DELECTABLE DUKE-ST. DAMES.

NZ Truth, Issue 147, 11 April 1908, Page 6

DELECTABLE DUKE-ST. DAMES.

Battle Before the Beaks.

Deiectable Duke-street, Christchurcii, has climbed to the giddy eminence of notoriety per medium of , the Police Court, within the past , f .week or two. • The opening .^cene of •the disreputable drama found Mrs Mary Ann Gennett reproaching a jCrimean veteran with the theft of a blanky jug, and the 'veteran is alleged to have responded by calling the beer-inspired ; lady a blanky ' prostitute. The subseqifent obscenities hurled into, space by the voluble Mary-Ann induced a "stern Magisterial Bench to fine- her twenty bob and costs.' Two of the witnesses against Mrs Gennett were J. Cook die. of the Ally Slop'er countenance)..; and his .spouse, and Cook ..Was so disturbed /hy the proceedings narrated that he took several beers to calm . his sensitive nerves , and. proceeding to Duke-street, kicked up HelPs /delight, so, that 'the police were, called m, at the instigation, of. his. enemy, Mrs Gennett ; * Amelia riwst also taste the degradadation of the felon's dock. Accordingly, the whole beastly .neighborhood assembled like blood-thirsty persons at a dog fight, m the S.M. .Court, on Wednesday, when Mrs Cook was charged with using obscene language to Mrs Gennett on , March 23, . and with breaking a pane : of glass m the ■: domicile of that lady m the extremely early hours ,cf Marchr 24. , Mrs, Cook's indignation at the foul asperation on her. character was simply inconceivable, and > she pleaded not guilty with firmness, through solicitor Le&tham. An elderly buster named Patterson, whose' gre^ whiskers floated idly m the breezes, testified that he was the eternal lodger at Mary-Ann's, _ and on the day mentioned m the infor- . mation, Mrs Cook came across to Mrs Gennett and /remarked, with severity ' . ' i "YOU BLANKY PROSTITUTE !»' gathering every atom of emphasis she happened to have about her clothes, '■ Mrs Cook screamed, "You blanky blank !" (The last blank was too horrible for words.) Apparently ; the Cooks were lata retirers, for shortly i after midnight, Amelia advanced, upon the watching Gennetts .(who also get to bed at a reproachful hour) and hurled a piece of , -crockery through their . kitchen window. The patriarch, m- triumph, produced., a remnant - of what . looked like a flower-pot, .m proof of his assertion. The damage^was estimated at 3s 6d. Mr Lea tham; What do you do ?— I do Nothing. You "live" with Mrs Gennett ?— I've got a room m the same Jliouse, I own the house and board tlie're. ">' ' Oh, you live m your own house as a "lodger." Where is her husband ? —Go and ask her. v Don't be insulting. You have been here before on account of rows m tha,t street ?— Only> as a witness. Do you live with this woman. ; does she live with you as- your wife ?— No. I don't live with her. , What time - do you say Mr^Cook broke, the window ?— At a quarter to one. I was- lookirig out of my. window. . „-''• j What were. you. doing up at' that hour ?— I wa£ sitting watching her as she canle across and broke the pane. Was Mrs Gennett drunk on Monday ?— No,, she was not drunk aA all. She is a respectable woman. Mrs Gennett corroborated. When Mrs Cook had shattered . the transparency, she threatened to break . other windows. A terrible woman is Mrs Cook, according to I__s Gennett. With regard to THE- HORRIBLE EPITHETS hurled at her' by. Mrs Cook earlier m .; the day, Mrs Gennett could not bring her pale "lips to repeat the libels, but had come prepared with them written down on a piece of paper. Mr Leatham : Havent' ypu been convicted here of using obscene, language ?— The last time "I was. he>re I was convicted, but it was a wrdiig •judgment.. •. I . Have you paid the fine yet ?— No, and I don't intend to pay it. You will have to pay or go to gaol ?— Will I ? » I'll' look into it. You ".live" with Patterson ?— No,- I don't. Who lives there besides yourself ?— My son. (Here 'followed a long anoi voluble explanation about her untarnished virtue.) " • — She . denied fomenting disturbance by - inducing Mrs Cook's daughter to hang around her preniises. How many tinges have you been convicted ?— I don't know. In her own defence, Mrs Cook denied using the horrible language, and characterised the story about the broken pane as an invention, unpatented and diabolical. Fact of the matter was, Mrs Gennett flung a bucket of water over /Mrs Cook's disrespected husband m the open street, and the outraged wife merely said to her, "You ought .to be ashamed of yourself." She didn't exclaim, "You blacky prostitute," and the horrible suggestion that she had said **; "You blanky blank .'"was an emanar,v■'•'".'-,--,. of a deprav-? mind. On the *: : -' :: rr;r -; f Yr : : r : :l^-^.,:M^

dents in the street. "As, & gentleman was only saving to m>.e this morning," remarked Mrs Cook.. " 'E lives in the best 'o'usc in, the streets too. Says 'e, Mrs Cook, Ido wish we, could get 'er shifted. Mrs Cook was much concerned because her daughter would persist in crossing the unsanctified threshold of Mrs Gennet, who encouraged the girl to remain about. 'her Deplorable premises. Old white-whiskers Patterson had lived with.-the dreadful upwards of twenty years; • To Sergeant Johnston :•• When her husband' was bqobed for beer and behaviour she" didn|t threaten to break Mrs Gcnfiett^ windows. „ .-. George Rout, the indefinite veteran whose name' ■'.appeared, in a previous information' as "Raud," and who routed Mrs Gehnett -in a previous hot engagement aboilt ablanky jug, deposed / •that /he was a person who didn't' beer, whereas Mrs G. was an opponent of Tommy Taylor, and his vision and hearing weren't liable to deception On that account. He had been around the neighborhood ,all\ day and - didn't \ hear the' lamentable language complained of ; moreover, Mrs Cool? returned to her house i at 9.30 p.m.^ and couldn't vossib.ly haye been hurling crockery at the Genriett mansion at a quarter to one in. the morning. ( . / Edwajrd Whittington, a •Heathcote farmer, whose startled black whiskers gave him the appearance of a Jock McLaohlan or the Wild Man from Borneo, -slept at Mrs Cook's on the fatal' night, and was sure that the lady didn't -leave the premises after vlO p.m.. as he was awake, all night, and f -knew. , f Walter James Johnson, a son /Mrs Cook by a former marriage, was equally certain that the unfortunate woman hadn't risen from the. blankets ; after : the respectable' hour of ten. ..• '■'.-' .:'.;, ' ; „-■; In the face, of this evidence, Jay Pees Pearce and O'Connor dismissed both informations, 'and Mrs Qennett retired beaten, but not "discouraged.