ANONYMOUS LETTERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19198, 11 December 1925, Page 16

ANONYMOUS LETTERS.

CHEMIST CLAIMS DAMAGES. QUESTION OF HANDWRITING. | A DEMONSTRATION IN COURT. A budget of anonymous letters formed the subject of a lengthy discussion in the Magistrate's Court yesterday, when a claim for £2OO damages was made by George Bates, chemist (Mr. Haddow), against Richard Thomas and his wife, Dorilio Ifwersen Thomas (Mr. A. Moody). It was alleged that Mrs. Thomas had forwarded a letter to a young woman professing to warn her against association with Bates. The letter produced contained insinuations regarding plaintiff's conduct at his shop in Newton. Hie young woman who had received the letter gave evidence that she knew Mrs. Thomas and had discussed plaintiff with her. Witness assumed that Mrs. Thomas was the writer of this letter and of others. The mother of the young woman said she had received anonymous letters herself. She attributed them to Mrs. Thomas since she had heard her making spiteful remarks about plaintiff. Two men had apparently been keeping a watch on witness* house at night from seven to ten o'clock. The defendant Thomas was certainly not one of them. A handwriting expert, called on behalf of plaintiff, said that Mrs. Thomas' writing bore resemblances to that in the anonymous letters. Mrs. Thomas, in evidence, said that she know nothing of the anonymous letters produced. The two signed letters exhibited were hers. They referred to commonplace matters. <! Richard Thomas gave similar evidence. A handwriting expert called for the defence said there were distinct differences in the handwriting of Mrs. Thomas and that of the anonymous writer. Mr. Moody said defendants had been married seven months. Mrs. Thomas was 20 years old. He produced an anonymous letter which had been received by the defendant Thomas. It was in the same handwriting as the others in the case. At Mr. Haddow's request Mrs. Thomas wrote a number -of sentences chosen from the anonymous letters. Mr. Haddow drew attention to 36 incorrect spellings in the anonymous letters. Four were made by Mrs. Thomas in writing at his request. The magistrate, Mr. McKean, said he might require further assistance from a handwriting expert. Judgment was reserved.