FOUL, FISHY AND FILTHY.

NZ Truth, Issue 84, 26 January 1907, Page 6

FOUL, FISHY AND FILTHY.

Dreadful Old Jack Jones. A Veteran Crook's Rocky Record,

A 'disreputable • old gceser named Jack Jones -indignantly .^denied, keeping a 'disord'ejly house, ;,in Lane. Chfistchurch, "and also 'a second charge of being the occupier of a house which was. frequented by persons having no lawful means of support. When the- cases were originally called on the old buffer got a week's adjournment m order that he might employ counsel, and Mr Leatham ultimately appeared for him. The evidence adduced showed that Jones, who was &7 '-years o£ age on the day of the hearing, was a gay spark with " a penchant for women of easy virtue", or no virtue at all. A baker named James Harding, of St. Albans, told the court that he lived near the hpiise occupied by the accused m Willis' Lane. He had seen women, of no-class sort, trot along to Jones' ,'shaaitv. Including the McKegneys, Ada Boyce, Mary Hughes, and others— all prostitutes. ;He had also' seen men going there, and had been annoyed at men calling at his house. Witness got up at a •quarter, past three m the morning and had found fellows sleeping on his verandah under his girl's window. They had come from Jones' place, or had been • . ■ KICKED OUT OF THERE, or couldn't get admission. Bones trundled a hand-cart with fish now and again to make a show of carnj ing an honest living. Witness' opihI ion of his house that it was a place of refuge for vagrants off the streets. Mr Leatham asked the , character of 'the houses m this lovely lane, witness replying that there were, one or two bad ones \ m it, but Jones' was ths only disorderly shahty there. The man had' -been 1 laid up as the result of a dog bite for two or three months. Residents had suffered ani noyance through' the. accused during the last three or four:. years; women had heen visiting the place all that period. On Xnias eve witness saw him stagger up to two women,, catch them by their arms, and said that he was too drunk to walk, and then the trio walked along arm m arm. The women were prostitutes! The next witness, was Georga Cook, carter for Heywoqd and Co., who also admitted living m this bright and. breezy lane. The house of the accused was frequented by bad characters, he said, both men and women, chiefly females. The

ANTICS OF THESE PEOPLE caused considerable annoyance to tbe neighborhood, the row going on until eleven or tw&lve o'clock at night. On Anniversary Day witness' little, boy ran m and said that there was a man choking a woman m Jones' back yard. Wiftness got a bucket of water and threw it over the pair (laughter). The landlady, the police and the neighbors had Warned accused about the way h-3 conducted the house, but tfos same old business went on every day. It was nothing but a drinking shop, but as he had. not been inside the house he could not state what else went on there. In reply to Mr Leatham witness said the accused sold fish occasionally ; had never heard him use bad language, but hs encouraged people who did. Carpenter George Law son named a few of. the beauties who left their visiting, cards at the accused's place if he happened to be out. They vs«3rc ' .

LOW CHARACTER WOME-Nf? who did nothing for a- living.. '.The house was a nuisance to the neighbors m the street.

S Complaints had often been made to the police about this house, according to Constable Harvey, and at ten o'clock one morning he had business at Cook's house down Willis' Lane. While there he saw Moll Mary Murray go to Jones' door, accompanied by a bloke, and he (the con- | stable) followed them round. When I Jones saw witness he- shooed the pair away, and be told the peeler he was glad he came to chase them off. When the present case was nally called at the court ' the' constable said he met PROSTITUTE LAETITIA' BERKLEY who said "Jones is going . to gaol to-day, I hear ; I must go to his house and get my things." The house m question was one of ill-fame ; bad women went there. In answer to Mr Leathaan, who sought to show that accused was trying to shoo women off the premises, witness replied "1 don't think he tries to keep them away i very much."

Acting 'Tec Gibson always bobs up m these eases. He is a necessary ingredient •m the prosecution. As a matter of course he knew- the man m the dock well, ami he had paid several visits to Willis' Lane. He found that it was ' generally women just out of gaol whp. sought refuge m the Jones'- sanctuary;' -Hp had oeeh;U^o^i.twfeC3 vl^Hxray, .;Ada. ' Boy?©, and Mrs-.Malsard (the. lady* who is always runsnimg' away : , from her husband V at the house ? cpn)slsined of, and he had seen the. -gre^v^hiskexed old cuss- arm" in J 4rifes|hV Ada. Boyce, ■^■lsO'-with^a^^prT^.' "The; latter- i-usetf :.:.tQ ~:sme, :' m,- "tliaVstteet, but stoSfoati jb^^is]tiifte£i:^vit: of. it. , ThE> h^bled-into the.witness : bjb^ffhe .;• is • very A frail— to give eyid|n^-M'msel|i aiid-'he repeated the tall^pij. Qf\the 'oath/ <( So;heJp me Gk)d;''v as'.proriouncbd' by the orderly, m aV%bst pious and emphatic manner.. He had the unutterable, gall to tell the court that he always tried' to keep' the . • ' . '

UNDESIRABLE CHARACTERS from his house, but they came there to pay for fish.. He was only paying five bob a week .rent, arid, had been ordered to leave several times. He had now got an ultimatiim to go out on the 2lst January. He had been laid up sorne rn.ohths through receiving a bite frdm a dog, . and had to sell some of his property to keep scoir 1 " •

Sergeant Norwood: If you are hard up how is it you manage to get drunk and walk arm m arm with prostitutes m the public street? —That is not ture.

Don't, you ever get drunk ?— Yes ; but I've, never teen arm m arm with a. prostitute. > -You say . you have to sell things to get food, aren't you continually procuring bottles of beer and taking them to your house. ?— They are only for mvselL .

Do you get gallons of beer for yourself ? Aren't you continually out for cans of beer as well as bottles ?— I don't drink- gallons of beer. On the day you were served with the summons weren't there a lot of drunken women with you 7— No, they weren't drunk. - x -

Mr Bishop, S.M., held the charges clearly proved- Then he remarked that he knew the' accused, who was a disreputable old reprobate. At his age' he, pv&htn't to lead tha life he did,. ; He., ijiad respectab^.son.^ wl\q had been trying to keep him straight unavailingly. ' . ' ■

Just here the beak asked for accused's record. in order to make sure about the matter. His knowledge of the fellow was correct. He had served two years for an assault pn a young girl. That was to say, he took her away from home, and used her for his own purposes, ljein-e ultimately punished . Then he got six months' for a very bad assault on his wife. Continuing, Mr Bishop said that if accused was willing to go into a Home he would send him there. He was a bad man, and .always would associate with people of questionable repute. It seemed to be a sort of sexual weakness with the man, and at his age he. should be thinking of something else. He started a disorderly house and got these women to visit him there. (To accused) : Will you go to a Home ?— Yes, I will do anything for truth and honesty. -Very well, you will be sentenced to three months' imprisonment on the first charge, the warrant to be suspended if you stay six months m the Samaritan Home. On the second charge you will be convicted and discharged.