iirui's employment for near
ly . twenty-six years as uiuuagcr, were to
supervise the busluess every second day;
to see tbat every requirement was
met, uud to see that the barmen wero
supplied with change. He counted the tak
ings and noted them on a slip, and left tlic
slip to be checked. He thought tlie
slip was left lu the takings till. The
money wus taken upstairs and put iu the
change safe, if tlie cash registers were all
right he hnd uothiug to do with tliem, he
(witness) should thiuk. When Mr. Jackson
was alive
Mr. Purves: Oh, don't bring poor Jackson
into it. Jackson's gone where there are no
cash registers! (Laughter.)
Witness: The two managers generally
looked after the cash registers if anything
was wrong with them. When Council was
on duty nt night ho should report to Mr.
Norman Young next morning if anything
was wrong with the cash registers. They
hnd five registers goiug on ordinary days
and six on' Saturdays. After 10 o'clock on
20th July Conncll wns on duty. Mr. N.
Young was in the office then, nnd remained
there. Early on the morning of 27th— at
12.40 — witness and Detective Burvett
were standing on the opposite side to the
hotel in Flinders-street. They crossed nt
12.42 a.m., and were let in lit the side door
by Mr. N. Young. He took off his coat— bis
top coat— (laughter)— and walked behind 'two
of the columns lu tho back bar. As he did
Rfi 1m lionrfl n 1 ( nlf .ni l/il. mRlnh tiA
thought he recognised as tlie sound of some
one 1 working at the register tilt. The clicks
were coming from the storeroom. Burvett
wnlked out in trout, and as he did so Con-
nell came out of the storeroom nnd fired two
shots. Witness nnd his 'son then fired two
shots each, there being six shots fired in nil.
They wore "all fired together." Mr. Connell
then said, "I am done." Tliey were all very
excited.
Mr. Dobbin, P.M.: What did ho say?
Witness: I think he said, "1 am, done,"
and he added, "I have made a slight mis
take, and aui tryiug to rectify It. I've done
nothing wrong. You can count the cash,
nnd I think you'll find It- all right. I'm
sorry for tlie shooting— I took you for bur
glars." Witness thought Burvett said,
"That's all nonsense. Get a case and put tile
machine in it and have it sealed up." The
register was thou put into n call. Witness
here Identified the register, which had the 4/
nnd 5/ talis up. All present wero in the
storeroom when Burvett said, "Get
u case." When he saw the regis
ter in the storeroom tho top part
was open and the handle was In its
place. He did not notice how much It re
gistered. Witness asked Conncll whether he
had no remorse or feeling for ills position.
He replied, ."No, I have not; I have done
nothing wrong. Tile only thing I'm sorry-
tar is the shooting." Before leaving the
place tliey counted the cash. Witness
' checked the ticket aud found it to be correct.
Oil the ticket were the-" words "20th Julv,
£50 30/. J. II. C. and A- S. B." The hand
writing wns Connell's. Witness found no
other ticket. The register (at which at this
point witness looked) showed £2 12/0 on tho
upper, and 4/ nnd 5/ on the lower registers
respectively. .
-Cross-examined by Mr. Purves. witness
said lie thought both ills son and Connell
were on an. equal footiug. Accused bail a
right to do ..whatever Norman Young was
entitled to do. .-
Mr. PurVOs: Ydu think so?
Witness was certain. Conncll was the
oldest servant of the firm. Both witness
and the into Mr. Jackson were always in tho
colony when Connell was their sole manager.
The registers very seldom required looking
to, but tliey required oiling, nnd looking to
generally. He could not say this particular
machine did not work stiffly. If the ma
chine did. work stiflly it was the duty of tho
manager to repair it if he could; If not to
send for a man from the agency. This par
ticular machine would be required nt 5 a.m.
next day in the front bar. His son would
go ou duty at 9 a.m. thnt day. Council
could have put another machine in place of
the stiff working machine instead of putting
it right. There was nothing wrong In ,h!s
oiling It, but witness thought it would be a-
foolish thing to attempt to do anything
more with it. . .
Mr. Purves: We've all doue foolish
tilings.
Continuing, witness said lie thought that
the only thing. Connell did wrong .was iu
"eocklng-up" the till. There were "spy-
llolosV ill Ills hnt«l: <mi» wns nvnr tlin pIihii.
dcllcr. On 12th July lie was "doing the de
tective business himself." He wns not. cold;
he had a rug. (Laughter.) He knew the re
presentative of tho Cash Register Company,
and was surprised to hear lie had taught
Council how to oil and repair tlie registers.
Witness lmew tliat oil and tools were kept
at the hotel tar the purpose of oiling the
machines and seeing that they were in good
working order. They were kept for Mr.
Norman Y'oung, "because lie had a mechani
cal turn of mind." (Laughter.) Mr. Cou
ncil might do the smile If ho thought proper.
Y'oung' and Jackson's took a considerable
sum of money every day, but they only
hanked twice a week. The money wns kept
In a large safe upstairs. The managers wero
nrmed with revolvers to shoot burglars, in
self defence.
Mr. Purves: Oh, of course. Self defence
means your pocket. (Laughter.)
Witness, continuing, said he and ills son
wont nrmcd thnt night In self defence.
(Laughter.)
Re-examined by Mr. Eagleson, witness
said he thought the till In court belonged to
a barman nnmed Clnudc. (Laughter.) He
had hnd -no complaint from Council or any
body that the machine In question wns not ,
working properly. He could not swear as
to the correct nmduiit registered on it on
tlie evening of 2fith July. , Once tlie register
was thrown lincfc to zero it would not give
ii true rqcord. lie had n spare machine
which could lie used on emergency.
Alfred Stephen Burvett,. detective of
police, said thnt in consequence of a com
munication made to Superintendent Sharp
nnd himself by Mr. Young, sett., lie mot Sir.
Youug 'ut Princes-bridge nt 32.30 a.m. on
27tli July. Witness gave evidence corrobo
rating that of Mr. Y'oung. When they en
tered the hotel the place was "a blaze of
light." There were four electric, lights im
mediately surrounding him. When witness
charged Connell with shooting nt him he re
plied. "I hope you did not think I wanted
to shoot you." Witness answered. "You
shot twice nt me, nnd nt Icnst once deliber
ately." Conncll replied, "I'adnilt thnt "
Mr. Purves (incredulously): What?
Witness: Counell said "I admit thnt, hut
I did not recognise you." Witness replied,
"I can't believe .vou: I wish I could."
Cross-examined by Mr; ; Purves. witness
said he was not "in a funk"; he fell on the
floor whilst looking for a weapon when Con
ncll fired at him. "Things were getting
lively," said witness, "but tliey would have
been moro lively If I had hnd n revolver."
Mr. Purves: You would not linve shot any
of them, would you?
Witness: Y'es. I would. (Laughter.)
Mr. Purves: Well, if you had killed nny of
tliem I should hnvo bad the pleasure of de
fending you for your life— (lnugliter)— and
you would have been linnged to a certainty.
(Loud laughter.)
Witness's cross-cxnmlnntion was . con
tinued nt some length until the court rose,
when Mr. Dobbin adjourned the case until
.3.0 a .'ni. next Tuesday.
$