AN EXPENSIVE JOKE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XV, Issue 870, 8 November 1906, Page 21

AN EXPENSIVE JOKE.

A startling explosion occurred at Kelly’s Hotel on Saturday night last, and caused a good deal of excitement in the street; but the affair proved to be an attempt on the part of several boarders to have a “joke,” and frighten the licensee, who had occasion to remonstrate with them for firing crackers. They obtained an explosive, the exact force of which they did not know, and fired it into one of the rooms. Before doing so, they covered the explosive with a bucket, the bottom of which was blown out, and some glass smashed. In protesting against the use of these crackers, Mr Kelly, the licensee, was assaulted, and on Monday morning, at the Police Court, Joseph Coleman was charged with the offence. Mr Fitzherbert, who appeared for the accused, said that the affair had to do with the Guy Fawkes celebrations, and had been meant as a joke. Coleman had been wrongfully accused, and under provocation had struck Mr Kelly. The Bench considered the offence a very serious one, and fined accused £5, with an alternative of one month’s imprisonment in Mount Eden gaol.