ALCOHOLIC ASHBURTON.

NZ Truth, Issue 276, 8 October 1910, Page 8

ALCOHOLIC ASHBURTON.

HOW HYPOCRITES ARE MADE. The Operations of a Fool Law. WHERE THE WHISKY WAS HIDDEN. Between the Mattresses of a Woman's Bed.

The curse of No-license and slygroggery lies on tho chest of Ashbuiton like a ship-load of fan ( to4s assailing the brain of a boozer m the -horrors. Any person who imports whisky to any extent is a>n object of suspicion, and as many residents are very rightly objects of suspicion from the sly-grog point of view, subterfuge, lying, sneaking, illicit guzzling, secret drunkenness, and perdition generally are the normal features of the saintly township. . There are many suspected geries m Asihiboirton, and they are located by the police watching haJbitual beer-sinkers, who . would collapse if •-■ ' !. ■ DEPRIVED OP THEIR DAILY DRAM. The harmfulness of the sly-<grogigery is that persons able to drink stupendous quantities of beer without turning a whisker, have to be content with the more easily smuggled spirits, which are frequently of tjhe chain-ligiitniug brand, and the physical and moral, deterioration by the absorption thereof is horrible to contemplate. ■ For some time past the police noticed well-known frequenters of siy-grogjgeries entering the residence m Pox-street of Miss Ellen. Allman, apd on September 8,- at 9.40 p.m., a raid was successfully carried out. _Miss • Allman" sometimes takes m boarders, and) Leslie Kii'dd '; Was the traditional lodger m iihe ■ establishment. "When Sergeant Fpnihey and Copper .Torrance entered with a search warrant they disodyeredf 15 bottles of hop : beer, them brought to light a lO^gailoh keg of •the same exhilarating liquid m a high state of fermentation. Asked if that; was all the tanglefoot m the house, Ellen said "Yes, T ' with eagerness, and mentioned several tames ■that she 'had no other stagger-juice ; but the. law regarded her with unbelief and pryed i i n>to all secret places. They even entered the lady's bedroom, and, opening a • cupboard,. fell upofc'two bottles of whisfcy 'therein. Nor was the bed of Ellen .safe from iheir profane hands, which rum.jmaged between the mattresses and disclosed two more bottles of whisky. In viain did Ellen ' seek to prevent Peeler Torranoe disarranging, her couch. As tJie search was proceeding Lodger "'Jfcjdrf entered, and the Sergeant nT&ftition'ed his errand. Then Kidd quietly disappeared, returning later to take an intelligent interest m the proceedings. "He said he had been out to post a letter," said the sergeant, significantly, later. The result of this unsolicited call was the joint prosecution of . Ellen and Leslie for KEEPING WHISKY FOR SALE, when they pleaded not guilty through Lawyer Donnelly. The police evidence was to the above effect, and cross-examination brought out the fact that Ellen did not prevail upon the raiders to have a nip while tihey were on the premises. There were certainly no signs of indiscriminate drinking or even discreet guzzling. Mr Donnelly (to Torrance) : Could you not go to at least one hundred .houses m Ashburton and find four bottles of whdsky ? Torran:e admitted that it wasn't an unusual thing to find that quantity m local residences. Copper O'Grady had seen many frequenters of slyngroggeries enter Ihe suspected premises of Ellen, and mentioned tV.e name of at le a st one man (Ur>qiuharf> withimthe past iro::th. The lady miaht keep a board-ing-house, but she didn't serve promiscuous meals, to his knowledge. Hercules Henderson, manager for Wilson anil Co, wine and spirit merchants, Tim a ru, said that he

had consigned cases of whisky to L. K'idd on June 6, July 5, and Au^ gust 12, i and a oase to Ellen " on July 21. 'Mr Donnelly contended that as there i was: no evidence of Ellen and: Leslie j consorting, they couldn't be ' convicted jointly of keeping . liquor for sale. Kidd, he pointed out, had used only one case of whisky a month, and counsel, m reminiscent moodi retailed the time when he had seen DIGGERS DRINK TUMBLERS FULL of the fiery liquid at a gulp. They, were pretty case^hardened m thfose days. Ellen, he pointed out, was found to have four bottles only, and one of these she claimed to be »a hotwater bottle, and the quantity mentioned TVasoiot am abnormal allowi ance for a lady tc-have cm the prei mises. Magistrate Day opined that when wihisky was concealed, as m the present case, it required some explanation. The evidence called . by the .defence went to show that Ellen suffered from bronchitis, and imported the warmth-generating liquid to treat her oomiptiiint. Of the case ordered i the four bottles were the remains, j It Was a fact that some of the boti ties fourd were not Johnny Walker's i but a /friend had borrowed three batI ties and' returned three • of a diSer- > ent brand. The lady had nothing to do with the - whisky -of. Kidd, _ who inibi(bed his ■ own' property. It •was true that the 1 ibototles were hidden away, and for obvious reasons. lin a drought-stricken v district such ;as Ash'burton it was m extraordinary demand, and if left about the premises m view of visitors she couldn't refuse them hospitality, and wholesale philanthropy of, that descrption. would be expensive. THE OPERATION OF W FOOL .•••-. „ ■ ...law , . ■, ; ■ necessitates concealment. . In miajny ' houses m Ashtburton where whisky was not sold, said Mr Donnelly, bottles of wihisky might be found under the' mattresses. •- • / ; Ellen, m cross-exammation, denied that she had ■' ordered whisky' m Kicidi'svHatae and signed her own cognomew. Tiie \sergeant said he could produce ' the orders. The, lady said she bad never "entirel/y" written out an order and signed Kidd's . name ; nor bad- her brother left .her whisky on the occasion of his last visit. She didn't suggest to one. O'Brien that she should, get whisky m bis narme, nor had O'Brien left her domicile owing to a slight difference on that point. One Smith brought 'her whisky, but it was to replace some he had borrowed, but he had never brought her ba^clc more than he hall borrowed. In reply to the Magistrate she said she owned the house she was living m, also a cottage, for which she received rent. OiUviously he was testing her ability 'to pay.. a fine: William Smith confirmed the statement that he bad borrowed three bottles of whisky from Ellen and had returned them one by one as he procured them from Methveri. His Worship held that tjhere was not sufficient evidence against Kidd to warrant a conviction. Ellen Allman was fined £30, and the liquor was confiscated.