Seaman Hits Three Men In Cafe: Fine Of £10 Imposed

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 October 1948, Page 3

Seaman Hits Three Men In Cafe: Fine Of £10 Imposed

Following the dance-hall brawl on Saturday morning, another fight, this time between a seaman and three railwaymen, developed in Robbie’s Cafe, in Boundary street, early yesterday morning. The result was t{ie aryest and appearance in the Police Court at Greynfouth this morning of a British seaman, John Joseph Allen, aged 22. a fireman on the crew of the Kaimai, x who pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting William James Kirby and of using obscene language. Allen, a tall, 15-stone man, hit three diners in the cafe. . “Shortly after midnight on Saturday, three men were sitting at a table in Robbie’s Cafe when the accused suddenly arose from a nearby table where he was sitting with four companions, and commenced to abuse the party,” said Senior-Sergeant R. C. Mcßobie. “Eventually he hit one of them with his clenched fist, knocking a tooth out. He offered to meet any one of the group outside and threatened to ‘take on’ all three at once. There was a general melee prior to the arrival of the police.” Accused Chased

“I saw one man bleeding and the accused running from the front door when I entefed the cafe,” said Constable G. Fogg, of Greymouth. “I chased him out in the street and caught him’ on the wharf. I asked him to return to the cafe, and he at first declined, but later agreed to do so. Questioned there, he admitted striking Kirby and I then arrested him.” When two women were “chipping” the accused for the bad language he was using in the cafe, the accused saw him and his companions and tried to pick a fight, said William James Kirby, a railway porter. The accused, when witness and his two companions refused to go outside or apologise to him, struck them. He hit Witness on the mouth, knocking out a tooth.

“What were you doing before I hit you?” asked the accused. Witness replied that he was sitting down.' ' The accused asked: “Then how did I get this?” pointing to a swelling under one eye. “You did that,” he added.

“See You Again”

Similar evidence was given by othei’ railwaymen, William Kenneth Donaldson, of Kaiata, and Ronald Bell, of Cobden. Both stated that the accused had also struck them. Bell pointed out that when arrested the accused told Bell that he would “see you again.” Called by the accused, another seaman, E. McCudden, who had been eating supper with the accused, said that he heard the accused called a “pommy b and then all were fighting. He had had a few beers, but he said that he saw no women, either customers or waitresses, in the cafe. He did not know, he said, answering the senior-sergeant, that the women members of the staff had had to keep to the back room on account of the language of the seamen. “Cases of this type are getting far too common in Greymouth, and, usually, they call for a term of imprisonment,” said Mr J. H. North, J.P., who with Mr W. H. J. Watson, J.P., was on the bench. “In this case there may have been some little provocation by laughing,” he added, convicting the accused on both counts and imposing fines of £5 on each. '“ * “A witness has remarked that you will be after him',” said Mr North, “so I want to assure you here that any attempt by you to assault this man will be very severely dealt with.”