HAWKER ASSAULTED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 143, 19 June 1931, Page 5

HAWKER ASSAULTED.

ASKED FOB. HIS MONEY. THREE DAYS IN HOSPITAL. When Frederick Hill, a hawker, called at the home of Percy George McCormack and asked for the shilling he was owed for a bucket of apples, he was assaulted, and afterwards he was picked up outside the gate unconscious. This morning McCorraack appeared before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., in the Police Court on a charge of assault. Mr. McLiver appeared for him and pleaded not guilty. Hill said that on the morning of May 16 he called °t 97, Union Street ;to get some money Tie was owed for fruit. Defendant was called to the door by a girl, and he asked what witness wanted. Witness told him, but he said his wife was not in and that he would have to wait until she came home. Witness said he saw a girl pass in the pas-, sage, and he was sure it was the wife. "Defendant told me to get out before he hit me," said witness. "He then hit me on the head with his clenched fist. I ran outside, and the last I remember is sitting on the footpath." Hill's employer said he saw complainant lying on the footpath unconscious. He called an ambulance, and Hill was taken to the hospital, where he was forced to stay for three days. "What have you got to say to that?" asked Mr. Hunt of counsel. "The wife bought the apples for 1/, and at the time she did not have any change," said Mr. McLiver. "Hill called, and he called the girl a liar. He called again, said that he saw the wife inside when he was told she wae not home, and tried to push his way in. McCormack pushed him out and they tripped over some wood in the backyard. That was the last McCormack saw of him." "So that's the story, is it?" said Mr. Hunt. "Well, McCormack is fined £1 and costs."