NEWS PAPER ASSAULT CASE.

Press, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4991, 16 August 1881, Page 2

NEWS PAPER ASSAULT CASE.

Messrs 3. Ollivier, B. Westenra, J. _• ?®*% and J.Oampbell, J.P.s) Ohater on information charged with having, on ABS»* sth, violently Bssaulted and beaten MgW» MTosley contrary to the statute. Mr W% appeared for the plaintiff; Mr Harpy■ l j* defendant. After opening his case, whfcaß said was one of great importance as d_<»o*-S a conspiracy, or at least a „mb_s_an, sa ~~ part of some lawless spirits for the g» fe | % tion of per——ibl revenge, and he should»*r ha proved his ciae, for the committal «•/ defendant, and not merely for tbe »&""? . of a fine, _fr Holmes proceeded , length thenal—re of thoevidecafl be to produce, and called — vg-j Montague Mosley, who deposed tow «« 5.30 p.m. on August stfc, he was ia •**£ posing room of tho " Liberty" when defends,-., aeoompanied by : person, cam* in, and asked for Mr »<"' t Plaintiff replied he was that V* mv >,Jki, further qwstiion that he was ths «* io e { " Liberty." Defendant prcduesS %&&& the paper, dated July Bth, and W*Ki tms£g p_Bgraph asked if ..**#■■ ™' written it:—■

I _T r "_viiv—ioff iwre a dance to certain J£ |8* _**• How didthe __■_» _e__*ts partaking so freely K«-M ? Mamas, take care of jour ( "Bo," but that he was the wm *_P«Mib_ *» * W T \j___Von being asked, said his name ■* Sf^-dthencalledplaintiffa"skunk," '*?_*»• and other opprobrious names, and *. • *X —rack nt defe—lant. Defendant re-STbo-s knocked a pipe out of ! _uS__«-_. Mr Willis, __u> was close Pale, came in, and a fracas ensued, in _kSA Mows were exohanged by all the parties. Xfcndant being foiled in his attempt to rftsgam abused plaintiff.*, Plaintiff then jjjSjS- If he bad aaked for an explanation !* the pa»g»P a one would haT * been *Lir Defendant went' away, and in about STjiijj-tef returned with a whole orowd f—o -h—d him—certainly six or seven, or TZfoJeht have been a dozen. The room Zm goall and, after their entrance, was **_j_. Defendant then struck plaintiff on \f_Ud the head and knocked him down \tt -ftarda beat him severely, the effects of : jjL a*» to bb seen in cuts and bruises for IZsisjt afterwards Plaintiff was so much with defendant that ho could not _£«_ctly what was going on around him. {& Sew, however, that Mr Willis tL_t involved, in the melee, and some f_MJE(-_ es were knocked over and _T type scattered about the floor. ?Lj g whsle defendant said, "Have you _d sDßgh?" *-*' tfaen went away. Plain_sbd not written the paragraph, and did _\ te)- to whom it referred. He admitted %_t,s_ editor, he was responsible for the ; he had inserted it. by Mr Harper—Plaintiff jjsd been editor of the " Liberty " five or six -osths. The paper had a correspondent in t___b. who supplied the paragraph in ques-.-HOB, xjudsr the neading of "Timaru whispers." 3__t correspondent was not a paid one. lbs paper had some paid correspondents, bat could get plenty of unpaid correspon- , _w_ [Mr Harper—"l have no doubt «m „_d.*j Plaintiff knew the person , nte> accompanied defendant the first , time but did not know any of those , ■bo-ma when!he returned. None of these , «rties struck plaintiff. They did not speak . iTall - merely looked od. The abuse used by _ _{_d_t lasted for fire minutes, and the _ -arf, "cur" and "skunk" were freely ■ __, Though he was responsible, plaintiff , _t_ tot know to whom the paragraph re- _ fen-ed. Plaintiff had not been in the habit ( ef -iterting paragraphs from anonymous per- , sqib He did not know who was Kelly, or . -ho were the Kelly gang, ontal he employed , Mr Feast to find ont the o—-turn name of . the parson who had oalled himself Kelly, j There had not been any previous similar , anaults on plaintiff. He swore that poei- , fctTely. He had not succeeded in striking hia _ s„ailant, though be sfcru— at him. He did j not lift his stick, or set any other person on , to defendant. , , , i lames Willis, part proprietor of the , "liberty," in his examination corroborated j finer—y the evidence of the plaintiff. He h_(d the abuse, but could not remember the ( epj_e_ applied to pL__—l? There were j _r«a others followed defendant into the j room on the final assault, and there were more o_ine. Witness was considerably . knock—sbonthii—elf. He became engaged ] in the fray aft— - be saw defendant strike r_ia—f, who w_ bleeding badly about the bead. Witness' part in the " engagement" —< to try and protect plaintiff, and to save Mi own property from destruction. There versa r umber of esses knocked down, and a lot of troe trampled on and broken. When !» appealed to them the lookers-on said, adoj__ldefendant, "Never mind the damage - —go in and win." This encouragement 4 w_ sot —dressed to witness and plaintiff. ( He did not know who made that remark. G—s__nined—Witness and Mr Dnnlop, bo— proprietors of the paper, were present - at the assault; nobody else was there. He _ hsd a stick, with which he struck at defend- ■■ sat. Def___t did all the assault, and all '. tie abuse. The language waa,filthy; they did not catch thefilth in the office; they must have brought it with them. • James S. Buclop, part proprietor of the '. " Liberty," stated that he was present on the ! ... r o—Bsion of the first assault. He corroborated the evidence -oi the previous witnesses, . end said further, that during the fray he '. b_—lf left by the back door—he : thought discretion was the better part of ; v_—ir-jTsnghter]—and besides, Mr Willis find a big ttaek, [Roars of laughter.] Witness vent bach in tune to see the second part of the row. While it was going on he was advised nov to interfere, as his adviser thought it _*—_-—matters worse. Witness thought so too. {Loud laughter.] Witness went for a polle_as, but, as usual, when wanted, there to —— available. He found a policeman, but the old— refused to go with him, as he had a p—or,ar to look after. Croa-e____„—He did not run away. When —■ saw Willis and plaintiff opposing '. _«—o—l_e—,he thought they were quite good . enoughtodt-—dlthemseives, and he went out to get a policemau. Witness did not hear anybody tin but defendant use threatening language. There were six or eight forming _e' , con_ui|—t"wM—followed defendant. He recognised a person in Court as being one of toe party. There was a carpenter in the room during the row. ' A. B. Power, carpenter, deposed to being PR*en st both acts of the assault His cvi- ' fl—ee was sa__n__y the same as that of the previous witneases. Ba saw defendant mc pkmtiff " a jolly good hiding," " what B_dy gave the drum." [Laughter.] Wit '. Mts did not interfere. " Not likely." A |*J|— who was with defendant, on seeing , Willis with a stick, offered other stacks to the combatants. They were declined. Witness, in ' rrply to tbe Bench, said he thought the j •—mmagea very good one, and he "quite enjoy— the fun." [Boars of laughter.] ' -rHarpsr, addressing the Bench, said he theold not attempt to emulate the flowery speech with which hia learned friend bad ' opened the es_s. He would merely say that tae facts of the assault as got out from the ' wit-esses for the prosecution were fairly OKrect—not quite; but the difference was ®— -—_L As to the conspiracy, there was aot_B_ghtest evidence of anything of the —w. The position of the defence was this : —33>ey _____ having committed a simple fiH ' tt » under great provocation, which they wo-d plead in mitigation of any dms lges which the Bench might think fit to award. There would be no attempt jJMtify the assault per te. But he had no daubt, after considering the evidence to be broMfct and the oircmnstancea, the Bench W—l concur in the opinion that there had wea great provocation. Ch-ier Miles, the defendant, a resident of «——v, said he went to the " Liberty" office «a »» afternoon of the sth of August [Wit»«—tafled the circumstances of the row; «a s—ount did cot differ materially from that P_»% the other side.] After defendant had Willis struck him with a stick. -J«|W»t,_]__gt_e_ both on to him, went ™*» thei stairs aad asked a friend to "ccc him __, ____, Thej returned into «• eo_p«ag -ogjj! immediately. Two S".Pf«_ No person but do_T no< *ed Willis and paintiff wwn ne_, He gtnjok _* »rej»l times in the face. W_is «"_•* daf_d__t with a stick. De--2?" *M one of a number of single .who resided together at a house called Glenrown Cottage. From they had been jestingly j^^t—__t___ acquaintances, "The •wy Sang." On _„ _i n ded to in J;L_S M ** B P£ » tha "Liberty" they gave « which there were, perhaps, fifty S*" F-_t The ladies of the party chaperoned, and there was no to nay refl-ction on the behaviour of _W .*?*• defendant had not par_ken .jWy spirituous liquors on that night. His probabry had. _~oss_»__-„-.His attention c_led tejf* P««»ph about a week after it A _wT He wa * " vet y indignant about it. «*»- or so elapsed between its publication g&e assault, ge could not get to Christ- _*_ a * °* mc B P to see the races. S.w^v 0 * _• auaulfeh « a-d been drink-ttr-ti-^ 16 bavehad rix or seven drinks, S2fw°v _ «--«Wi«. the Editor, but on So rl* « don «?ohea_ not start with iThf- v Fmd « 1 g tb « oniee open a* passed b y, he suddenly made 3__? »"__ to 1° and punish OTtt. He hid not concerted in any way to beat plaintiff. Had gyw for pugUism, it was unknown to were none of the Kelly «_» a* r_'_T , to "1 *• "laberty." Tfaew _ _*___* _ he was __ _eIT; Mia he was. __ said that to

show that he identified him—lf with the

i I matter of the paragraph. While defendant r j was osing the terms named to plaint—! the " latter only said "Thank you, thank you." It . J-'J*» known to many persons in Timaru that ' defendant and his friends were nicknamed the Kelly gang. —-Ferguson,manager of _*N__onal Bank, Timaru, deposed to being at the ball referred to in the paragraph. I-ithar defendant nor any of his companions had partaken immoderately of spirituous liquors. He knew all the parties; they wen gentlemen of position and of strictly correct behaviour. He knew they wen jocularly called the Kelly Gang; that soubriquet however had not been bestowed on account of unruly or rowdy habits. He thought the paragraph an atrocious libel, and calculated to injure the defendant greatly. W. Hartland deposed to being asksd by defendant to see fair play. He went into the composing room at the "Liberty " office, but took no port in the fray whatever beyond that of a looker-on. Cross-examined—Defendant had been in the room previously with Cooke, another friend of defendant. When he came down the stain, he said there* were three or four of them—meaning the " Liberty " men—one of them had a stick, and that was not good enough for two. Witness intended, when he accompanied defendant, to prevent Willis or others attacking him with a stick. Witness would have interfered if that had taken place. He did not know that defendant was a " bruiser," and that plaintiff was no match for him. To the Bench—The interval between the two visits of defendant to the composing room did not exceed two or three minutes. This was the whole of the evidence. Mr Harper having declined to address the Court, Mr Holmes said he was sorry to he deprived of the opportunity of commenting on the statements made by the witnesses on the other side. The Bench having retired for a short time, on their return Mr Ollivier said the Bench had come to a unanimous conclusion in this case. There had undoubtedly been a violent assault oommitted, and the evidence showed that it had not the same excuse that many aots of violence of the same kind had. It had not been done in the heat of passion, bnt rather after deliberate intention. He was sorry to see a young man in the position of Mr Miles brought there under such a charge, and he hoped the result would be a lesson to him in future to restrain his passions, and seek redress where, if he had a good ( case, he was sure to get it. As to the . paragraph which was the cause of the \ the assault, it was a most vile and disgusting production. He was sorry to see that the '. newspaper whioh contained it, could find a standing in Christchurch. [Applause.] These '. young men were quietly amusing themselves , in their own way, when some scoundrel steps in, and intruding on their privacy, published t what was an atrocious libel, by which the ■ injury done was more than could be estimated. \ The defendant would be fined one shilling. , {.Loud applause.] Mr Holmes then, oa behalf of bis client, , applied to have defendant bound over to keep the peace for six months, but after hearing ( the plaintiff, the application was refused. { The ntmost interest was manifested by the , publio in the proceedings, the court house . being inconveniently crowded throughout.