THE SPRINGSTON AFFRAY.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17293, 3 November 1921, Page 5

THE SPRINGSTON AFFRAY.

TRIAL OF J. S. MAIN. CASE TOR THE PROSECUTION. Before his Honour Mr Justice Adams, in the Supreme Court yesterday, James Scott Main pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging him with having, on September 14t,h, at Springston, discharged a revolver with intent to disable Anthony Bartholomew and Bernard N uttall; with having attempted to murder McEvedy and Nuttall; with having assaulted them; and with having intended to do actual bodily harm. Mr A. T. Donnelly prosecuted for thi» Crown, and Mr M. J. Gresson, with ii m - *M r • S. Thomas, appeared for Main. ' Mr L. C. Andrew watched the proceedings on behalf of A. B. McEvedy. Mr Huntly Eliott was chosen foreman of the jury. The Case Outlined. In outlining the case for the Crown, Mr Donnelly said that the aft'ray took place outsiue the bpringston Hotel, a country hotel a lew miles from Christ.cliurcli. The case was one of some public impoitance, and the consequences of a conviction would be serious to the prisoner, who for fii'teon or sixteen 3 ears had been ianger employed by the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society. Main went to the hotel in the afternoon. He was then sober, and after tea he remained in the sitting-room until eight or nine o'clock. Between nine and ton at night a party of five people arrived from Christchurch. They weie served with drinks in the commercial room, and there Main got- into an argument. It was said that he used abusive language to tho women of the party. Later on two brothers named McEvedy came into the hotel. They heard a disturbance, and they saw Main in the passage. Main then , entered into a discussion with the McEvedys. Everyone apparently went out to the front of the hotel, where they were two ears, and the members of each party, as well as.the licensee, Mrs Harris, and her son, Frederick Withers. Shots were firea, and Martholomew McEvedy and Nuttaii were wounded. There was evidence that Main domineered' the others for fifteen minutes, using threatening language, nourishing his revolver, and kicking in the lamp of one motor-car. The salient fact was that Main was the only perBOn armed. He bailed the other people up in the same fashion as a highwayman might have done. He threatened to shoot them, and he eventually did shoot two of them. After the shooting he was disarmed, and he left on his motor-cycle for the Selwyn huts. At the Selwyn huts next day, when arrested by Constable Smitliers, Mam spoke as if he had a cleat recollection of the disturbance or brawl or whatever it'was, and of the events .leading up to it. He said, "Those people tried ■fox rob me." The jury would have to consider whether. in firing the revolver Main intended to injure McEvedy and Nuttall or whether he fired promiscuously. ' The Crown submitted that either -Main 7 intended ..to murder Nuttall and McEvedy or that he fired the revolver with tjhe intention of; causing bodily harm. • -McEvedy's Injuries and Testimony. , VDr E. J. Cooke, Lincoln, stated that beV attended A, B. MoEvedy.jmd described' his wounds. The wounded man, witness stated, was not sober; his brother was not under the influenoe or Gresson: Mrs Harris and her •son wWe in a. edited 'itate, and had obvioudy had;, a good deal ot Bartholomew; McEvedy, farmer, Southbridge, stated that on September 14th' he had or mx drinks on the way from town to Springston,. When he lirst saw Mam at the. bar of the Springston Hotel, Mam , seemed' "hialf-silly with liqlior, judging W his speech,-and the way he wobbled •abo Hit. Main made some remarks about one of the McEvedys being prosecuted for shooting ducks, but the reference was not to either witness or his brother. v The witness went on to say tnat | his brother wetit out into the hotel yard ahead of him. He;saw tie uoeSsed "hold up" lik brother, with tho .revolver. The accused continued 1 , to threaten the people in' the yard for 16 or 20 minutes. . Eventually, be ,walked past witness, turned and fired from arrange of four or five yiardsy:nitting him first iwthe wrist, and then ia the thigh. - There was no one near Main when the shots were fired. 'VjTq Mr Gresson: He had only about six drinks before -he got to the n°tejHe had two "shandies" at. the hotel. -11 l spite of. what Dr. Cooke said, Cj he would Bay that he was sober. He did not ask Main the price of swans' eggs, or ask Mnin-io sell him a pair of ducks. Main did not reply, "You had. better ( .buy them from your brother. Who is out of season.' . ' 'Mr Gresson: You had no row with Main in the ' ..' • , r . Had you ever had a row with Main heforeP—Never in my lSe. . _ Aeke<l about his entry into the Jawe* yard from the bar, Mciivedy. said that ne saw Main coming round the corner, of th& hotel,: but-he did not;;, see Nuttall following and threatening mm.; Immediately i>efore the: shooting, Mam brushed past him. Main was then backing towards the hotel,. keeping all the people covered. • His .object appeared ti> be to get all the front of him: Witnera; BtOod-stock stril. as Main passed him* and.he was standing on the same spot when. Main, stopt ped and fired at him. . , ■ . : Mr Gresson put this to you, because your story is ' contradicted by almost everyone else in the oase: Do. you say that he fired point blank at : yon while you were standing stock still? —Yes. , . ■ ~ „ I" put.it to you that Nuttall was hanging on to his hand and struggling with himP—He was not. _ Where was Withersi* —I didn t see him . If the others say that-.Witters was struggling with Main, what do you sayP—Ho may _ have, been, under the verandah. 1 didn't see him. You* simply stood stock still; anl you were not drunk P No.- , Silverius McEvedy, vyounger brother of the previous witness, stated that when he left the bar went outside ! Main came up and pushed the revolver against his chest, and sMd wmething to the effect that he would "Shoot the whole lot up." Witness pushed the revolver aside and accused then pointed , it at his head. Witness got-away, and song out to his brother to look out as Main had a gun. Afterwards he heard a shot fired and on reaching the scene of the trouble he became involved m a struggle with Main, who was lying on the ground with several people ontop of him. While on the ground -Mam v fired one more shot; only one shot was feed while Main was on the ground. - *To Mr Gresson:. Nuttall and Withers were struggling with Main. He-aid not hear Nuttall use threatening lanlinage to Main, but heard him tell him "to wut the giin away and fight lvke a man. . There was no quarrel_in thd bar between Main', himself, and his brother before the trouble began.. Nuttall in the Bor Bernard Nuttall, an engineer, gave evidence o£ the arrival of the Christchurch party at the-Springston hotel. Main, he stated, came into the commercial room, where the party were, and lay down, upon a. couch, muttering to himself. He appeared to be drunk He then began to use foul and abusive language to the- party, calling the women by an offensive name. Witness was about-to "co for" him. when the

landlady and her son came in and persuaded the man to leave the room. Tho party had a second round of drinks, and had none out to the car, when Alain came round the corner of the hotel, carrying the revolver, and threatening to shoot the first one who moved. He held the revolver at the younger McEvedy's stomach, then at Gibbs's chest, and then held it at witness's cheek. Witness said, "If you want trouble, put vour gun away and come out into the road and live it out like a man. "Withers came oat from the hotel and tried to persuade Main to go in with him. He put an arm round Main, and walked with him over towards the hotel. When he got near the wall, witness heard a shot, and saw tho accused's arm raised, holding the revolver. He then rushed at the man, and, with Withers and the younger McEvedy, got liitn down on to the ground. In the struggle the revolver went off again, and a third time when Main was on the ground, the bullet passing between two of witness's lingers. The trouble in the commercial room started when Main lay down and witness remarked jocularly ''Good night." To Mr Gresson: He had wanted to keep the ladies of the party out of the matter; if there had been no ladies, they would have secured Main and brought him into town. \\ oren't you in another row at the Eastern Hotel? —It wasn't a row. I was a bona fide guest, and was proved perfectly sober. You were charged?: Yes. Were these same ladies in it?: No. Wasn't Miss Brooks in it?

After some further questioning, the witness said that Miss Broojis might have been in the hotel at the time, out he did not know. Mr Gresson; This was not your first expedition into the country with these Indies?: We had been out once before. How often have you been out since the trial in the lower court?: Two or three times. Asked about the incidents in the yard, witness declined to say that Withers was holding Main when the first shot was fired. Mr Gresson: Johnston says that he hoard you say, "I'm going to have it out with that Scotch •>" Witness: It's utter rot! How could he identify my voice? The witness also denied that any of the women in his party called out to him to restrain him from attacking Main.

Dr. P. A. Ardagh gave the details of McEvedy's wounds, and of the removal of the bullets. The bullet which entered the left thigh went downward and inward, and was lying embedded in the muscle of the inner aspect of the thigh, the bullet which entered the posterior aspect of the left wrist travelled downwards and towards the palm; it was lying anterior to the knuckle joint of the left index finger. The wound in the loft thigh he would class as slight—no material damage 1 laving been done. The wound on the left wrist he classed as severe, but not dangerous; it might be three or four months before McEvedy obtained the full use of his hand; ultimately he would suffer no disability whatever. To Mr Gresson: The track of the bullet in the thigh indicated that accused and McEvedy had not been standing square on, and that they were probably, standing at an angle. ' To:his Honour: The barrel' of the revolver must have been pointed downwards to take the track it did, that was assuming, that the wounded man was standing-at the time. Happenings Outside the Hotel.

Sidney Harold Gibbs, New Brighton, who was one of the party with Nuttall £t-the Springston hotel on the night of the shooting, gave evidence on lines similar to that given by him m the Lower Court. When witness got outBide *,he hotel he found accused at witness's car in which the ladies were seat-' ed. Accused asked witness to move the bar, saying: "If you move an inch 111 blow your —— brains out.' Witness riflt out of the car and reassured the lilies ; accused, .went- way f° r a second oi? two and. on coming back put the revolver to witness's-chest -and repeated the same threat. H© then went and threatened Nuttall. who told him if he were half a man he would put the revolver down and fight with his fists: acc'usad then went to .witness's car and kicked out the headlights. When accused ;saw Nuttall and McEvedy he threatened them. He next saw accused going towards the hotel, Fred Withers having his hand partly round accused who had his back towards the hotel, and his right hand in the air holding the revolver. A scuffle took place and shots were fired. From the time he came out of the hotel till the shots were fired about half an hour elapsed*, he did not drive off because accused defied him. To Mr Thomas: He did not, at the time, think that they Tvere gomg int o a private sitting room at the Spring Aon hotel. During the afternoon witness had .two medium beera: at tne Springston hotel he had two squashes S soda-he had no Yesterday he lunched with Nuttall. I he Springston hotel and Main were only mentioned once; there was very little said- he did'not remember who mentioned the case; he could not say what the mention had very little ** His Honour (to counsel): Do you suneest that because witnesses were orS out of Court they were-preventd from lunching togther. , , Mr Thomas: I don't suggest that. Witness, replying, further to M Thomas, stated hat he did not hear. N +ol Rttv "I want to have it out wit" £t Stotch nor did he hear the women ask Nuttall 1 to get .into the car and get away: if either-incident had Kaonened he would have heard the ye marS made. Accused held them U half-an-hour at least; it might have bten anything up to three-quarters of W. Russell stated that Nuttall ■ I j-'w-o wounds —one through the third and the other through the fourth fingers ° f F?eVerick* Withers, son of the ]iicen&e of the Springston hotel, stfrtedL>ha when accused arrived at the notei on E afternoon of September 14th he was all right as far as witness could detect. Between his arrival and tea-tim accused had eight or nine medium beers. In the evening witness heard high p Id voicTsTn the sitting-room, but when witness and f his mother reached the vnnm everything was all right, in y Lot olit of the room and afterSTaccused was threatening to shoot everybody up : accused then fired several 8h T« Mr Gresson: Though he saw Main Jha Sver in his 8 hand he was not frightened, as he felt sure he would n °Lucv° Emma Harris, licensee of the Springston Hotel, stated that after accused had had some drinks and\some ST he went off to his bedroom between 8 SO and 9 p.m., when he appeared to l' Vjj 3 normal condition.. Later, after the arrival of Nuttall's party, witness heard loud talking, and went to the room to get him out. Nuttall s party and the McEvedys went outside the Wei. Later witness saw him put his boot through the headlights of the motor-car. Her son advised lnm to put the revolvier away • she was going to speak to him, but her son ordered her away Later she heard shots fired. Between the time that the two parties left the hotel and witness went out, 20 or 30 minutes elapsed. To Mr Thomas: The two drinks Main had in the bar in the afternoon were ; n celebration of the birth of his child. She did not know that after Main had tea and sandwiches he went down to the Selwvn Huts and returned. She did not finow what the McEvedys and Main were talking about. She did not hear the'word "ducks," nor the word "eggs-'; she did not know if they were talking about swans'"Sggis. She knew NuttaU's party, by sight, as they had visited her twice before. The drinks consumed by Nuttall's party were "shouted" by the house. They did not charge for drinks after hours as a rule, except they were ordered by boarders.

"Wanted to Keep It Quiet." Mabel Brooks, one of Nuttall's party, gave evidence as to the happenings at the hotel, on the lines of previous witTo Mr Gresson: She did not remember anyone saying "Come away. Te d I Get into the car and come away. ' She thought that Nuttall was_ annoyed with Main, but did not hear Nuttall use any bad language to Main. She did not hear anyone say: "For God's sake, don t tell the police—we want to keep it quiet." _ ~ _ Did you want to keep it quiet. —Well, we had nothing to hide. I don't know; drinking after hours at 10 o'clock in a country hotel; did you want to keep it quiet?—No, not that I know. But you kept it quiet as long as you could, until you were found out; —les; when we were found we gave voluntary evidence. Didn't you really want it kept quiet? —I don't think anyone would like to be mixed up in anything like this. You wanted it kept quiet?— May Dawe, another of Nuttall's pnrtv, was tendered as a witness by j the Crown. I To Mr Gresson, witness stated that ! Nuttall did not attempt to tackle Main. I Montague Tisdall stated that the bulI lets could have been fired from the revolver produced. I A Traveller's Evideence. I Robert Johnston, traveller for the International Harvester Company, | stated that he was at the Springston Hotel on September 14th, and went to bed about 9 p.m., and heard the Nuttall party arrive. Half an hour afterwards, while still in bed, two men came from the rear of tlie Kotel and started an argument. A woman's voice addressed one of the men as "Ted, and asked him to come-away. Later the same voice called out to Ted to look out, as the other man had a revolver. He then heard one of the men say, "Put that thing away and come out and fight me like a man." Later the man with the revolver said, "Stand back, or I'll shoot the whole damn lot?' Later someone called out: "Come but and help us with this man unless you are cowards!" Witness then put on some of his clclthes and went downstairs; in the meantime three shots were fired. When he got outside he saw a man lying on the ground, and he asked a woman what had happened, and she said a man had been shot, and asked that the matter should be kept quiet, as they did not want the police to know. He saw another man being held down on the ground. Later he rode away on a motor-cycle. He recognised the man as the accused. There was no one there who was intoxicated that lie could see. To Mr Gresson: The accused and the persons who took part in the affair were strangers to witness. Not more than ten minutes elapsed between the time he heard the men coming from the back of the hotel till the first shot was fired; five minutes afterwards witness was downstairs. Two of the shots were fired in quick succession- there.was a second or two between tne second and third shots. At this juncture the further hfeanng was adjourned till 10 o'clock this moraine. Accused was released on bail of £6OO.