GETTING IN FIRST.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 136, 11 June 1927, Page 15

GETTING IN FIRST.

ASSAULT AT DEVONPORT.

"SLOPEE" AND "HORSE'S

HEAD."

YOUNG MEN FINED,

Whether or not it was a case of familiarity breeding contempt, the fact remains that Roy James and Albert Hales, two young Shoresmen, set upon Hugh William Barnhill, whom thcv had known since childhood davs, and assaulted him in the main street of Devonport on May 26 last. They were charged with the offence in the Magistrate's Court yesterday afternoon before Mr. W. R. McKean, B.M. In addition. Hales had to answer a further charge of assaulting William Thomas Webb, who remonstrated with accused concerning bis treatment towards Barnhill.

The theory of the affair advanced by Barnhill was that, while he was looking in a chemist's shop, the accused approached him, and one of them said, "What' 's crawling on your horse's head?" The other remarked "that it was not "horse's head," and referred to witness in opprobrious terms. The pair then scuffled with him, and he retreated into the shop. Had James apologised within a few days he would have accepted the apology. Peacemaker Not Appreciated. Webb said that when he later passed Hales in company with Barnhill and a young lady, the accused adopted a threatening attitude towards Barnhill. Witness stepped in between the two men and urged Hales not to act in such a manner in the presence of a lady. Hales responded to his attempts to act as a peace-maker by striking him and knocking him in the gutter. James said that when Barnhill passed him and his companion he made some remark which appeared to be offensive. They went back and asked him what he had said, addressing him as "horse's head." Barnhill and Hales then indulged in a "half-pie"' scuffle, in which witness took no part.

Hales, commonly known as "Sloper" Hales, admitted that he alone had had the scuffle with Barnhill in the first instance. He pulled away, however, and went off up the read. Later in the evening Barnhill approached him and asked him '"What about it now?" Webb intervened, and accused was under the impression he was going to attack him. He took precautions by "getting in."

The magistrate accepted the story for the prosecution as being the iriost probable of the two advanced. He was satisfied that James assisted in the initial assault, and convicted and fined him £1. Hales was fined £2 on each of the two charges. The costs in the case of the former were o/, and in that of Halt's £2 5/.