A PECULIAR CASE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 142, 14 June 1909, Page 4

A PECULIAR CASE.

EXPLOITS OF TWO DRUNKEN MEN. CRIMINAL CHARGE DISMISSED. [PBESB ASSOCIATION,] WANGANUI, June 12. The Supreme Court was occupied yesterday with a singular case. Two friends, Chatfield and Garlick, living near Taihape, went there together, and the latter came home alone, drunk, and declaring that he had thrown the other into the Hauta!pu River. He threatened to kill Mrs Chatfield, got a gun and terrorised the- place, eventually shooting himself badly in the shoulder. Chatfield was found amongst some shrubs fourteen feet down the bank of the river, also dead drunk. He knew nothing of what had happened. Garlick's story was that Chatfield fell off his horse and tried to pull him to the side of the road, and he rolled over the bank. The jury acquitted Garhck, holding that* he was not in a rational state of mind.