POLICE COURT. THIS DAY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 6797, 2 July 1885, Page 2

POLICE COURT. THIS DAY.

Tuesday, July 2.— Before C. E. Eawson, Esq., R.M. CHARGE OF ASSAULT. This was a case brought by George Rhind against Butterworth for assaulting him. Mr. Roy appeared for plaintiff, and Mr. Standish for defendant. George Rhind, jun., deposed : I am an apprentice in the New Zealand Shipping Service. I know the defendant by sight. On Saturday, June 27th, one of the dei fendant's daughters came to me and said her sister wished to speak to me. I spoke to them, when their father came up. One of the girls asked me to pay for some child she had, and said that I was the father of it. I said I had nothing to do with it. Defendant came in sight, and I said I would wait and talk with him. I said to Butterworth, " Your daughter blames me for this child, I had nothing to do with it." Defendant said, " Why did not you and your father meet me as men at the Beach Hotel, the other night?" He wa£ referring to a message he had sent for us to meet him there. I said my father did not choose to. He said my father and I were curs. I said, " Old man, you had better look out for yourself, or I'll fetch you up for defamation of character." After that he struck me in the face several times without warning. Mr. Butterworth : Calling a man a cur is no warning, ian't it ? His Worship : You must not iaterrupt. You only spoil your case by doing so. Witness continued : Both my eyes were black next morning. I was jammed against the fence, and am positive I did not strike back. My reason for not striking back was that I had been warned that Butterworth intended to strike me. I got away by wrenching myself free. I I told him I would make him suffer for it. Cross-examined by Mr. Standish : It was my father who warned mo about Butterworth, and I had heard it about town that Butterworth was going for me. I knew the girl Annie three or four years ago. After I came back in May, I saw her only three or four times since last Miy. I was not keeping company with her, and did not promise I would marry her. I never sent a message to her to the effect that if she kapt true to me till I came back I would marry her. I was very intimate with her four years ago, but since my return I have only met her three timeß, and that by accident. I told her the last time that I did not want to see her. I saw her at Gray's Hotel, at Okato, where she was staying. I went there to get a glass of beer, and asked Mrs. Gray whether Miss Butterworth waß there. By Mr. Roy : I deny the paternity of the child. Jas. Ilendry: I told Mr. Rhind, sen., one day that I had seen Butterworth, and that he had better stay at home. I had heard that Butterworth had hit the young man, and that he himself had better keep away. This closed the evidence for the plaintiff. James Butterworth : I nm bound to ackao jvledge I struck the plaintiff, because he denied the paternity of my adopted daughter's child. After I struck him he acknowledged it. I told him that he and his father were a pair of dirty low curs. When acknowledging the paternity, he said he would not contribute to the support. I cannot state the date of the birth, but it was about six months ago. My daughter is between nineteen and twenty. I knew young Rhind was keeping company with my daughter, but did not know anything was wrong until he had gone. Rhind did not strike me, but tried to throw me. I stiuck him as often as I could until he got from me. It was while I held him that he admitted the paternity. The girl is not my own daughter, but my adopted daughter. Anne Butterworth deposed : I havu known the informant in this case for about three or four years. I had a child three or four months ago. George Rhind was the father. I had been keeping company with him. He promised to marry me, and told me not to keep company with anybody else until he came back. Last week when I was with my sißter Kate I met Rhind near the White Hart Hotel I sent my sister to say I wanted to see him. Rhind came and I asked him was he not going to support the child. He said, " No; lam the father, but I shan't give you a penny for it. If I had taken people's advice I should lnve been away long ago; but my father told me to stay and fight it out; I don't want it to go to Court ah it will create such a scandal; my father has got plenty of money to pay men to go against you if you tuko it to Court." Butterworth then came up. Rhind said to him, " I am the father, but I shall not pay for it." This wns before he ttruck him. Rhind then said, *' Oh, yes, lam the father; let me go." They were struggling together for some time, and we stood still ; we did not press ngainsthim. Cross-examined by Mr. Roy: The last time I saw Rhind before last Saturday was last May twelve months, and it was merely by chance that I met him in Queen-street. I shall be twenty in January. Kate Buttenvorth deposed : I remember seeing George Rhind in Queenstreet last Saturday, and I told him " Please my sister wants to see you." lie camo near where my sister stood, and she stepped out to meet him. She asked him whether he was going to support his child, and he said it was noC his child, and his father had told him to stay and fight it out. Cross-examined by Mr. Roy : I shall be sixteen next March. I have never been told what answers to give. Annie Butterworth, re-called : The child is six months old to-day, having been born on 2nd January. It was born prematurely. This concluded the evidence. Hia Worship decided to withhold judgment pending the hearing of an affiliation case in connection with the matter, tint will come on on Monday.

Some time ago tho handrail of a bri.Jgc on the Opunake Road was carried awaj-, and tho police made enquiriea into the matter to ascertain whether it had been done maliciously by anyone. In a report to the County Council, Mr. Pardy reports that it was done accidentally by a Maori. Ho was driving a bullock-dray over th<j bridge, when the leaders took a sharp turn up a Maori track at the side, before the cart and the other bullocks had got across. The result was that the cart carried away the handrail. The damage was only about 10s.

A clersytnan in a church on a recen* occasion discovered that he had forgotten his notes. As it was too lato to send for them he said to his audience that this morning he should have to depend upon the Lord for what he might say, but in the afternoon lie would come better prepared.

The other day a young private of: thy Grenadier Guards was posted as a sentro on the side pate of Marlborough House, opposite St. James 1 Palace, and wbb in due course visited by the patrol, the eonimander of which found him inarching to and fro. without any rifle. On being questioned as to what lie had done with the military weapon, he slated that a very tall Coldstream bore down on him, and remarking, " What doeß a little chap like you want with a big guv like that ? " snatched it from him and throw it over tho wall nenr Count Gleichcn's studio. On being asked why he did not alarm the guard, he replied that there was nothing in his orders about his rifle being taken from him, and that he hud remained ut his post as instructed. On a search being made, the rifle was found on the spot pointed out.