DUKE STREET DAMES.

NZ Truth, Issue 111, 3 August 1907, Page 6

DUKE STREET DAMES.

tThe Ceaseless Chatter of Obscene Tongues. Squalid little Duke street,- Christy Jchurch, is still keeping its slimy end up m the way of rows and lang-. •uage, and what not. The dwellings fthere aren't dreams of loveliness or palaces of delight, and most of the denizens of the thoroughfare appear ffco be on a par with their environment. This week Maria Willis was up for obscene language. It was shocking language, inasmuch as it referred to little Mrs Gennettj, who lives opposite, m a worse term than .that of prostitute, and made allusion to certain pornic pranks with policemen. Defendant, who was represented by Mr Donnelly, denied the vile allegation m toto, and then Mrs Cfennet substantiated the statement m the information. The filthy .words were used right enough, she said.Counsel : You have been before the iCourt for using obscene language yourself ?— Yes ; but only once was I convicted. Mrs Willis has prosecuted you and .you have prosecuted her ; this thing (happens periodically, does it not ? — iYes. Haven't you been here time and again ? — Yes, but when I was charged- . ■ THE WITNESSES SWORE FALSELY. The defendant was a witness against you then ?— Yes, she was, but I can't leave my own door but .what she sings out after me. The Magistrate believed her story M'hen he convicted you ?—Apparently. An elderly man named Alexander 'Patterson, who lives m Mrs Gennet's house, said that he saw Mrs Willis on the evening m question, and heard her make use of the language complained of. The woman was on' the footpath at the time, and he was at his own door. She ■had accused the other woman of immodesty m the most gross terms, and made reference to policemen of an indecent nature. Counsel,: Mrs Gennet appears m Court pretty often.— She" is obliged to come to Court when she is called names. 'You always come forward as a iwitness when she has a case ■? — Well, I always tell the truth. It is all very ..well for you to talk ; you are paid" for it. .; You. have lived with" Mrs Gennet for years, have you not ?— I board myself there. No one else boards there ? — No. Mrs Marj' Alice Warwick, another 'denizen of this lovely street, also deposed to hearing defendant using •the dirty tongue. She denied, inanswer to Mr Donnelly, that she had been offered a remission m rent by Mrs Gennet if she came and swore against Mrs Willis m Court.' ■Ernest Charles Warwick, her hushand, also testified. He is a carter, and has been only living m •Duke-street a couple of months,' so he isn't quite up to the vagaries of its inhabitants. He heard the lan- 1 guage complained, of, and laid the present information. The reason was that he had three little children, and he couldn't stand SUCH HIGHLY OBJECTIONABLE EXPRESSIONS being made use of m front of children. For the defence, Maria Willis said she had never spoken the epithets ascribed to her. She had been 36 .(years m Christchurch, but hadn't ■been convicted of an offence. On several occasions, however, she had been subpoened by the police, and bad given evidence against Mrs Gennet. She called two witnesses, a .very small boy and a, very old man, a newspaper seller, T but neither was m any degree satisfactory. Mr Day said that he would convict and inflict a fine of a cjuid. The exes brought the sum up to over double .that amount. 'As •'the parties before the Court are constantly bickering .instead of kissing one another over the gate, the S.M. suggested that one of them should da a guy, and obtain a house elsewhere. Two viragos m one street — .not counting ihe others . who fly off at a tangent now and again— ig, rather; more than t.the noisesome locality, can .well stand.