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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1935-07-26, Page 6•tj1i�iieS tti CUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE "4 ,(Condensed from The Neo ff. , a Porker in Reader's Digest), aPtaing a trial like Haiptmann's,' apple talk endlessly about circum - wetted evidence. Albaut no other ject do they talk so neuelt and . aw so little. "Never aught to con - allot on circumstantial evidence," they wag their heads sadly, Question them and you find that they are ut- terly unable .to give any definition of what they denounce so readily. Yet these people are acting, evry day of their lives and in all relations of Wee on circumstantial evidence, and often preferi•'ing it to direct evi- denee or the testimony of . eyewit- - messes. Suppose that at a party, while most of the gussets are playing games, two of the men, Brown and Hirshberg, wander back to the din- ing room. For the next two hours they remain unseen, As the party (breaks up the two emerge and Brown promptly trips over the door sill and falls flat, Both are lifted into their cars, surrounded by an overpowering • stench of Mist o' the Mountain, Mrs. Bron takes the wheel and begins to speak her mind. "Quite wrong, n1'd'ear," mutters Brown. "Never touched a drip. Jes' a lig glass of -ginger ale. Musta been the s'rireps." There she has her choice.•'Brown's statement is the direct evidence of an eyewitness as to what went on in the dining room. Everything else — the way he, looks and talks and acts and smells --is nothing but circumstantial evidence. Of course Mra, Blown dis- trusts that, instantly adcepts Brown's direct evidence and says, "Isn't it strange how a little ginger ale will affect a man?" The classic example '.f circumstan- tial evidence is the f.' -:print seen on the beach by Re/la .=on Crusoe. He knew from that circenn:tance that there had been a stranger on his is- land. He wouldn't hay's cared. for" the direct evidence t)the contrary of any number of people. An often -cited definition of circum- .tantial evidence came from Chief Justice Shaw: ". . . a body of facts may be proved of so conclusive! a character as to warrant a firm be -• lief of the fact quite. as strong and certain as that on which discreet men, are accustomed to act in their most' important concerns." Mrs. Roosevelt. in her 'remarks a• - bout the Hauptmann' trail, said, "I thought from What I read that the verdict was based entirely on circum- stantial evidence and, while not in sympathy with Hauptmann, I was a little perturbed at the thought of what might happen to any innocent • erson insituation." a similar p To say that the conviction was bas- ed entirely on circumstantial evidence is true only in the narrow, technical Sense. It amounts to the obvious statement that, as do most murders, DO eyewitness was present at the ac- rr'al killing. But the crime included rr L2l II\• s'uhsidiary acts, to which there .was direct evidence. And it is wholly unnecessary to be perturbed about an innocent person in a position similar to Hawptnvann's, because not M a million years would the powers of l'eav'en and earth unite to tangle au innocent person in a net of so many strands, That a lady as intelligens as Mrs. Roosevelt could fancy such a :satiation conceivable shows how gen- eral is the custom of taking our idea; of creninal procedure not from what ie actually happening in the courts l'ut from the fantastic inventions of novelists. Their Axiom No. 1, for n years, has been .that the Accused (who being tried on cireurnetan- t;al evidence), is always innocent and the Police are always wrong. 'wo Learned legal gentlemen, Pro- fessor Edwin M. Borchard, of Yale, and Mr. Russell Lutz, listing the er- rors of criminal justice in a recent book called "Convicting the Inno- cent," were able to record no instance iri this country of the execution of the death penalty upon an innocent person. This hubbub about eiircustantial evidence was raisedm in case of Professor Webster in 1850. The Pro- fer-sor, an elderly and, • respectable teacher at Harvard. 'had a long- standing quarrel, with his creditor Dr. Parkman. He made an oppi' ment one day to receive the D in his laboratory,` Nobody- saw • TEE MEM EXPOSITOR There was absolutely no ease at all against Dr. Crippen: Nothing ex- cept :that, under an assumed name, he had esuddetaly fled across the sea with his typist, who was disguised as a (boy. That, and the facts that he had left in his London basement some fragments of his very disagree- able wife, 'together with a piece of bis yawn pyjamas, and that she had been ;poisoned by hyosoire---a drug no good reason. That was all theme wbich.he had recently •purchased, for was against him; no direct evidence of the 'killing. Yet he was legally executed. On the other hand, many famous erroneous convictions have resulted from the acceptance of the diretat testiinony of witnesses. In France, the innocent Lesudques went to the guillotine, in this country the Boorn brothers were convicted, and in Great Britain Oscar Slater and Adolph Beck were punished because of the mistaken or perjured 'testimony of supposed eyewitnesses. In the history of murder trials an this country I know of no case in which the actual killing was done in secret, and in which the accuses` de- nied guilt, where there was a lager, more varied and more convincing body of evidence for the .State than in the trial of Hauptmann. 'C'onsider'ing that he, a man with a criminal record, was given a more patient hearing than would have been granted anywhere else in the world and that his astute attorney was al- lowed the usual license in flinging insinuations in every direction, the fact that the jury, from the begin- ning of their deliberations, were un - a.' ous,as to guilt :is extremely im- ressive. Few murder mysteries are ever entirely cleared up; but to •say, as some are saying, that "the ver- dict has solved nothing; we are still completely in the dark" suggests not for reasoning but stubborpness. the The 'whole body of evidence tended two men together that afternoon; no to prove that :the murderer, the one even Saw 'Dr. Parkman enter the writer of the votes, and the recipe - building. but Parkman vanished, and ent of the money were the same man. only reappeared in the form of bones And various acts, all part of the scattered about the laboratory. The crime, were.attrlbuted to Haurptmann ease, at the end. hinged on the Iden:- b.y- direct evidence. Thus: He was ification of Dr- Parkman's false teeth identified as having been near the dikcov eyed in the furnace. Professor scene of the crime by more than one Wegsters conviction, based absolute- 1v1itness, but especially by one who ly- on circumstantial evidence, was impressed the Jury and, what is more loudly denounced and then=he eon- interesting, the wise and just judge.. He was identified as ,the sender of a note to Dr. Condone' At the payment of the ransom he was ,identified by two witnesses, one who talked with him face to face, and one who heard his voice. He showed these that he was not a go-between but the pdinci- pal. He was identified, by numerous witnesses, as the .passer of the bland money, and they were able to de- scribe this man.so well that portrait drawn from their descriptions, before the arrest, proved to be a fair like- ness of Hauptmann. The chief items of circumstantial evidence were, first, his possession of the ransom money, to account for which ch he gave an absurd explana- ti'on. The ladder was partly made from woad from his house -=one of the most convincing pieces of testi- m r ny ever offered in a murder trial. He had Dr. Condon's telephone num- her written in a secret place in his fessed the crime. Poisoners do not usually march in- to the room wirh a bottle of arsenic and administer the dost in the pres- ence of the rector and the assembled family. Yet in ,,:he case of Sarah Jane Robinson of Massachusetts, sev- en relatives and friends had all died of arsenic while under her care, bringing her financial profit. and so some steps had to be taken, even though it grieved the disbelievers in circumstantial evidence. Another great murderer by system was George Joseph Smith. Waren three of his eight wives were deed n - ed in the bath while he was nearby. it was Obvious ua that no one saw hint drown them, but in spite of the' whol- ly circumstantial nature of the evi- dence, an English jury refused to be- lieve that so many drownings were mere coincidences, and turned him over to the hangman. A Few Words to You - About the C. N. R. • During The In 1 1934 the average number of persons employed by Canadian National Railways was 74,774, and the wages paid them came to almost 'one hundred million dollars. This represented, both as to number employed and amount of payroll, an advance over 1933, and practically the whole increase in personnel was due to re-employment of those whose s services had previously been dispensed with owing to lack of business. average mileage of road operated in 1934 was 23,676 miles, making Canadian National Railways the largest single railway system in the Western Hemisphere. 934 the total freight transported by Canadian National Railways amounted to 44,719,477 tons, an increase of eighteen percent over the previous year. The average haul of freight was 326 miles. The value of this freight is not ascertainable, but it must rite into many hundred millions of dollars, and, comprising all kinds of necessities and luxuries, contributed to the welfare and happiness of every man, woman and child in the Dominion. Canadian National Railways carried over 10,000,000 passengers during 1934. This was also an increase over 1933. These paid in fares $16,331,299. or an average of $1.62 per passenger with an average journey of seventy-one and three-quarter miles. These figures, without embellishment or amplification, show the vastness of the public services rendered by Canadian National Railways. The system is conducted on as economical a scale as is consistent with the highest standards of railway operation. The improvement in business in 1934 over the previous year enabled more people to be employed .:. more wages to be paid . - . more service to be rendered. also, more money was available to be spent among Canadian producers and Canadian merchants. A continuation of this improvement in our business will carry on and enlarge these good results . . the whole country will benefit. This year Canadian National Railways is co-operating in an extensive way in the national movement to diminish unemployment and to restore industrial activity ... to help banish the depression and bring better times for everyone. Canadian National Railways feels justified in asking for your co -operations A greater use by Canadian citizens of the facilities offered -by this system — transportation, express, telegraphs, hotels — will materially help not only us, but all Canada s s and you will receive full value for every dollar spent. Duringthe present Summer season the C.N.R. is tI providing special fares and excursions between points throughout Canada. These are exceptional travel . bargains. Tbe n,ea'rest C.N.R. agent will be glad to give full particulars. 4 Those Amazing Dean firotheys (Condensed from Vanity Fair in. Reader's Digest). The Dean Brothers, Jerome and Paul, the two greatest living baseball pitchers, possess the twit) character- istics most likely to endear them to A merican hearts. Jerome, otherwise known as Dizzy, has the homespun, Coyish humor that is completely in- digenous to the country. Paul, new teamed with his brother under the co - nickname of 'Daffy} never says any- thing., ny-thing., Any country that made na- tional heroes out of Will Rogers and Calvin Coolidge is simply a setup for the Dean (boys. Really the only thing they missed for complete deification was to have been born in a log ,cabin. As it was, they were modeled with clay from, a poor Arkansas farm, and when Dizzy first started to pitch, wh'i'ch was at the age of 12, he pitched bare-footed in farm (boy rags, which means ov- eralls with one 'shloulder strap and a ragged cotton u •dershirt. The ball that he used was a stone wound with yarn unraveled rom a pair of his father's eavy oollen socks. You k w, ,course, that to -day Jerome an Pa 1 Dean are the pro- perty of the; t. Louis Cardinals,• that they are the most skilled and highest priced pitchers in either league, that between them and practically single- handed they won the world's cham- pionship for St, Louis last fall, that they are on the road to a sport face that will replace that of the fading Babe Ruth, that they are now quiet, civilized citizens who wear store clothes that fit, ].five in the best' ho :bels, 'own ,houses in Florida, act on the vaudeville stage and have signed articles in the newspapers. Jerome Herman (Dizzy) Dean was born Jay Harmer Dean, 24 years ago, apparently in three :places, Holden- ville, Lueas and Mansfield, Arkansas. This calls for explanations which are characteristic of Dizzy who ,gives a different our of the three as his 'birth- place each time he his questioned, but rationalizes it by declaring that the great Dean is really entitled to three birthplaces. Dizzy's father had a great friend. 'elle friend's son, named Jerome Her- man, died. But Dizzy said that he reckoned even though Jerome Her- man was gone he was going to nsake the name something in the world. And slo Jay Hanner`Dean became Jer- ome Herman Dean. And he did make the ;name a famous one—except that everyone calls him and knows him as Dizzy. Dizzy then was raised on a scratchy lit(sle eilakanlsra;s farm When the vegabher (permitted he attended the little red school house on Chiickahah Mountain. 'Hle quit after the fourth grade and went back to plowing, chopping wood, raising coition and pecans, milking lows; feeding the hogs and making himself useful. But house, and he,lied about it. That all the ransom letters were in his hand was evident :without recourse to the experts 'on writing, whale all but one of the handwriting experts called in his behalf refused to testify for him —an unusual event. He was in pos- session of the child's sleeping jacket. He changed many of the ransom bills in a manner peculiarly furtive. In addition, there were ten or mlore resemblances between the murderer and Hraup•bm,ann, Plainly, the mur- derer was a Gerrinan his headquar- ters were the Bronx,P and he might reasonably• be expected to have had experience as a 'burglar, ; and'4o 'be' capable of previ'auie callous crimes against women and children. T h e murderer was bold to the point of foolhardiness: to enter a lighted house in early evening and steal a child from the cradle, must, for its brazen quality. be. rare if not unique in the history of crime. Hauptmann has given indications that he has exactly this mixture of courage and folly.' The murderer was a second-rate car- penter—which describes Hauiptmann. The murderer was avid for money. And Fdauntmann at the trial became livelier, during the discussion of his Wall Street career. There were pe- culiaribies of speech and of spelling used by the murderer and by Haupt - mann. The murderer owned a car, had to be agile and athletic, and be- came suddenly affluent when the•ran- som was paid. All of which describes Hauptmann. The murderer had to be absent from home at least part of a day and night at the time of the kidnapping, and the witness who so testified as to Haupt mann was not satisfactorily refuted. The murderer, not having an honest alibi, would cast about for a faked one. As did Hauptntan,n. �. ' F ver•erthing known tends to show that the kidnapper went by himself to the oormmission of the crflm.e, and that. from the start, he planned mur- der. It has never been hinted that any provision was ever made for con- cealing the child aliiv'e, anywhere. (A recent visit to the scene of the crime leads me to think that the grave may have been dug before the child was taken), Against a mass of damag'in.g evi- dence, the defense was astonishingly weak. The legal saylin•g ay that an alibi overthrown is a conviction. The comic chorus of alibi wi'tnes•s•es, s'prwngfng- up at th•e eleventh , hour in answer bo advertke entsand •only after it was widely known at what plaes- tablished, t needs little dom'men hour the alibi mast teThe tale of Fisch and the shoe -box eon- taining $14,000 negligently left be- hind --.by a pauper] ---,was so incred- ible as to be ridiculous. Hauptmann is ;the typical criminal, not with'ou't his amiable moments, hut a ruthless egoist. He had eluded the German .police and fo'oied• ire Ahog• erican imimi'gratibn officers, Ie came do think that he could, pull off any job and so would show the Y'anke'es something big. Iris IS the criminal's typical combination of courage and egrregl+ous folly,"of superfivilal clever- ness. and gezwfrie stt1P44. :.... . he "always liked to throw things. He could kill snakes and -squirrels by bhmo'wling rocks at them, and so na- turally,• when they played their ball games 'with their home made 'balls and -hand vvatittled' bats, Dizzy pitched. 'When he was 12 years old, though he didn't go to the school, he 'began pitching for a high school team at Spalding,-Okaahoma, five miles from Holdenville. He was little over 12 when he shut out the team of the Okllahoma City Teadher'ts College, allowing them two hats• and striking out 14. He was still in his bare feet; he received his first pair of shoes at 16, when he enlisted in the lath Field Artillery at San Antoio, His ball playing --as good as his soldiering was terrible—attracted so much attention that his fo,ther was able to buy him out of the Army and he went to work for the Public Ser- vice 'Co., in San Antonio, reading riveters ao that he ,could play on their ball team. His .first year in training canna with the big leagues, they fill- ed the bases on the (big ro'oki•e. Gus Mancuso, a noted veteran catcher, started for the mound to confer with Diz waved him ,back. "Hey," he shouted, "you catch. I'll pitch." He then struck out, in a row, three of the greatest hitters in the game. iStlories elonve (hhtifting back from his mirror league days. When he first joined St, Joseph he had no clothes. He went along un'bil a shirt got dirty. Then he bought a new oneand stuffed the old one in a :bureau •drawer. He didn't understand about laundries --or .hotels edbher, He slept in' three hotels, 'whichever one of the three was neaxest when • fa- tigue 'olverttoak him. (Hie was upset when he drew a bill for a month from each place, His adventures, his escapades, born of ignorance, inexperience, pride in has ability, contempt for other pit- chers, 'would fill .a merry ibobk. You Would have to see allies --a Cardinal nowt -eon a s'weltering day in August in a fur coat and blanket, stolemmly l'igh'ting a little •fire in front of his dugout in the ,ball yard and warming his fingers oyer it. Or, as solemnly, instructing a wide-eyed boy to ,bring him a piece of ice to be delivered after ,he finished pitching Cincinnati into 'subjection to win the pennant, so that he might cool off the plate, red-hot from his pitching, and then doing just that, when the youth show- ed up with it. He is big and easygoing and lov- able an y d to -al, Remember bhe time when he went on striike for more pay for his big •brlother Paul? Paul never says anything. He is as quiet and sblber as Dizzy is gay, sparkling, !playful and noisy. He just comes in- tro the park, goes to the mound, piltch- es a 'on'e 'or two -hit game, like as not, or even a classic no-hitter, takes his shower and goes away. And he never says or does anything. But he grew up as Dizzy did, play- ing ball. He even played shortstop for that same Spalding high school team until the pitcher's arnn went lance one day and he stepped in, and pitched. Paul used tb pitch with an c verarnv motion, until Dizzy came home from the minors one summer and went out behind the barn with las brother and taught him his fine, sweeping sidearm motion. Now Paul and Jerome pitch exactly alike. Paul has .Ierome's speed. 'eaten :he acquires his charge of pace he will be even a greater pitcher than his brother. Dizzy married Patricia Nash, a lovely, motherly° girl who looks after him, nurses him and keeps him from signing things. Paul mar- ried recently, too. The faur play bridge together. 'FIn the 1934 world series I was Dizzy's 'ghost' " -_ writes J. Roy Stockton in "The Saturday Evening post" --Wand I had to transcribe his ideas for the public prints. 'I don't want to make them think I'm a win?i- :bag,' he urged. 'But I want to tell the truth. So just say that the Card- inals 'will take them Tigers like a bulldog takes a pussy cat, and that if they get a good foul off me and Paul they can c'onsid'er thedrselves lucky. That won't sound like brag - gin', will it? The way I sees it, .braggin' is where you ain't got noth- ing to back lit up.' And Dizzy has the uncanny ability to do what he says he can do, and a little bit more. The baseball world laughed last spring when he said 'me and Paul' would win 40 or 45 games for the Cardinals. When they had won 45; that wasn't enough, so they won four more, and the pennant. To the 49 triumphe---30 for Dizzy and 19 for Paul --'they added two each over De- troit to make the Cardinals cham- pions of the world." CHICORY Chicory is' a persistent perennial weed with a deep, long, thick root. Introduced from Europe years ago it was grown as a cultivated plant for its roots, which were found and mix- ed with coffee. At the present time it is considered one of our most trou- blesome weeds on road sides, fence lines, vacant places and occasionally on cultivated fields. Having escaped from cultivation it fs now growing in the wild state in every county in the pr'ov'ince and increasing rapidly. 'Chicory is easily distinguished by its leafless, mwch-lbranehed stems bearing numerous clusters; of flower heads (without flower, stalks) on the naked :branches. The flowers are a - 'bout one and a half inches across, a bright blue in color and are usually doled by noon. The leaves, which are Tong with irregular edges, spread out on the ground,and resemble those of the common dandelion. - The presence of chicory irs a culti- vated .field is an indication of lack Of cultivation. A short rotatket of trope ill+ important, With deep (flow"µ ting ag soo4 as t' • t'res,I1 .1,6. lowed by thorough cttativation boil • ways all Fall using‘'broad shares on the cultivator. A hoed crop ,follb'w.. ing this method should clean up all Chicory. The writer has seen fields with Chicory growing ala around fences but not a plant showing in the field:: -Other cases have been ob- served where chdeory plants are found growing all over fields. Upon invest- igation it was found in every case that proper implements were not us- ed and' that thorough cultivation was not Lpractised. One 'need not expect to be able to ebntitel chicory with poor plowing, foalowed by a ..disc bar- row fir narrow teeth on the cultiva- tor. All growth is cut off ,below the ercwn when 'broad, shares which over lap are used and by cultivation both ways a more thorough job is insur- ed. You can pull chicory till you "see stars" but due to the Ien.gth of the 'toots, plants cannot be pulled aut. Scattered plants may be cut off well below the crown in hot dry weather and a handful of salt applied to the portion of the root that remains. Spudding off !below the erown, filling in the hole with earth after, in order to exclude the light or air has also proven effective. For large patches, chemical weed killers are the only practical solution to the problem, us- ing sodium chlorate or a cb,emical with a sodium chlorate •base. One pound per gallon of allater per 100 square feet is recommended, using a power sprayer. Care must be ex- ercised when spraying with sodium chlorate as there is a fire hazard in its use. (Roots are at their weakest point when the plant is in the nbloam stage. This is the ideal time to spud or spray. The vigor of the plants be. ing sprayed, their stage of develop- ment and the condition of the soil are all important factors in their de- struction with chemicals, and. it may be found necessary' to make a second application' to• get any scattered plants. Consult your Agricultural Representative or Wood Inspector for inforrnation on Chemical Wood Kill- ers. An average chicory plant will pro- duce 3,000 seeds 'and the importance of destroying plants before nature can°r-ot be emphasized too strongly. The seeds are impurities in clover seeds and very ,difficult to remove. Due to the length of 'its roots chicory plants cannot be hand picked. Those who are interested in keeping clover fields for seed are urged to spud all plants before seeds mature. It will be time profitably spent.. 'Chicory has no place in a progressive municipal- ity. It is becoming more olbjection- r.ble each year. Thorough cultiva- tion is the solution to the problem on cultivated land. Spudding is for scattered plants and the use of chem- ical weed 'killers for fence lines and road sides. Now is. the time for fic- tion. - INSECT CONTROL Numerous complaints indicate heavy infestation of insects in On- tario gardens. )Cutworms may be controlled with a• poison bait scattered around young plants in the evening. Use 1 tea- spoonful of ,Paris Green, 1 tablespoon- ful of molasses and 1 quart bran. Mix all into a fluffy mixture. Aphis and other:sueking insects may be treated with Black Leaf 40, Nico- tine or Evergreen. For better results add a little soap and spray to strike all insects. Such poisons spread over leaf surfaces will also kill chewing insects as they devour portions of the foliage. Ants in lawns may be eradicated by pouring a small quantity of Car- bon Bisulphide into the holes and plugging same. This forms a gas which works down the runs, killing the insects. - For. Tarnish PIant Bug, dust the tops of plants with either tobacco dust or dusting sulphur. Snails and slugs may be removed by sprinkling fine, well -slaked lime over the ground surface just before dark. Have yotteund the j SUNNY PACKAGE; ' en your grocer's shelf? ! It's a delicious ready -to -eat cereal. Millions of Canadians have found Kellogg's Art Beau a safe, effective means of correcting common con. atipation—the kind caused by lack el "bulk", in the menu. . Laboratory Measurements show that ALL -Bans provides "bulk" to aid el'iminatiod. ALi-Basel also saps plies vitamin B and iron. The "bulk" in this tempting cer real is more effective than that found in fruits and vegetables r•-* because it resists digestion better. , Within the body, ft absorbs mots• tare, and forms a soft mass. Gently, this cleans out the intestinal waste. Isn't this natural food better than taking patent medicines? Two table. spoonfuls of ALL -BRAN daily are usually sufficient. Chronic cases with each meal. If this fails to' give re. lief, see your doctor. Enjoy ALL -BRAN as a cereal, osi cobk into appetizing recipes. Kel- logg's ALL -BRAN contains much more needed "bulk" than, part -bran products. In the red -and -green package. - Made by Kellogg in London, Ontario. Keep on the Allaypfr Sunny Side of Life EVERYBODY'S REND E * • The Canadian National y Exhibition is designed to at- 7'4 tract every member of every family ... Rudy Vallee and his of Connecticut Yankees...Band of His Majesty's Irish Guards from Britain.... Grandstand Spectacle, the most gorgeous extravaganza in the realm of pageantry ... Agriculture in all its varied ramifications... attractive arrangements of modern merchandise ...'sport competitions for world championships ... new mile - long midway ... glittering iri- descent pyrotechnics. Your Exhibition is everybody's rendezvous. eta Colonel F. H. Deacon Elwood A. Hughes President General Manager EXHIBITION TORONTO AUG. 23 to SEPT. 7, 1935 ODYEAR PRIGS AGAIN REDUCED NEW L O W PRICES New prices on Goodyear Tires— effective at once—compete with prices of even so-called "bargain" tires. Yet Goodyear quality has not been•. reg •iced. You get the same tough, long -wearing tread . . . Supertwist cord construction .. . guaranteed against defects and • road hazards. Immediate service. We put 'em on. We're here all year round to stand back of the guaran- tee—handle claims—all without cost to you. SPEEDWAY 30x3)/2 $475 6 -Ply Slzc 4 -Ply Heavy Duty 4A0®21 60s ?so 4.50-21 660 815 4.7519 735 520 Other sizes equally low-priced Liberal allowance for your old Urea DUNLOP'S GARAGE uniop, North Maio street s�� 4- 6