"NO; I HATE HIM!" SAID PEARL

NZ Truth, Issue 1293, 18 September 1930, Page 7

"NO; I HATE HIM!" SAID PEARL

__ «. . Young Married Woman of Well-known Gisborne Family Says Lover Threatened To Cut Her Throat ELDERLY PARAMOUR DENIES GUILT (From "N.Z. Truth's' '^Special Gisborne Representative.) When Pearl l Phyllis Andersbn, a young married woman of a well-known Gisborne family, told Mr. P. H. Harper, S.M., that her loye for her elderly paramour had turned to hate, she accompanied the declaration with an allegation that her one-time lover had attempted to cut her throat m broad daylight while she was standing m the main street of the town. She was afraid of him, she said. , David Nelson, a man of dark blood, denied the allegation arid-stated he had not assaulted Pearl, this being the charge preferred against him. He told the court that h^ still loved the woman and that the trouble was just simply due to his attempt to embracer her.

NELSON, whose age was given on the charge sheet as 53, was charged with having assaulted Mrs. Anderson by catching her by the throat and threatening to cut her throat. Senior-Sergeant AVade led the evidence against him, and Nelson was represented by Mr. R.'B.'l-lili.' In giving her evidence' in chief, Mrs! Anderson skimmed lightly over 'her relationship with Nelson, and swiftly reached the point where she met nun accidentally at- 11.30 a.m. one Monday. According to her, when she came out of a Chinese shop Nelson came over and .was going to take out a knife and cut her throat, and passersby rescued her from an untimely death at such an inappropriate place as' the centre of the town. , - Nelson, she said, placed his arms around her throat, and, asserting that he had always loved her, declared that if he could not have her no one else should. She declared that she did not reciprocate Nelson's loving feelings. On the contrary she positively hated him. The blade of the knife, she said, was open, and she was scarcil of what Nelson might d® to her. She had not been .living with Nelson for over nine months, but he kept on writing letters to her, and ringing her U P- . J— During thc [course of a lengthy crossexnmination, M r. Hill managed to throw a great deal more light oh tlie whole business. . As a- preliminary, Mrs. Anderson reiterated her statement that Nelson was all ready with the open knife m his hand, and was about to "do away with her." This was not the first time Nelson had threatened her, and every time he came to town he insulted- her. Counsel, ho.wever, was not satisfied that relations had been so strained as the witness alleged, and this was soon apparent. ■ Two nights previously, she admitted, she had a chat with* him m town, and he walked home with her, but this, she added, w £ as because she was frightened to leave him.^although he was then quite friendly. Mr. Hill: That was on the Saturday night? — Yes. And you promised to meet him the following day? — No. What happened when he. rang you up on the Monday? — I told him I wasn't going to town. You know that this man veally loves you? — No, I don't believe he does? X Well, do you love him? — No. I hate him. The witness added m response to further questions that Nelson had gone to gaol concerning a little matter about her watch six months' ago, and since then she had not had anything to do with him. Mi\ Hill: You wrote to Nelson on August 22, just over a fortnight ago? — I may have done. Is this the letter?— -Y.es. Mr. Hill produced the letter, which < opened with several signs generally regarded as being symbolical of k.sses.

should grab you by the throat after, the way you had been fooling him? — It wasn't the first time. =. j . But you loved him on August 22 when you -wrote that letter? — Yes. .As a mktter of fact you have been carrying on with a man at Tokomarii Bay, haven't you? — 1 was going out with him for about three months. Ancl, knowing that Nelson would be jealous, you wrote him that letter?— Thoge was nothing m the Tokomaru Bay business. You had been going out with the man for three months? — Yes. But there was nothing m it?: — No. Following this little interchange, Mrs. Anderson admitted to Sen-ior-Sergeant Wade that she did not expect Nelson to really cut her throat. . As far as the letter was concerned it. was just the sort of note ghe'' would write to any other boy. Three other witnesses gave evidence I of the incident m the street. One of them was shown a knife by Mrs. Anderson but it was shut. Another said It appeared as if Nelson was trying to get Mrs. Anderson into a motor-car, and said that the scuffle might have been an "unwilling embrace." In the course of a lengthy address Mr. .Hill said it was clear that the knife was pure imagination. At the worst the alleged assault was an unwilling embrace, and clearly Mrs. Anderson was not m a position to complain at being embraced by Nelson. i The magistrate had read the letter which she had written, and Mrs. Anderson had frankly and truthfully ad-

mitted that she had been Nelson's lover for nine months. "The whole thing resolves itself into a sordid love affair," commented counsel. "Mrs. Anderson has used this man, accepted his gifts, and then turned him down." ' Stepping from the dock to t the witness box, Nelson said that when he was coming into town from Waikokopu, he wrote to Mrs. Anderson and received her reply. He expected to see her m Gisborne and wanted to see her try and lead a, good life. He was still m love with her; and had always treated her well. The meeting on Saturday, according to Nelson, was by arrangement, she having invited him to take her home. That evening he bought her a handbag and a manicure set, which he duly gave to her. These gifts cost him £2/15/-, and at other times he had given her rings, shoes, hats, etc. On the Saturday it was arranged that they should meet the next day, but Pearl did not turn up, and the next morning he rang up as he did not want to go away without seeing her. She told him she was not going to town, but later m the morning he met her m the street. By then said Nelson, he had a drop of whisky, and he remarked, "Pearl, ' you are •■ fooling me." He followed this up by putting his arm round her npck, and saying, "Come on, Pearl, give us a kiss." As far as the knife was concerned, he had, never before set eyes on it^ To the Senior-sergeant, Nelson repeated that he still loved "the girl." He had merely asked her to lead a good life. ■ " He had been previously charged with assault, and had gone to gaol over the woman's ring. It was true also that he had to support a child, and that he had been interviewed by the police concerning its maintenance. The magistrate's summing up was brief. Mrs. Anderson, he said, alleged that Nelson accosted her, assaulted her, and attempted to cut her throat. Nelson denied all this, and said he attempted to embrace her. "Mrs. Anderson," he added, "has not given very reliable evidence. She says she hates himyand has hated him for six months, but she admits sending him a letter full of anything but hate. "Nelson apparently was infatuated. Mrs. Anderson led him on and then turned him down. "They met m the street, and the man's feelings, overcoming him, he says, he attempted to embrace her. "There may have been a technical assault, but I don't believe he had a knife m his hand. , "The assault is not even worthy the infliction of a fine, but the , woman says she is frightened of him, and the easiest way to overcome that difficulty is to bind Nelson over to keep the peace," concluded the Magistrate. The sum of £10 was fixed as ade-' quate recognisance to this effect.

"Come On, Pearl, Give Us A Kiss "

« "Please write soon, Pearl," was an addendum to the epistle, while at the end of it was the statement, "I will send you a picture of me to keep, Bob," that being the name she generally called him. Mr. Hill: You still say that <you hate this man? — Yes, I do. Well, you apparently used to love him? — Yes. Don't you think that when you tempt a man with a letter like that and then fool him he has a right to be angry? — Yes. You met Nelson on Saturday night? — He met me. Did you kiss him when you met him?— No. Or when you left him at the gate? — No. You made no attempt to redeem those kisses m the letter? — No. What did he do? — Just said "Goodnight." Do you honestly think that a woman should be frightened of a man to whom .she' writes a loving letter and sends him kisses? — The witness did not ' answer the question, but upon being pressed admitted that she - did not think so. Mr. Hill: You know he's still m love with you? — He says he is, but I don't believe him. You aren't really surprised that he