A ROW ON A TRAIN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 140, 5 August 1911, Page 7

A ROW ON A TRAIN.

o GUARD ASSAULTED; AN EXEMPLARY FINE. At the Magistrate’s Court yesterday John Carrington McCarthy was charged With having on July Ist been found drunk in a railway carriage, made use jf obscene language, assaulted a railway guard and broken a window.'Mr. Stanford appeared for defendant, and Sergeant McNccly represented the poll ice. • . , ’•. '• */ V In opening, the Sergeant said the, railway authorities had complained that the, guards on the Te Wera train' suffered great annoyance from drunk-' on and quarrelsome passengers,. ; and they asked that if a conviction was recorded an exemplary line bo imposed. t Frederick James Bateman, railway guard, said he was in charge of the ofcratford-To Wera train on July Ist’. When witness wont into the secondclass smoking carriage for the purpose of getting tickets accused was lying against tne. next passenger. Ho appealed to be drunk. Witness asked McCarthy for his ticket* but lie said ne had not got due. Witness wont.on getting other tickets. Ho was offered a drink of beer, but refused, and the bottle was then passed to McCarthy. Witness said: “Don’t give him any more. He’s had enough. If he has any more I’ll have to’put him off tlie train.” Oomng back to McCarthy he produced a ticket, Which was later found to belong to another man in the carriage. McCarthy then, produced two shillings to pay *or his ticket, which was to cost half-a-crown. He ■had any amount of money, but refused to p.iy the extra sixpence., which was ultimately paid by another passenger. Just us witness turned to leave the carriage McCarthy ruslwiU |rt ; him without warning and said; ‘‘Yon —— : ' , you iiave been looking for this.” Witu that he hit witness several times with his fists, knocking him down. A bruise the,pizo of a hen’s egg, was raised on witness’s head, his npae was bleeding, and His lip had been cut. Witness could not,get away, and wqp again struck before Ippving; The train tneh pulled up at Skinner Road. Witness asked his assistant (Mprrjson) to endeavour to get McCarthy..put of the carriage. Morrison said a McCarthy would not leave. At, vJ’PkP Witness .or-, dered McCarthy out of the carriage. McCarthy loft the train, but when the train, re-started he .hgain jumped on. Mr. 'Stanford objected to /tho latter statement, holding that it/would unnecessarily prejudice accused. The S.M- said he did not accept the statement as evidence regarding what occurred before Skinner ‘Road Was reached, but as surrounding, evidence which might be useful ini determining credibility., Witness continued that during the scuffle in the carriage another passenger attempted to help him had his elbow pushed through a window, •as a result of,- McCarthy’s actions. The train was stopped a second’time at Toko/ when McCarthy was asked again to leave, and was held back until the train moved off. By Mr. Stanford: It was a man nanlod Shaman whose, ticket McCarthy had got in'the carriage. Sharman paid sixpence of McCartlly’s fare—not tho whole of it. It was not a fact that the trouble started by witness hitting McCarthy on tlie face wiw his clippers, Ho had had a good deal of trouble on the line—there was altogether too much drinking on the ti;ain.. Pickup, the man whose elbow wont tlirougn the window, was in the carriage just after the tussle commenced, but witness could not say how long be had been in tho carriage. In the carriage witness struck accused with his ticket punch towards the end ■ of the scuffle.

. William Pickup, farmer, Rattrimu, said he was on tne Te Wera train on July Ist. He was sitting, down in tlie sable carriage as accused during the whole of the time the trouble < lasted. The guard did not umluly harass accused— he simply asked hiin fdi’/Ms ticket..’ -

By Mr. Stanford: It w'as untrue that he was outside on the platform, and he rushed inside when the trouble started, calling out, “The guard’s right',” without knowing the rigths or wrongs of the ease. Witness was not drunk at the time. Just after arrival he had one drink of whisky, and he thought be had nothing further to drink until after lunch, when ho ■ had a drink of schnapps. That was all the drink he had that day. He had a bottle of schitapps in his pocket when he loft town.

Percy Johns, labourer, Whangamoraona, said McCarthy was under the inffuonce of liquor, but witness did not tbihk he was drunk. He did not think he saw the start of the trouble. He was not in a, good position to see, arid; did not take much notice. He did not, see Pickup on the train and ’did not know u window had been broken. By Mr. Stanford: Ho was stand-: mg at one end of the carriage. ’ He could not say if Pickup was in'the carriage. There was a lot of. bad language being used, but lie could not say whether or not it was being used by accused. He did not see Pickup catch hold of accused. By the Bench : He was acquainted with accused. James Low, platelayer, Douglas, said accused appeared to be under the influence of liquor. Witness was asleep in tlie carriage, and the first thing ho saw was the guard getting up off the floor with his nose, bleeding. He was sober. Between Skinner Road and Toko the guard told accused lie would have to leave the carriagel. did not see Pickup. Bv Mr. Stanford : Accused was quite able to look after himself. Witness did not. boar accused make use of any obscene language. John Morrison, acting-guard, gave evidence of being sent up to endeavour to get McCarthy off the train. By Mr. Stanford; Bateman was doing his best to stop drinking on tho train, and ho had had some trouble.

Witness sometimes, had charge of the train, and had not bad any trouble, Mr. Stanford, in opening his case, said that accused was a perfectly respectable young man, ami he thought that with a little tact on tlie part of Bateman the whole of the trouble could have been obviated. John Carrington McCarthy, the defendant, gave evidence that on the day previous to July Ist lie had been - working from midnight to 5 a.m. He caught the early train to town, without having any sleep. Late in the .afternoon, feeling sleepy, ho got into the- I train and fell asleep. Tho first thing ho remembered was the guard shalang bint by the shoulder and asking him for his ticket. The guard said ho had had more than enough of trouble with drunken men on the train. Witness had bought a return 'ticket in the morning, but could not find the return half when he was awakened. Witness got up to search liis trousers pockets, whereupon Bateman struck him in the-face with his ticket punch. Witness said: “You cuiT’TMil’s your game is it? Well, you’ll have it.” Then he hit Bateman. Tick up was outside, on the platform until the row started. Then he ran into the carriage, saying that tlie guard was right. Pickup never laid a hand bn witness. There was obscene language used, but not by witness. A

By Sergeant McNeely: He clime into town to see a doctor about a poisoned arm. Saw Constable Bleasel just before going on the tvnin. Bleasel spoke to a man with witness, but did not personally warn witness. He thought he had only two or three drinks during the day. • .by' tlie Pencil; lie spent his’ tune iu town chiefly in doing .shopping. He was not 1 married-, but’ supported liis mother aid! iw<> sisters. Bleasel woiii- ;;>(! witness’s i/iate- about using bad language, but later on apologised lor doing so. Witness did not use the language, and he could not say who used it. Joseph Downs, labourer, Pohoknra, said he and McCarthy were knocking about together in town. About haltpast six o’clock McCarthy said he felt sleepy and went to the train and went to sleep on one of the seats. Witness corroborated in the main tlie version, of the accused. Accused was perc-v tly sober. ■By Sergeant McNeely: Witness camp into town at 13 o’clock. Ho did a lot of drinking, but did not get drunk. During the time accused was with witness they only had four drinks together. ' By tiie Bench ; He could not say who used the bad language about which lileasel complained. ' Henry Morris, labourer, Toko, said ue was sitting almost opposite accused. He was certain Bateman struck the.first blow. He did not hear any bad language. He did not see the window tieing broken. lie saw Pickup come in through the door after tho row was over. By Sergeant McNeely: Accused and Bateman .mid some words before Bateman struck accused, but witness did not hear what was said. Ho did not himself have a fight on the train. Tne Bench: You were perfectly sober?, .; Witness: I was. The Bench: That being so, and’ you sitting just opposite, why did 5011 not hear wiiat was said? Witness: Some people hear more than others. The Bench: Why did Sharman pay accused’s faro? 1 . Witness: I think ho did it more in the way of a joke. ' The Bench; I do not -suggest that, you were drunk, but did you have a few drinks that day? . Witness: Yfes. The Bench: My experience is that In tlie case of witnesses none of them ever'get drunk—they merely “have, a few drinks.” , . it At this point (half-past twelve) tho. S.M. said lie had practically made up his miikl, but would go through the evidence to see how far it supported the separate charges, and would deliver judgment at 2 o’clock. At ’2 o’clock the S.M. delivered a verbal judgment. Dealing first with the charge of using obscene language, be said the evidence given suggested that there was considerable noise in the carriage at tlie time, -and also that some obscene expressions wet a used, but there was a doubt as to whether or not it was accused; who used them. The guard and Pickup were no doubt sincere in their belief that Mc<" arthy used the bad languag.;, but as there was room for reasonable doubt defendant should be given the benefit of that doubt, more especially as it was a serious' thing for a young man to have a conviction for using obscene language recorded against I'ifi That charge would be dibit:L-s----:pd’ -Thera v»aS no .doubt.in bis mind' that McCarthy actually was drunk. ■No doubt the trouble would not kayo, opeur/od if accused had net been-dis-turbed, but’ the guard had a perfect l ight to \vake him. and ask him for his ticket. H being a first offence, accused would lie convicted, and discharged on the charge of drunkenness. He (the S.M.) was also convinced that accused had assaulted the guard. The defence asked him to believe that the trouble started through Bateman bitting McCarthy with his ticket punch, but if this had boon so ho would have expected the whole of those in tlie carriage to have come forward and to have given evidence on the matter. But Bateman and Pickup were clear and positive in their evidence, and he saw no reason to disbelieve either of them. A weak spot in accused’s story was that lie said be was just rising to get money to buy bis ticket when lie was assaulted. This did not lit in with the other evidence for the defence to the effect that Sharman had paid tiie whole of the faro, and seemed to indicate that something was wrong. Guards had a trying time on lilies whore they had’to attend to passengers and goods/ and it was a duty

of the public to help them in every possible way. On the Te Wera lino

the guards had so much work to attend to that it was desirable that all j) passengers should have their tickets ready tor inspection before the guard came along, and if this were not done the guard would probably never got through his work properly. Counsel for tne defence had suggested that the guard might have used more tact. Tact had to be used at times, but it was reasonable in a case such as the present foi the guard to endeavour to make the passenger hurry a bit. To his mind there was a tendency on the part of the public to become angry with very little provocation if railway guards wore not polite according to their standards. The offence of which accused had been guilty was a serious one. He had intended inflicting a fine of £lO, but as accused had been put to some expense in bringing his witnesses to town on a previous occasion owing to an oversight of the police, the fine would be only £5. Accused must also be held responsible for the breaking of the window, and would be ordered to pay the cost, 10s. Ho hoped the case would prove a warning to accused. Ho would like to see it made unlawful to carry liquor on trains. People might get on trains in apparently sober condition, but might get into a quarrelsome state of drunkenness by drinking liquor which they had taken with them in thoir pocket's. Expenses totalling £4 5s 4d were allowed against accused.