A FAMILY SQUABBLE.

NZ Truth, Issue 148, 18 April 1908, Page 6

A FAMILY SQUABBLE.

The Horrible Hoskins. When ' one recollects the over-stocked State of Christchurch "m the heavenly tourist line of business, one is astonished at the large proportion of the population bound for the other place, with no guide save their own sinfulness. The courts reek with evidence of immorality. and "Truth's" local rep., a respectable non-church-goer, is daily shocked by the lurid expletives that the horrible accused is m the habit of hurling at the virtuous complainant. There is always a girl carrying on with somebody she oughtn't to be seen dead in' a forty-acre^ paddock with, and the number of "lodgers'.? m Christchurch who live with the landlady m a reproachful manner is steadily ( on the increase. Take the_ case of an • unfortunate plasterer named William Wilkins. Bill's family, y according to Bill, appears to • have forsaken the narrow path for the broad thoroughfare that leads to perdition, and it was Bill's noble light against the inevitable that got him into trouble. If Wilkins' allegations against his own daughter are tr"ut— and this : paper doesn't lake the responsibility of saying they are— old Nick is a busy personage m the neighborhood of St. Asaph-street. . All the same, tho old man has no right to belch curse words m the public street, and attack the virtue of his off-spring m full view of the public. The affair occurred on tho evening of March '30, when May Graham (Bill's dauahier), George Graham {Mary's husband), and John Carter (an elderly person whom Hoskins accuses ol ueine too friendly with the 'young wornanl. were about to go to the -theatre together. -Hoskins came up on his bike and opened fire, according to the prosecution.* "You damn cur," he remarked, fixing a fierce eye on Cnr*> - : "I've got you this, time." "You bLnlcors," he roared, addressing all and sundry ; "I'll play you out all over the town ! What sort of a man do YOU call yourself?" lie asked, petrifying the miserable Graham with a look of scorn. "You didn't make her your wife yourself ; you made her the wife of four men." Then turning the flood of his wrath on to his cowering daughter, he hissed, with withering contemnt, "You blanky little prostitute !" The trio walked along m stony silence, and Wilkins hiked beside them as far as Barbadoes-street, projectinc remarks like the above at them, varied by others equally insulting and obscene. These facts were elicited from May Graham and her husband by Lawyer Donnelly, who 'prosecuted the indiscreet parent. • May is a NICE-LOOKING YOUNG WOMAN v/itb appealing eyes and a weak mouth. She wore> a pearl grey costume and a wistful expression, with brawn flowers m her white straw hat. Cross-examined by solici'ter Leathern, for the defence,' she admitted that at the time pa Game along to look for her brother George, a youth of nineteen who had become entangled m the ardent embraces of an unvirtuous female named Emma Hill. Dp you, know Emma Hill ? — Yes. Was she- m your house with your brother ?— No ; she was not. Do you know that they went away together ?— No. When were you m this Court before?— Some time back. Who is Carter ?— He is a neighbor m Heathcote Valley. Your father and mother object to him going' there while your husband is away? .-No. /What is he ?— He is a widower. / Why does he go down there ?— He is a friend of my husband. Did not your father say to */ Carter; "You are, a bad old scoundrel- for running after my girl ?"— No ;he said, "You are a d — d old scoundrel and a d d old cur! 1 ' ,>....'■ What for ?— For coming about the place, I suppose, Mj Donnelly : You say you were up m this Court for theft ; what was the charge of theft for ?-^A dress. Mr Leathern : You knew this girl Hill was a woman of bad character ?— Yes ; but I never mixed with her. George Graham, who works as a laborer on the Bank of New Zealand building, gave corroborative testimony, and said he had given pa no provocation. He had known Carter ever since he (Graham) was twelve, Mien he was running a milk cart to Lyttelton. " Your father-in-law objects to him associating with your wife ? — Yes. Do you objtct ?-r-No. Not when you are away ? — He calls m and goes away again. . • How do you know ? ' Mr Donnelly : This has got nothing •whatever to do with the case. Whatever the woman may be does not justify tho man calling her a prostitute. Your father-in-law called Carter an old scoundrel ? — Yes. He had nreviously spoken to you about Carter ?— Yes. What did you do ?— I can do what I like m my own house. Did you promise him you would KEEP , CARTER AWAY FROM YOUR WIFE? —Yes, I did, to keep his tongue ''still. John Carter, the much-maligned individual, supported the evidence of the prosecution, and acknowledged to Mr Leathern that he hadn't done any work for a year or two, but was living on his means. Has Wilkins, on many occasions, spoken to you about hia daughter ?— He has spokeit. And he has warned you to keep away from the girl ?— I have been annoyed by him. He is annoyed with you ?— He has come to mv place and used abusive language to others as well as myself. How old are you ?— Forty-eight. Did you take this girl to Wainoni Park ?— Yes ; with her husband on New Year's Day. Hoskins's version was to the e^ct that he met the trio at the, gate as they were going out, and • said to Carter, ; 4?M?J-£ l)at ! ?. I( * scoun^ re '. t° t^e mv ■' ■■'■!: .)■ ■■■ X

allow you to be disgraced by this man and to allow you to be called a little prostitute by the people." The indignant father remarked that he had had a lot of trouble with the girl, whom he had located and brought home from questionable places at two and three o'clock m the morning. Mr Donnelly : You needn't blackguard your own daughter now. The unheeding parent stated that he had told Carter to keep Graham away. Graham had promised him before marriage to keep Carter away. Once, before she said "I will" at the altar, THE UNFORTUNATE GIRL was away with the wretched Carter for a solid week. She left her place and was stopping with the brutal man at Sydenham. Solicitor Donnelly entered an urgent protest against these aspersions on the daughter's character. She. denied the charges. When the episode narrated m the charge took place, Hoskins was seeking to save his son George from the clutches of the hussy Hill. That bold, bad woman had been at both Carter's and Graham's. Mr Donnelly : How old is your daughter ?— Twenty. How -long has she been married ?— A little over a year. Why, if you have any regard for your daughter, do you stand up m the witness box and blackguard her ?— I want to show that man's character up, and what is going on now. ' .; Do you not consider you are doing your daughter a foul injury ? — I have cried mmy bed "through that girl. I have worked m one place for seventeen years, he added, irrevelantly. You called her a prostitute ?— No. Other people did ?— Yes ; they are doing as much now. And you are helping them.- Did you you say she was the wife of four men ? —No. Matilda Wnkins, mother of Mary and wife of the last witness, spoke at the rate of forty-three to the dozen, m her eagerness to blacken her daughter'a character. Three J's.P. on the Bench decided to bind Hoskins over to keep the r-acc for twelve months m one sum of £25. and ordered him to pay the costs of the prosecution.