Preferred Trial by Combat.

Otago Witness, Issue 2467, 26 June 1901, Page 78

Preferred Trial by Combat.

JjSven the growth of law and the multiplication of lawyers have not entirely quenched the Englishman's fondness for sot1 tliug a dispute with his fists. I J&. case in point is found in the following amusing anecdote of two residents of a I certain outlying suburb, as related recently ' by a legal gentleman concerned for one of I the parties, who had been sued for debt ! by the other. < i The plaintiff obtained a verdict and an ■ order against the defendant to pay the debt i within a certain time. The matter would j probably have taken the usual course had | not the defendant, who was a gentleman of biting wit, seen fit to call upon the plaintiff and make certain causiic remarks. Thereupon the plaintiff chivalrously ofi fored to waive all the advantages of the verdict he had gained, and to settle the question by the aid of the noble art. The defendant was quite agreeable to the proposal, and accordingly on the following j Saturday afternoon the two men met in the J backyard of the house of one of them, and commenced a contest of a decidedly Home- ■ lie character. -j Both were young and of athletic type, . and the^TTJombat was doubtless a lively one, although there were no spectators. •When (said the narrator) I arrived on the Scene, I found that the defendant had been the victor, and was the proud possessor of a stamped leceipt for his debt. The countenances of both -gentlemen bore indications of such hard usage as would | make a temporary retirement from the pub- . lie 'gaze not only advisable but necessary ; \ -yet both were highly content with the course , .adopted. They had fought with Nature's weapons and honour was quite satisfied.

i . A -man named John Hayes was charged at the -.Launceston Court on the 4th inst. on ', a charge of murdering a man named John Manning. The trouble appears to have arisen over Mrs Hayes, whom, it is stated, the deceased visited during Hayes's absence at the races. Accused returned in the evening, and announced himself by name at the door. He was heard to assault his wife, and then rushed out and struck Manning over the head with a gaspipe, crushing the skull terribly, and caixsing instant death. Hayes, who appeared to feel his position acutely, was remanded.