Police Intelligence

LARCENY

The Queen vs. William Donnelly

The prisoner was arraigned on a charge of stealing a revolver from the house of Wm. Graham, in the spring of 1868. It appears that he visited Graham's house one afternoon, and seeing the weapon, took it in his hands to examine it. While he was doing so, Graham went out, and when he returned Donnelly was gone, and the revolver nowhere to be found.[...]

The great peculiarity distinguishing this case was, the article said to have been stolen had never been found. Graham accosted Donnelly in the street one day, and asked him to return it. Donnelly replied that he did not have it: a soldier had it. The soldiers were gone, however, and that fact could not now be proven. It was stated that Graham and one of his witnesses, a woman who had lived with him eleven years, and whom he described as a poor orphan, were habitual tipplers, and encouraged at their house a number of persons of similar habits. It was therefore considered just possible that one of these persons might have taken the revolver and given it for whiskey to some one else.

The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and the prisoner was discharged.