Serious Assault.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 26, 17 December 1919, Page 5

Serious Assault.

hotel licensee fatally INJURED. • * ;

TWO MEN ARRESTED. ' .1 '/ ■ " ■■ I

Per Pres* Asue'-iatUm , (Auckland, December 16

As a result of a disturban.ee which occurred in the Clarendon Hotel after midnight last night, the licensee ‘of the hotel wag taken .to the hospital about one o’clock this morning suffering from concussion of the brain and a broken jaw, and two young men, Harold P. A. Stapleton (21), and Alexander Coppell piaced under arrest on ar'cliairgef .r of,'assault. Tjie licensee, Frank Brazier, subsequently ;cli'|’d T in tnejjibspital, and further deyelppmenvs are, expected. ; >The . account' given r by:' the . - young men indicates that Brazier’A injury was the result of a struggle in the (lark in one of the rooms of the hotel. It was getting on towards one o’clock in the morning when a - .constable bn duty outside the i hotel was: informed that there was trouble in the hotpl, and on going there,’he found Brazier lyjpg unconscious in a passage with a wound 4n; his. head. Ip. reply to tho constable’s inquiries, the young men stated, they Lad gone to their bedrooms late, a,nd : that Stapleton, after a time, was awakened by hearing sof tie body.. in, his, room. ..He got to grips with, the but he was getting the- worst of .the - Encounter when he called to Lis mate for help, and Cfeppell- 1 rushed'' tb(il»#rescue. The ..was';tljat ;the c other: man (was ki&cked but and was found to be the licensee of the Hotel.

OPENING OF THE INQUEST.

POST MORTEM ORDERED.

BAIL REFUSED.

Par. Press Association

Auckland, December 17

-At the Police Court, Harold Stapleton, aged 20 years, and Alexander Coppell, 22 years of age, were charged with the murder of,Frank Brasier, licensee of the Clarendon Hotel. Mr Singer, counsel for accused, asked for bail. He said that Brasier was interfering with on© of the accused' men in the bedroom, and the man called to hjs mate for assistance. There was ;a struggle in the dark, with the result that Brasier wag knocked down. The injury which caused his death was duo to him falling. The magistrate said he had ordered a post mortem to get evidence on this •point. Meantime he would not allow bail.