THE KAIKORA FRACAS.

Waipawa Mail, Volume 5, Issue 517, 28 August 1883, Page 3

THE KAIKORA FRACAS.

(to the editor of the waipawa mail.) Sir, —Having read several paragraphs in the papers about tho late tinkettling at Kaikora, I wish to give a version of the affair from the serenaders’ point of view. We are said to be a lot of brainless fools and cowards. Well, we all acknowledge that wo were wrong in annoying the man as we did, yet at the same time, as every one knows, it is the general custom to serenade a newly-married couple ; and that was all we did. Now had the annoyed gentleman come out and told us that we were annoying him, and that our musical performances were not appreciated, we would have left without a murmur. Instead of that ho armed himself with junks of firewood, averaging from 31b to 51b weight, and hurled them at the crowd, inflecting a severe wound on the face of one man, completely blackening his eye, in fact damaging him so much as to lay him up for a few days. He also hit another man in the mouth, cutting his lip in two, and rendering him senseless for several minutes ; another “ brainless fool” was struck on the thigh with a piece of hard wood, being completely lamed for a time, and yet he says he used his fists only. Now there is no man can strike with his fist and make a small hole like a pointed or jagged piece of wood would make in a man’s face, neither can a man hit you on the thigh with his fist without your seeing him, unless you are asleep or blindfolded. And as regards the alleged foul and obscene language made use of, it is one of the greatest falsehoods that has been printed. There was not a single word uttered that any person, male or female, would be ashamed to hear, and any one that says differently departs from the truth. In one paragraph we were chided for not mobbing the man. Had we done so, we would have been considered far greater cowards than we are at present. Any way, I should like to see any crowd of men stand still while an unseen hand is hurling junks Qf firewood amongst them without their moving on a little. In the foregoing I have not attempted to say that wo were wronged, nor that we did not meet with our deserts, I have merely told you what occurred. KAIKORA.