Man from Lemberg and the Thousand Dollars Jan Nor aged 28, a tailor, who was arrested in the Hongkong Shanghai Bank after stealing $1,000 from Captain Williams, of the str. Wosang, was arraigned in the Mixed Court, on Wednesday, Detective-Sergeant Tinkler said that the accused claimed to be a Pole, but the Polish Consul would not recognize him He was born at Lemberg, and it was asserted that, he was really an Austrian. There were suspicions that he had been intimately connected with Bolshevist propaganda.
Captain Williams went to the Pank on Tuesday forenoon and cashed a cheque for $2,400. He then turned to speak to someone and, looking round again, he faund that a packet. of $1,000 had been taken from the money he had placed in a handbag. He seized the accused. who was the. nearest. man to the bag and searched him, but could not find the notes. Then he picked up the accused's straw hat from the counter and found' the notes underneath it.
The accused had told the police that he went to the Bank to trans-for $20 to the account of a woman in Peking and that he had only been there about five minutes, but they did not believe this, as a detective had seen him there for at least half an hour.
A Suspicrous Act, Captain Williams gave evidence that the money was for the wages of his crew. He drew $2,000 in two packets of equal amounts. As soon as witness noticed one of the packets was missing, the defendant threw up his hands and muttered something, which made witness suspicious of him.
Mr. W. D. Guy, who was also at the counter, said that, just before the theft was discovered, man flicked a paper across" his face.
The defendant confessed to the theft, pleading that, being poor and having failed to secure work, whilst his wife was sick, he was tempted when he saw so much: money near him. He was afraid after he had taken it and so gave himself up. "I am not a professional thief," he urged, "but, I simply succumbed to temptation because I am so poor."
More Ixquinies py Ponce.
Detective-Sergeant Tinkler said that the police suspected that the defendant had been associated with another foreigner in a number of pocket-picking cases. Inspector Wilson added that the police were anxious to find out something more about the man than they knew at present and he was therefore instructed to ask that sentence be postponed.
The defendant was informed that he had been found guilty, but he would be held in custody for fortnight. whilst further inquiries were being made and he would then be brought up for sentence.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.