Below also see: William Henry Jones, 1893
William Henry Jones, 1894,
William Henry Jones, 1901
[Unfortunately no newspaper reports of William Henry Jones’s, Gunnedah Quarter Sessions, 20 Aug 1889, indecent assault on a boy, trial could be found].
William Henry Jones, 1893
The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, Thu 14 Sep 1893 1
EAST MAITLAND POLICE COURT.
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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11.
(Before the Police Magistrate.)
A HARDENED CRIMINAL.—An old offender, William Henry Jones, who was let out of gaol on Saturday morning last, after doing a sentence of eight months for assaulting the police at Narrabri, was arrested by Constable Shaw in Day-street, East Maitland, on Saturday evening on a charge of drunkenness. The constable had some difficulty in getting the handcuffs on his prisoner, who resisted violently, biting, kicking, and swearing at the officer like a maniac. Sergeant Forrest came to the rescue at last, but while being conveyed to the lockup Jones succeeded in tripping the Sergeant, and both came to the ground. After some trouble the prisoner was landed in durance vile, and appeared before the bench on Monday, when he pleaded guilty to charges of drunkenness, using indecent language, and resisting the police. For the first offence he was fined 20s or seven days, for the second £3 or two months, and for the third he received six months without the option. The sentences were made cumulative. A long list of convictions were recorded against prisoner, who gave his age as 50, but he does not look it, and his activity when being arrested seemed to belie it. He told the Police Magistrate that he was very sorry for his unruly conduct, and pleaded that he had only come out of gaol on the morning of the offences, but Mr Brooks told him that was the more reason why he should keep straight.
William Henry Jones, 1894
The Sydney Morning Herald, Tue 9 Oct 1894 2
VINEGROWERS’ AND FRUITGROWERS’
ASSOCIATION OF NSW.
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…
Narrabri, Monday.
The Quarter Sessions were held to-day before Judge Gibson. The Crown Prosecutor was Mr Bevan.
John Jones, [aka William Henry Jones], charged with forgery of a cheque, was found guilty and sentenced to four years.
William Holcombe was charged with dummying, and was defended by Mr WP Crick. The accused was acquitted.
Clark and Riddle, young men, charged with stealing from a hut at Edgeroi, were found guilty, and remanded till to-morrow for sentence.
William Henry Jones, 1901
The Sydney Morning Herald, Fri 26 Jul 1901 3
QUARTER SESSIONS.
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…
Tamworth, Thursday.
At the Quarter Sessions to-day, before Acting Judge Harris, Mr AC White was Crown prosecutor.
Andrew Kerwin was charged with obtaining goods from Treloar and Co, storekeeper, under false pretences. He pleaded guilty, and was remanded for sentence.
William Henry Jones pleaded guilty to uttering a valueless cheque for £1 5s at Tamworth, and was also remanded for sentence.
A young girl named Ada Bertha Louisa Peterson was charged with stealing a cheque for £2 18s 6d, which was part of a letter sent by post, and the property of the Postmaster-General. Accused pleaded guilty. In view of the fact that the girl had been punished in the lower court for stealing the letter the Judge expressed surprise that the magistrates committed her for trial for stealing the cheque, and expressed the opinion that the girl had suffered sufficiently already without dragging her to the dock again. He inflicted the lightest punishment possible upon the accused, sentencing her to imprisonment until the rising of the Court.
John Peacock pleaded not guilty to a charge of abducting a girl named Mary Elizabeth Sanderson, 14 years of age, from the residence of her grandparents, near Texas, in the Moree district. He was defended by Mr A Thomson. The jury acquitted the accused, and the Court adjourned till the following morning.
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The Tamworth News and Liverpool Plains and Gwydir Districts’ Advertiser, Fri 26 Jul 1901 4
TAMWORTH QUARTER SESSIONS.
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FIRST DAY, THURSDAY, JULY 25.
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(Before His Honor Mr Acting-Judge Harris.)
Mr CA White, Crown Prosecutor.
…
TAMWORTH QUARTER SESSIONS.
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SECOND DAY, FRIDAY, JULY 26.
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(Before His Honor Mr Acting-Judge Harris.)
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ALLEGED FORGERY AND FALSE PRETENCES.
William Henry Jones was charged with having passed to Mrs Harriet Martin, of Tamworth, on the 27th June, a cheque for £1 5s drawn on the Commercial Banking Company (Narrabri Branch) which was afterwards found to be valueless.
He was also charged with forging a cheque for £5 drawing on the same bank on 24th June.
He pleaded guilty to the former charge, and was remanded for sentence.
To the charge of forgery he pleaded not guilty.
The following jury was empanelled:—F Cross, JE White, WG Lyle, FH Inches, C Dunbar, E Champion, DE Veness, W Condon, H Bryant, N Cohen, J Jacob, G Presland.
Thomas Eveleigh, accountant in the Commercial Bank at Tamworth, deposed: The accused came into the Commercial Bank on June 27 and tendered a cheque for £5 to be cashed, drawn on the Narrabri branch; I told him I could not cash it as it was unknown to us and so was he, and that we would send it to Narrabri for collection; he agreed and asked me to get the Narrabri people to forward a telegram, and he gave me a shilling to pay for the telegram; I forwarded the cheque to Narrabri and next day received a telegram; I did not see the accused in the bank again.
To accused: You could come into the bank and inquire for money without my knowing it.
Reginald JH Gibson, clerk in the Narrabri branch deposed: I have seen the cheque before at our branch; a person named WH Hunt has an account at our bank; I have seen accused at Narrabri; on 12th December he obtained the cheque book produced; he asked for it for Jacob Hunt, junr, who is a brother of WH Hunt; the cheque produced was taken out of the book produced; the signature on the cheque is not that of William Henry Hunt who has an account at our bank; accused has no account at our bank.
To accused: I swear that you are the person that I issued the book to; I issued it to you because Mr McNamara, who was in the bank at the time, said he knew you as Jones, and I thought your application was a genuine one.
William Henry Hunt, grazier, residing at Warialda, deposed: I don’t know accused; I have an account at the Commercial Bank, Narrabri; the signature on the cheque produced is not mine; I never authorised accused to draw the cheque.
To accused: I had never seen you previous to last week as far as I know, nor have we ever had any correspondence.
Sergeant Gamble, stationed at Tamworth, deposed: I saw accused at Mrs Martin’s boarding house on 28th June, very drunk; Constable Vidler and I took him to the lockup; the next morning I charged him with the offence named in the indictment; I received the cheque from Mr Eveleigh; on the 13th instant I showed it to the accused, and said, “This is the cheque you are charged with forging;” he made no reply; I found the book produced on accused the day I arrested him.
To accused: I had no warrant to arrest you; I arrested you because I heard something.
His Honor: He did what every policeman has the power to do in case of emergency, when he hears of the committal of a felony.
Witness (to accused): I had heard that the cheque had been returned from Narrabri.
This closed the case for the Crown.
Accused did not call any evidence, but appealed to the jury to find him not guilty. He was in an exceedingly weak state of health, had no recollection of the transaction, and moreover, according to the evidence given, the most that could be said was that it was an attempt, as he had not received money or goods as a result.
The judge summed up the evidence, and the jury found a verdict of guilty without leaving the box.
Accused pleaded for leniency, but after hearing a long list of convictions on similar charges, His Honor said the penalty must be severe.
Accused was then sentenced to four years’ imprisonment on each charge, sentences to be concurrent.
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The Sydney Morning Herald, Sat 27 Jul 1901 5
QUARTER SESSIONS.
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Tamworth, Friday.
The Quarter Sessions before Acting-Judge Harris were continued and concluded today.
William Henry Jones pleaded not guilty to a charge of forging a cheque for £5 on the Narrabri branch of the Commercial Bank of Sydney, and uttering same at Tamworth on June 24. He was undefended, and was found guilty. The police proved many previous convictions against him, and he received a sentence of four years’ imprisonment.
Andrew Kerwin, who the previous day had pleaded guilty to a charge of obtaining goods by false pretences from Treloar and Co, Tamworth, received a sentence of 12 months’ imprisonment.
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The Tamworth Observer and Northern Advertiser, Sat 27 Jul 1901 6
QUARTER SESSIONS.
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(Before His Honor Acting Judge Harris.)
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THE Court of Quarter Sessions opened in Tamworth on Thursday morning. Mr AC White being Crown Prosecutor.
…
A VALUELESS CHEQUE.
William Henry Jones was charged with having passed on Mrs Harriet Marin, of Tamworth, on the 27th June, a cheque for £1 5s, drawn on the Commercial Banking Company, Ltd, of Sydney, Narrabri branch, which was subsequently found to be valueless. He was also charged with forging a cheque for £5, drawn on the same branch of the bank.
To the former charge he pleaded guilty, whilst to the latter his plea was not guilty.
He was remanded for sentence in the first case, and on the application of the Crown Prosecutor the forgery charge was deferred until later on.
…
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FRIDAY, JULY 26.
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The Sessions resumed at 10 am.
FORGERY AND UTTERING.
William Henry Jones was charged with forging a cheque for £5 on the Narrabri branch of the Commercial Banking Company, Ltd, of Sydney, and also with uttering the said cheque, at Tamworth, on the 24th June.
Accused was undefended.
The following jury was empanelled:—N Cohen (foreman), F Cross, Jas White, WG Lyle, FH Inches, C Dunbar, Ed Champion, DE Veness, Wm Condon, H Bryant, J Jacob, and G Presland.
Thomas Eveleigh, account in the Tamworth branch of the Commercial Bank, stated: I know the accused; I remember seeing him on the 27th June at the Commercial Bank; he tendered a cheque to be cashed; the cheque produced, which was for £5, is the one; I told him not to cash it, but would send it to Narrabri for collection; he gave me 1s to get a reply by wire from Narrabri; the cheque was forwarded to Narrabri, and we subsequently received it back again; the accused did not come back to the bank; I handed the cheque to the police.
To the accused: I never saw you again at the bank; it is possible that you might go to the bank and I not know it.
Reginald James Herbert Gibson, accountant [sic] in the Narrabri branch of the Commercial Bank, deposed: I have seen the cheque produced before; it was sent to my bank for collection; there is an account at my bank in the name of WH Hunt; I know the accused by sight; before I received the cheque from Tamworth I saw the accused at the Narrabri branch; he came in and asked for a cheque book, which I gave him; I gave it to him on the 3rd December last; when accused asked for the book he said it was for Jacob hunt, junior; he is a brother of WH Hunt, and has an account at the bank; the cheque produced is taken from the book I gave him; I know Mr WH Hunt’s signature; the signature on the cheque is not that of William Henry Hunt, who has an account at the bank.
To the accused: I am certain that you are the man to whom I issued the cheque in December last; I never saw you before I issued the book; it is not customary to issue books to strangers; you asked for it for Mr Jacob Hunt, junr; Jacob Hunt is a grazier some distance from Narrabri.
William Henry Hunt , grazier, residing at Warialda, stated: I do not know the accused; I lived at Narrabri at one time; I have an account in the Narrabri bank; I had one there in December last; the signature on the cheque produced is not mine; I never authorised any one to draw a cheque for £5.
To the accused: I have never seen you before previous to seeing you at the police court; there has never been any correspondence between us.
Sergeant Gamble , stationed at Tamworth, deposed: I know the accused; I remember seeing him on the 28th June last at Mrs Martin’s boarding-house in Peel-street; he was lying on the bed very drunk; I arrested him there and charged him with the present offence; I know the cheque produced; I received it from Mr Eveleigh, of the Commercial Bank, Tamworth; when I showed the cheque to accused and told him he was charged with forging it, he made no reply; the cheque book produced I found on the accused when I arrested him.
To the accused: I remember Friday, 28th June, when I arrested you; I had no authority to arrest you; I arrested you because I received certain information; before I arrested you I heard that the cheque had been proved valueless.
This concluded the case for the Crown.
Accused [William Henry Jones] made a statement from the dock, and asked the jury to find him not guilty on the ground that he had got nothing out of the transaction; in fact; he was out of pocket by it, as he had spent one shilling in having a telegram sent away.
The jury, without leaving the box, returned a verdict of guilty.
In answer to his Honor as to whether he had anything to say, the asked stated that if he were given a chance by a light sentence being passed upon him he would undertake to leave the State on his liberation and not trouble the police again. He also cited his ill-health and old age in support of his plea for a light sentence.
The Sergeant read out particulars of a great number of offences accused had been convicted of.
His Honor said the sentence of the court must be a severe one, and accused was sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment. He received a similar sentence for the previous charge of passing a valueless cheque on Mrs Martin, to which he had pleaded guilty, and had been remanded. The two sentences are to be concurrent.
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William Henry Jones, Gaol photo sheet 7
![SRNSW: NRS2327, [3/5988], Maitland Gaol photographic description book, 1875-1930, No. 1222, p. 66, R5130. Emphasis added.](../../images/trials/1889-Jones-5988-gaol-photo-1222.jpg "SRNSW: NRS2327, [3/5988], Maitland Gaol photographic description book, 1875-1930, No. 1222, p. 66, R5130. Emphasis added.") |
Gaol Photo Sheet - Transcribed Details
No. 1222
Maitland
Date when Portrait was taken: 16th August 1901
Name: William Henry Jones
(aka William Henry Albert Jones)
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Native place: England Year of birth: 1846 Arrived Ship: Windsor Castle Trade or occupation Religion: R.C. [or] C of E Education, degree of: R&W Height: 5' 1½" Weight On committal: 121 Colour of hair: Brown to Grey & bold Colour of eyes: Blue Marks or special features: Tattoo Rose Shamrock & thistle. Anchor Cross & heart Left forearm Coat of Arms |
Where and when tried: Offence: Sentence: Remarks: |
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(No. of previous Portrait ... 872 Maitland 502 Parramatta ) PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS |
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| Where and When | Offence. | Sentence | |||
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Narrabri PC Gunnedah PC Gunnedah Q.S Narrabri PC ditto ditto East Maitland PC Narrabri PC Narrabri Q.S Wee Waa PC Narrabri PC Tamworth Q.S |
20 22 20 16 29 10 11 3 8 15 12 25 |
12 11 8 9 11 1 9 2 10 10 12 7 |
1887 1888 1889 1890 1892 1893 1893 1894 1894 1898 1900 1901 |
Drunk Indecently expose person Indecent assault on a boy False pretences Drunk & disorderly Assault Drunk Drunk False pretences False pretences False pretences False pretences |
20/- or 7 days C (Leased ?) 2 months HL | 15 months HL 4 months HL 20/- or 7 days C | 2 months HL | 20/- or 7 days C | 20/- or 7 days C 4 years PS 6 months HL 6 months HL | 4 years PS |
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1 The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, Thu 14 Sep 1893, p. 7.
2 The Sydney Morning Herald, Tue 9 Oct 1894, p. 6. Emphasis added.
3 The Sydney Morning Herald, Fri 26 Jul 1901, p. 5. Emphasis added.
4 The Tamworth News and Liverpool Plains and Gwydir Districts’ Advertiser , Fri 26 Jul 1901, pp. 3, 4. Emphasis added.
5 The Sydney Morning Herald, Sat 27 Jul 1901, p. 14. Emphasis added.