TROVE
The
Argus – Fri 23 Sept 1898
Thursday 22nd
September 1898
THE
PENSHURST BANK ROBBERY.
SLATTERY
IN COURT.
THE
DEFENCE AN ALIBI.
ARARAT,
Thursday.
At
the Supreme Court today, before Mr Justice Holroyd, James Ryan,
alias James Slattery, was presented on a charge of robbery under arms at the
Bank of Victoria, Penshurst, on the 4th of August when he assaulted Duncan
Jamieson, the manager of the bank, and stole £563/3/3.
Slattery
was quite composed and self-possessed. He challenged 13 jurors
before a full panel was selected, and, whilst giving thoughtful attention to
the evidence, appeared to be quietly indifferent to his surroundings. Slattery
is a native of this district and the case attracted a great deal of attention,
the court being crowded all day.
The
evidence for the prosecution was practically the same as that
given at the Penshurst Police Court. Duncan Jamieson, bank manager deposed to
the facts of the robbery. Robert Young, groom, identified Slattery as the man
who hired a buggy on the 4th August and did not return it; and Frank Lawson
also identified the accused is the man he saw leaving the bank, and who ran to the buggy and drove away.
Constable
McKenzie deposed that he was not at Penshurst on the day of
the robbery, but on the previous Thursday, the 28th July, the
telegraph wires were cut on each side of Penshurst and a man answering the description
of the robber of the bank was seen in the township. The circumstances connected
with Slattery's arrest, and the finding of the money near the station, were again
narrated.
For
the defence, Frederick Reid, keeper of a coffee place at
Ballarat, was called and stated that between half past 7 and 8 on the
evening of July 27 Slattery called at his house and engaged a bedroom. Witness
showed him up to it, and the bed in the morning presented the appearance of
having been slept in. Slattery to get to Hamilton by 11 o'clock on the
morning of the 28th July would require to have left by the Ballarat
to Ararat train at 11.15 a.m. on the 27th.
Mr
Horwitz who appeared for the prisoner, addressed the jury at considerable length,
remarking that Reid's evidence was a proof that Slattery was not at
Penshurst on the 28th July, and was not identical with the man who
had robbed the bank on August 4. He commented in strong, terms on the way in
which the case had been presented by the Crown, in not calling the men who
travelled in the carriage with Slattery and who, it might be inferred, would
have proved that the prisoner got in the train at Hamilton, and not at
Glenthompson.
The
Court adjourned until to tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock.
TROVE
Portland
Guardian – Monday 26 September 1898
Thursday 22nd
September 1898
The Penshurst Bank Robbery.
ARARAT, Thursday.
At the Supreme Court to-day, before Mr. Justice Holroyd, James Ryan,
alias James Slattery, was presented on a charge of robbery under arms at the
Bank of Victoria, Penshurst, on the 4th of August, when he assaulted Duncan
Jamieson, the manager of the bank, and stole £565 3s 3d.
Slattery was quite composed and
self-possessed, He challenged 13 jurors before a full panel was selected, and,
whilst giving thoughtful attention to the evidence, appeared to be quietly
indifferent to his surroundings. Slattery is a native of this district, and the
case attracted a great deal of attention, the court being crowded all day.
The evidence for the prosecution was practically the same as that given
at the Penshurst Police Court. Duncan Jamieson, bank manager, deposed to the
facts of the robbery; Robert Young, groom, identified Slattery as the man who
hired a buggy on the 4th August and did not return it; and Frank Lawson also
identified the accused as the man he saw leaving the bank, and who ran to the
buggy and drove away.
Constable McKenzie deposed that he was not at Penshurst on the day of
the robbery, but on the previous Thursday, the 28th July, the telegraph wires
were cut on each side of Penshurst, and a man answering the description of the
robber of the bank was seen in the township. The circumstances connected with
Slattery's arrest, and the finding ot the money near the station, were again
narrated. For the defense, Frederick Reid, keeper of a coffee palace at
Ballarat, was called, and stated that between half-past 7 and 8 on the evening
of July 27, Slattery called at his house and engaged a bedroom. Witness showed
him up to it, and the bed in the morning presented the appearance of having
been slept in. Slattery, to get to Hamilton by 11 o'clock on the morning of the
28th July, would require to have left by the Ballarat to Ararat train at 1.15
a.m. on the 27th. Mr. Horwitz, who appeared for the prisoner, addressed the
jury at consider able length, remarking that Reid's evidence was a proof that
Slattery was not at Penshurst on the 28th July, and was not identical with the
man who robbed the bank on August 4. He commented in strong terms on the way in
which the case had been presented by the Crown, in not calling the men who
travelled in the carriage with Slattery, and who, it might be inferred, would
have proved that the prisoner got in the train at Hamilton, and not at
Glenthompson.
Friday 23rd September 1898
ARARAT, Friday. The prosecutor for the Queen addressed the jury, urging
that the setting up of a half-kind of alibi was merely bolstering up a defenseless
case. Mr. Justice Halroyd reviewed the evidence at great length, and was very
decidedly against the prisoner; and the jury, after a retirement of
half-an-hour, returned a verdict of guilty, and the prisoner was remanded for
sentence. On Saturday morning the prisoner was sentenced to 10 years' hard
labor, with the first week in every year in solitary confinement.
TROVE
The
Horsham Times – Fri 5 August 1898
Friday 30th September 1898
THE PENSHURST BANK ROBBERY.
A TRUE LOVER.
Of the final act in the trial of James Slattery for the Penshurst bank
robbery the '' Ararat Advertiser" writes:- He (Slattery) blanched somewhat
as sentence was pronounced upon him, but in a quiet voice, which betrayed no
emotion, said the sentence was a cruel one - a remark which brought from His
Honour a stern rebuke. But a little way removed from the Court House was the
wretched young woman to whom Slattery was engaged to be married over four years
ago, and who, had her lover not taken the first downward step in crime, but had
instead again contested the electorate of Normanby, might possibly have lived
to be the wife of a Minister of the Crown. To her the blow was a severe one,
but, recovering her composure, she assured Slattery, in the last interview
allowed her, that even were it 20 years she would remain true to him. She
purposes taking up her residence in Melbourne so as to be able to see the man
as often as the goal regulations will allow.
One of the closing acts in connection with the stirring little drama of
the robbery of the Bank of Victoria at Penshurst took place on Tuesday, when
Superintendent Larkan handed over to the manager of the Ararat branch the sum
of £565 3s 3d, found when the robber of the bank, James Slattery, was arrested.
