STRUGGLE IN DARK.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 45, Issue 14006, 17 December 1919, Page 5

STRUGGLE IN DARK.

PUBLICAN'S DEATH.

•;Sy Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, Tuesday.

As the result of a disturbance which occurred in the Clarendon Hotel after rjnidnight last night, the licensee of the aotel was taken to the hospital about 1 -o'clock this morning, suffering from -concussion of the brain and a broken jaw, and two young men, named Harold 3P. A. s Stapleton (21) and Alexander Coppell (20), were placed under arrest ■on a charge of'assault.

The licensee, whose name is Frank Brazier, subsequently died in the hospital, and further developments are expected.

The account given by the, young men indicates that Brazier's injury was the result of a struggle in the dark in one of the rooms of the hotel. It was getting on towards 1 o'clock

the morning when a constable on ifP duty outside the hotel was informed %hat there was trouble in the hotel, and •■on going there he found Brazier lying •::iDConscious in the passage with a •wouad on his head. 'In reply to his enquiries, the young .men stated that they had gone to their \bedroom late, and that Stapleton, after a time, was awakened by hearing - somebody in his room. He got to grips 'with the intruder, but was getting the worst of the encounter when he called co his mate for help, and Coppell rush•ad to the rescue.

The result was that the other man was knocked out, and was found to be ■&be licensee of the hotel.