FIGHT IN CLUB.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 243, 13 October 1936, Page 11

FIGHT IN CLUB.

SEQUEL IN COURT. PROSECUTIONS DISMISSED. " A DRUNKEN ROW." A fight which occurred in the Bal Tabarin Social Club, Customs Street, about 2 a.m. on October 2 was described in the Police Court yesterday afternoon when the well-known jockey, Keith Vivian Gill, aged 21, and a salesman, Lawrence Rowland Cowper, aged 26, were charged with assaulting Albert William Douglas. Mr. F. W. Schramm appeared for Gill, and Mr. Hall Skelton for Cowper. Both pleaded not guilty. Douglas, an unemployed barman, said he went into the club at 1 a.m. on October 2 to get a drink. He went into a room where the two accused and a young woman were. Gill and Cowper started to talk about diseases, whereupon witness drew their attention to the fact that there was a woman present. "It all happened in a second or two after that," said Douglas. "Gill said they would fix me. He had a bottle in his hand, and as I grabbed him Cowper struck me from behind. I held both in a headlock, and they struck me with bottles. The light went out, and it was a real tangle. Bottles were used on me by both men pretty freely. I left the club and went to the police station, where I collapsed. I was medically attended for concussion, and spent several days in bed." Douglas, cross-examined by Mr. Skelton, denied that he went to the club to pick a row with Gill, who inadvertently invited witness' "young lady" to go to the pictures with him some time before. Detective Waterson described the condition of the club after the fight. He said the walls were broken in two places, there was blood on the floor, and three broken beer glasses. In a statement Gill had alleged that after remonstrating with Douglas for drinking his beer a fight had started. After hearing further evidence' the magistrate, Mr. F. K. Hunt, said the whole affair seemed to be a drunken row, and he would not convict either of the accused. The charge against both was dismissed. ♦ On another charge of being in a state of intoxication while in charge of a motor car in Customs Street on the morning of October 2, Cowper wa& fined £5 and ordered to pay costs £6 10/. The magistrate said there was little doubt that a wouik? on the forehead accentuated Cowper's condition, otherwise he would probably have been able to drive his car. In any case, he had been arrested before he had time to drive the car away.