ALLEGED REVOLTING CRUELTY.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11870, 26 August 1893, Page 3

ALLEGED REVOLTING CRUELTY.

A Woman Mercilessly Thrashed. Further Particulars. The Press Association have supplied the following additional particulars of the Auckland woman-beatinp case, heard at the Pukekohe Court on Wednesday last:— Before Messrs Buseoll and Latimer, J.P.s, Doctor James Dalziel, a well-known resident of Pukekohe, and a_ woman named Mara Dalziel, otherwise Mara Grade, were jointly charged on an information laid by Constable McQovern, with " That they did on the 16th August unlawfully beat and assault a girl named Anna Jane Dalziel, aged 24 years, by tying her to a post, beating her with a c'at-o'-nine-tails, striking her therewith on the back, hips, &c, also by striking her on the face and head with the hand," The action was taken by the police on information given by the prosecutrix. After the information had been laid, Inspector Hickson brought the case before the Auckland branch of the ►- Society for the Protection of Women and Children, with the result that the Society decided to tendar the police legal assistance for the prosecution! Accordingly Messrs F. E. Baume and W. Thome, honorary solicitors to the Society, appeared for the prosecution. Messrs Hudson Williamson and 6. N. Brassey -appeared for the defence. The defendants pleaded not guilty. Mr Baume addressed the Court for the prosecution, and gave detailed particulars of the assault on the girl. He stated that for some tima past the two defendants had submitted the prosecutrix to cruelty. On the occasion in question the girl had been sent to clean an entire horse. She was afterwards beaten so as to leave marks on every part of her body. The girl had come out to Auckland from England two or three years ago. The girl was not present, but there was room to believe that she had been coerced, and kept awBy from the Court, Mr Baume called for the prosecutrix, Anna Dalziel, but there was no appearance of the witness. ' Mr' Baume said the defence had endeavoured to obtain a written statement from the girl before a Magistrate. Mr Hudson Williamson said Anna Dalziel did not intend to appear in Court * againßt her father. The girl had told him that her first complaint to the police had been hasty. Constable McGovern doposed that when he saw the girl on the day after tho assault her face was much cut and disfigured. The girl told witness that her back and stomach were sore after the beating, and she could barely walk. She stated that her father and Mrs Dalziel whipped her severely with a tawse. Dalziel told' lira that Mrs Dalziel beat the girl. Mrs Dalziel brought him a cat-o'-nine-tail?. The girl's only reason for absenting herself was to wait until her injuries were healed. The girl also said that a ffcir days previous to thiß beating she had got 600 lashes with another tawse. Despite strong opposition by the defence, the Bench granted a warrant for the arrest of the girl Anna, in order to obtain he? evidence s and the case was adjourned till next Wednesday.