A False Oath

On the question of the date, his Lordship observed:—Surely, Mr. Hammond, it must have been easy for you to remember whether the accused telephoned to you one day or three days afterwards?

Witness—Yes.

His Lordship—And you swear a false oath on the Thursday!

Witness denied that he told accused he could call and get the cheque from the shroff at "any" time.

When he rang you up on the Tuesday did you not then think that if you took it to the bank the cheque would probably not be met?—No, I had no reason to think that at all.

His Lordship—You are a business man. It must have suggested something to your mind!

Witness—I had no suspicion. I thought he was careless and that there was something irregular about the cheque, and I decided to go to the bank and see. When I came back ho rang me up and said he had not called because he had been a bit off colour. There was nothing particularly friendly about the conversation.

Why did you not tell him.you had been to the bank and found he had no account there?—I did not think it necessary to be harsh with him on the telephone. If he had paid the money at 3 o'clock as promised I would have been satisfied.

Did you care whether he paid at 3 o'clock that afternoon, or a month later?—I wanted the money.

Don't you think it would have been fair and reasonable' to let him know then that you wanted it paid?

don't think so in the circumstances. It was up-to him to do so.

You did not think it necessary to tell him that if the money was not paid you proposed to take criminal proceedings?—I thought I had shown exceptional leniency in the case.

You acted with real kindness of heart?—I do not know about that.

At the interview in your office on the following Saturday, Mr. Jones told you generally what the defence was?—He rambled through a whole lot of conversation attempting to excuse Macdonnell.

You stated in the police court that you would have prosecuted even if the amount had been only 100 cents?—Yes: It is not the money that matters.

Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.