BOUND OVER

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20532, 25 September 1936, Page 13

BOUND OVER

OAMARU MAN RESTRAINED CASE IN TIMARU COURT An application to have Jock Wilson, of Oamaru, bound over to keep the peace was made in the Magistrate's Court yesterday by William Charles Rennie. Mr C. R. Orr-Walker, S.M., was on the Bench. Rennie, in evidence, said he wrote to Mrs Stratton, who was house-keep-ing for Wilson, to meet him on the Oamaru railway station when he passed through on the way home from Dunedin after the Ranfurly Shield match. Witness went to have a cup of tea and Wilson came up and said, “Who are you looking for, you —.” Wilson said he had something in his pocket which he did not produce, but he said he was going to fix witness so that he would not be able to go back on the train. Witness said he would go for a policeman but did not find one before it was time to board the train. On September 12, Wilson came to Timaru and, as a result of what he did at witness’s house, he (witness) had placed the matter in his solicitor's hands, because he was afraid of what Wilson might do. Mrs Stratton was a great friend of witness and Mrs Rennie. Wilson claimed that witness was trying to get her away from him (Wilson), but that was not true. Rennie said he did not know whether Mrs Stratton was still house-keeping for Wilson. They had separated some time ago and he did not know whether their difference had been patched up. Defendant’s Letter Wilson, who did not appear, in a letter to the Court pleaded not guilty, but asked an opportunity to plead the true facts. For the last five years Mrs Stratton had kept house for him. "We became very attached to each other, and as soon as Mrs Stratton gets her divorce we Intend to be married. This was known to Rennie and, despite that and his being a married man, he wrote Mrs Stratton the enclosed letter a fortnight ago, which I considered at the time was a very wrong thing. He has always professed to be my friend, and not until I read this letter did I know anything more than friendship existed between him and Mrs Stratton." Wilson said that on September 12, while in Timaru, he called at Rennie’s house to see him about the letter, for which he considered Rennie deserved a thrashing. “I had two drinks before going to the house, and possibly I expressed myself more emphatically than I should, but Mrs Stratton meant a lot to me, and I felt it that Rennie should act so behind my back. My whole object in calling at his house was to tell him plainly what I thought of him, but I had no intention of causing any disturbance. I have no intention of harming Rennie; I never wish to see or hear of him again, and the letter I am prepared to forget, as I am attached to Mrs Stratton, and if matters are left where they stand and Rennie minds his wife and keeps out of Mrs Stratton’s life I will be content.” Rennie’s letter, which Wilson enclosed, was as follows: —“Dear Kitty: Just a note to say, all being well, I will be passing through by the football train on. Wednesday morning . . . . I would like to see you it possible, either going or coming back, if you can manage it, for old time’s sake. Cheerio, Kit, with love and kisses.—Will R.” Henry Robert Coulter, who shares a house with Rennie, said that about 7 o’clock on September 12 Wilson called asking for Mr or Mrs Rennie. Wilson said that Rennie was trying to split his home up. He would not go away and used bad language. When told that Rennie was away, Wilson said he would wait, and he was not afraid of the polcle or anybody. When witness told Rennie later he (Rennie) was very worried. Defendant was ordered to enter into a bond of £2O to keep the peace for a period of nine months, and also was ordered to pay costs,