NEIGHBORS THAT NAG!

NZ Truth, Issue 139, 15 February 1908, Page 5

NEIGHBORS THAT NAG!

WAS KEMP UNKIND? Doings Down m Drunmiond's Lane. Case Adjourned for Further Evidence. There is something inspiring, about a real, slap-up neighbors '..quarrel. As a rule the ladies of the rival establishments' speak m hushed . whispers^ about each other to neutral acquaintances of ' both parties, or they hurl defiance over the backyard fence ;' .more often 'the children make insulting remarks to each other and engage m mortal combat, and the household dog bites the ear of the cat m the other hated family's house. The men ' are dragged into the feud, and uphold the honor of 'their clan m time-honored Sullivan-Squires fashion. Drummond Lane, off Tinakori Road, will never be a peaceful thoroughfare while the Kemps and the Ruddys live within "measurable distance of each other. Fred Kemp is described by Mrs Sarah Ruddy, a small pale woman with prominent teeth as. a monster of a particularly yillr'ous. kind, and she is so afraid of ■> 'a that she recently, applied to We!' :'<vfcqn Magistrate's .Court for the _ssuo, of sureties of the peace; and! wajs, supported 'iii; the'; application by Solicitor Jackson. On the evening of Saturday, February 1, between 5 and 6 o'clock,' Kemp was standing oppo,site his 'gate and Mrs Ruddy stood trembling at her bedroom window, when the dreadful person made use of a remark which was too .brutally obscene for Mrs Ruddy to ,s / j SULLY HER FAIR LTPS with. Kemp' had roared out at Mrs "Daley, another neighbor, "I'll fix her up, and b— old mother Ruddy as well." This insult was most unpleasant, but it sunk into insignificance beside' the horrible language used by Kemp at 10 o'clock on the same evening, . when Mrs Ruddy was the object of his displeasure. The unfortunate woman said she was sfraid to go out anywhere for fear the inhuman wretch should waylay her, as. he had threatened to do. Sarah attributed 'her unpopularity, with K.emp' to the fact that the wicked person had been refused the house the Ruddys lived m, and rage and; disappointment exuded i from every pore of the baffled applicant. "Once before he called me a b—r— cat;" remarked Mrs T?»fWv with indignation. Mr Blair -"(for. the defence) ■:. Did not the trouble arise because he came to you about a child you , left naked m the house ?— No, the trouble was because, that man came to my^ house and called me ab-r—r prostitute, and I smacked 'his face. ■ •• ' You are very free with your tongue ; you quarrel with> others m j the lane, do you not I— No, t don-'t. j Kemp quarrelled: with, four different ! persons m the lane, | Lawrence Ruddy, engine-driver on the Government Railways. and, husband .■ of Sarah, 'gave corroborative evidence,, and -he, too," touivd the lan- i guage of Kemp too "horrible to men- j tion out loud m Court. "The fact of the matter isj",.. -i- .said/" Ruddy, "he wants me to come out and fight. When he -■ : ■.■;■. ■ . •;- ■ "■... ' ' Called my wife a prostir TTJTE, I did go out, but he downed me and kicked me on both sides of the face. I went m, .and iafter that I didn't want to have anything more to do with him." Kemp was m the habit of yelling insults daily. Joe Ruddy, a carpenter, and brother of Lawrence, arrived m time to hear the 10 o'clock atrocity and mentioned it m evidence. * The defence was a complete denial of the slanguage. Lawyer Blair remarked that the bad feeling arose through the action of Kemp, who found a neglected child m the house of Ruddy on a date anterior to the present row. The family was out, and the kid, which had evidently divested itself of its' clothes, was left crying ori' its lonesome from the early, afternbbn till 9 at night. Kemp rescued the child ; through a window, and talcing it home clothed and fed and looked after it. Since which time the Ruddy hatred of the Kemps had been like unto the ruddy glow of a giant bush-fire m, the Wairarapa. At anyrate, according to Mr Blair, there was no love lost between the families. K^mp drives a lorrie for Munt, Cpttrell and Covj and he produced evidence to show that he had signed the time-book at 6.30 on the v fateful, evening, tod "that he didn't get home till a little before 7. After having his even, n>g meal Daley and his wife appeared m the lane, 1 and Kemp accosted Daley about his two boys, w-ho were larger than Kemp's offspring, who had suffered at their hands..Daley didn't 'want to have anything to. say on the subject and went on, and that was the whdle happening. . THE LURID LANGUAGE MBN- ' TIONED / didn't escape Kemp's lips. The whole X emp family— nine of 'era- K emp and niissus 4 his father and mother, brother -and sister, and three.kids— who live m two houses adjoining, then went down town, and 'enjoyed the giddy dissipation of the city till 9.80 O'clock, when they returned,; and no ■offensive language was used by Kemp. They were Jail agreed on that. The old lady said they l got . back at a quarter to 10, but she doesn't carry a watch ; m any case they were all preparing for bed at 10 o!clock, when the flood of obscene 'words was said to be at its heifcht. Miss Mary Kemp said ■-. she had been employed for seventeen years m the j'Kaiapoi Woollen Factory, and alIways came home at 9.30 p!m. "A MOST RESPECTABLE HOUR," agreed solicitor Jackson, sympathet ically. ' . The .only objection to the long list of Kemp witnesses was that they were all of one family and might be biased. Magistrate Riddell thought the DaIftys would be independent witnesses, and adjourned the case to permit of that peaceful couple being subpoenaed.