SCENES AT EVICTION

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18850, 21 January 1933, Page 12 (Supplement)

SCENES AT EVICTION

€lothes~post Used as a Battering-ram. Bailiff’s Story of Rain of Bricks.

Further descriptions of exciting scenes at the “Battle of Becontree”— as an eviction of a house on the L.C.C. estate there has been termed —were given (says a London paper) at Stratford Police Court, when 11 men and a woman, Agnes Mary Harris, 40; Francis Lionel Hambrow, 36; Patrick O’Halloran, 33; Robert 'Defriend, 31; Charles Thomas Taylor, 28; Arthur Vincent Taylor, 26; Lawrence Fawbert, 23; Jack Myer Scbiff, 23; Joseph Cox, 22; Victor Robbiliard, 19; William Kelly, 19; and Thomas William Randali, 18, were charged on remand with doing wilful damage to the premises. ■Cox, Defriend, Fawbert, O’lHalloran, and Robbiliard were also charged with assaulting the police ,and there was a further charge against Defriend of causing grlevious bodily harm to two police constables. They all pleaded not guilty, and were defended by Miss C. Morrison. “This organised' resistance to officers of the law,” stated Mr W. L. Sanders, prosecuting, “is a terrible and impossible state of affairs and cannot be countenanced for a moment." "Pay No Rent!" Articles found In the house were displayed as exhibits. They included hammers, a mallet, a saw, and a ■spade. Two banners bearing the words "Homes for Heroes” and “Pay No Rent Next Week” were also exhibited. Inspector Wilson, who stated he was hit by a brick during the fight, declared that he saw Defriend throw a brick which cut through iP.C. Yard-

ley’s helmet, and knocked him unconscious. Five men on the landing uprooted the banisters. Describing other damage to the house, the inspector stated that ; in two rooms the floor boarding had been ripped up and used as a for. the windows. Part of the ceiling ofone room had been knocked down. Miss Morrison: Is it not rather unusual for the police to help in an eviction? —We were not helping in the eviction; we were preserving order in the street. A Word Puzzles Magistrate. There was a “schemozzle,” remarked Mr P. Y. Champness, the superintendent bailiff, describing the scene after he and other bailiffs had broken down the front door of the house ■with a clothes-post as a batteringram. The word puzzled the magistrates and the chairman, Mr H. Heather, observed, “You must not use that word unless you define it.” !Mr Champness explained that “schemozzle” was his way of describing the •rain of woodwork and bricks which came down the staircase of the building. After admitting that Robbiliard was covered in blood as a result of being hit with a truncheon, P.C. Gibbins stated he was not badly hurt. 'This remark was greeted with Ironical laughter, and the chairman threatened to clear the court. P.G. Dale denied Miss Morrison’s suggestion that nothing was thrown until the police forced an entry. The case was further adjourned.