A SHOOTING AFFRAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 31

A SHOOTING AFFRAY.

A WELL-KNOWN SPORTING MAN. IN CUSTODY.

Visitors to the trotting races at Tahuna Park yesterday had something more lo interest them than the official programme contemplated. The weather was beautiful, a breeza from the blue sea, of which peeps wore obtainable over the stretch of sand from the terraces, tempering pleasantly the rays of the sun, which shone in a cloudless sky, and nea ly every person present must have thoroughly enjoyed the outiug by reason of thp favourable conditions which prevailed. There were those in the park, however, who will certainly recall the day with feelings of anything but pleasure, and these were they whose conduct afforded the variety to the programme that excited the interest of the general bedy of spectators. The only person at tha races who was »b all conspicuous by his dress was Mr Samuel John Mercer, who, as clerk of the course, wore a black velvet hat, a scarlet coat, tightlyfitting riding trousers, and riding boots, and bestrode a good steed. TJiere are limitations to tho freedom from criticism and attack even of a clerk of the course, and so Mercer learnt, for, having dismounted on one occasion, he was accosted by a Mrß Louisa D. Brown, who carries on business as a confectioner afc 45 George street. She charged him with having pnticed away her {laughter — said to be 19 or 20 years old — from her home to his residence at St. Kilda,' and with having detained her there. This complaint she followed up attacking Mercer with her umbreUa, wbich she drew «crops his note, causing a blight abrasion. Mercer seized and broke tbe umbrella, and then 'requested a constable to arrect the woman. constable demurred to dcing tb's, as he knew where tbe woman was to be found and as, moreover, he knew nothing to her discredit. Mercer, who was recently appointed to the commission of tbe peace, thereupon, as a justice of tbe peace, ordered the constable to arrest his assailant, a»d the constable, again pointing out that the proper prcceediug was by turnmou*, declined to do so. Mercer appealed next to the cfficials of the TrottiDg Club, and by their direction his assailant was removed by the police from the course. The next incident in the unofficial part of I ha afternoon's proceedings caused a good deal of excitement. Mrs Louisa Brown, who had, a3 above mentioned, been ejected from the course, had been accompanied to the races by her daughtt-r-in-law, the wife of a young man numtd Edwaid BrowD, who keeps a boarding house in the building formerly known as the Supreme Coutt Hotel, situated opposite the gaol in Stuarb street. Mrs Edward Brown is a young woman, but has had a somewhat varied experience in life, and some few years ago she attained a certain degree of notoriety in this city by entering a cage of lions sA a circus performance. Shortly after this she was married, and only a few months liter she figured in the Divorce Court in the role of respondent, gubs.-quenUy marryiDg her present husband. A young woman, of more than presentable looks, she has now acquired a matronly appearance. As the avenger- of the wrcngs of her mother-in-law, she way'aid Mercer on one occasion when he was on foot and attacked him with her fist j, which »he evidently knows how to use, for pinning tha clerk of the course up agiinst the hurdles, out; of which was formed a weighing-in enclosure in front of the tecretary's office, she rained the blows in thick' and fast with both hands on hia face. Mercer did not retaliate beyond endeavouring! to wurd ,off the Wows and to secure the bands of bis assailant. This encounter was terminated by the interference of the police, who removed tho young woman from the coursr, leaving Mercer to proceed in this case also by summons. Shortly after this Mercer, having concluded probably that the races were not of si.ffioiently absorbing interest for him, got bis d-gesrb ready and" left the course. Seated alongside him was a young woman, this being, it was stated, the daughter of Mrs Louisa Brown,, whom.* the mother charged him with having enticed away. As he drove away Mercer was roundly- hooted by- a section of the public. So for there had beea nothing serious about the proceedings as between the parties to the quarrel relating to the girl Brown, however disgraceful they may have been, but the lu-xfc phase of the trouble was distinctly grave. Edward Brown, the husband of Mercer's second assailant, was also at the races, and when he left he was accompanied by a man named Joseph Cl ffvrd, who until & comparatively recent period drove a hansom cab in town. The direct road into town for Brown acd Clifford would not take thf m into the vicinity of Mercer's house, which is near the Forbury racecourse, but they contrived on their homeward way to go in the direction of Mercei's. Brown told his companion that he was going in there, and Clifford, it is alleged, endeavoured to dissuade him. If to, the latter's tfforts were in vain, for Brown went up to Mercer's door and knocked at it. Mercer himself . answered the knock, and | it is said that the men at once engaged j in a fight up and down tye passage. An j adopted daughter of Mercer's was a witness of the* scrimmage and attempted to make piace I between the men, but her well meant offices were disregarded. Mercer seems to have disengaged himself from Brown and to have slipped into a bedroom and secured a revolver, and the weapon, on the fight being renewed, became discharged, with the result that Brown was wounded. Clifford, hearing the pistol shot, went for the police, and Sergeant Brown and Constable Leece made haste to the scene, and when approaching Mercer's house met Brown, who told them he intended returning there himself, his remark being, it is said, accompanied by a threat. On their arrival at the house Constable Leece arrested Mercer, and. a drag having been procured, the police brought the accused and injured man into town in the same conveyance, Mercer being left at the police station, charged with shooting with intent, and Brown being takeu to the hospital. The llatterr r who had bled freely from his wounds, was examined by the house surgeon (Dr Steiihouse), who discovered two punctured wounds in the sealp — one on the left temple and the other on the back of the head. These wounds are not of the same size. One of them is, the doctor thinks, probably a bullet wound. The other wound, it is suggested, may have been caused by a blow from the weapon, for Mercer is said to have admitted having struck Brown with it. The wounds, however, are not dangerous. It was said there was a further wound in one of the ears, but that statement was not confirmed by the examination.

Mercer,- who remained in custody last night, will be brought up at the police Btation this morning, when the question of bail will be discussed. As previously mentioned, he is a justice of the peace, and, moreover, he is a member of the St. Kilda Borough Council. He is well known as a horse trainer, his stables being in St. Kilda alongside his residence. He is a married ma, but feu wife js not at fttfient in Duaediuo