NEW GUARD FASCISTS

Evening Star, Issue 21098, 10 May 1932, Page 7

NEW GUARD FASCISTS

ATTACK ON MR J. S. GARDEN STATEMENT BY DEFENDANT Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. SYDNEY, May 9. Eight men who wore charged with assaulting Mr J. S. Garden and his two sous were sentenced to three months’ imprisonment without tho option of a fine, the magistrate (Mr Cohen) describing tho assault as cowardly. All pleaded guilty. One man made a statement to tho effect that an unsigned note was pushed under his door ordering him to undertake a secret mission in company with complete strangers. Part of his duty was to quieten a dog. Ho added that he was a member of the Fascists’ Legion of tho New Guard, consisting of fifty-two members known only to one another by numbers, and all were issued with black hoods and gowns. During the luncheon adjournment the eight defendants were walking in a busy street in the vicinity of the court wheu they were attacked by a hefty man who fought fiercely, striking some of the defendants, who retaliated. A huge crowd gathered. Police were rushed to the spot and charged with batons. Finally they arrested the aggressor, who was fined £2 for riotous behaviour. [A previous message stated: Mr J. S. Garden, secretary of the Sydney Trades Hall Council, who js also a city alderman, informed detectives that he was violently assaulted by a gang of men during the night, and received severe blows on the head, face, and neck. His son heard a scuffle and released a dog, which put the whole gang to flight. They disappeared in a motor car. Mr Garden states that four men who were in evening dress awakened him on the pretext that suspicious characters were lurking behind the house. He allowed them to enter the premises and make a search, and without warning they set upon him.]