Haselmayer in Hot Water.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 156, 15 October 1872, Page 7

Haselmayer in Hot Water.

j The Resident Magistrate at Greyraouth i was occupied for several hours on Saturday, I in the presence of a numerous and eager au- | dience, with the hearing of a series ot cases j all relating to one and the same matter—a ; scene between Louis Haselmayer, Professor | of Magic and Music, and James Johnston, { proprietor of the Melbourne Hotel. The original and greatest complaint was made by Mr Haselmayer, who charged Mr Johnston with using towards him language which was j abusive, insulting, and intended to provoke I a breach of the peace, and who also asked that Mr Johnston himself should be bound j over to keep the peace. A cross complaint, i similar to the first of those made by Mr : Haselmayer, was brought against the original 'complainant by Mr Johnston. Mr Newton appeared for Mr Haselmayer, and Mr Guinness for Mr Johnson. The people attracted Ito the Court were probably present in the I expectation of being amused, the Professor 1 possessing less facility in the pronunciation i of the English language than in the use of his ; digits as a magician and musician, and Mr Johnson being known to possess a facility in the use of poetical quotations and in the art of oratory which is seldom paralleled. The hearing of the cases, in providing this element ; of amusement, was not equal to expectations, | the language proved to have been used by | Mr Johnston being much more melodramatic | than comic. From the evidence it appeared j that Mr Haselmayer disputed his hotel bill j as not being according to contract, and, because he said an arrangement had been come to different from the charge made, Mr Johnston called him a "liar." Mr Haselmayer considered a breach of agreement "something like swindling," and made some other and more pointed references to swindling, whereupon Mr Johnston " shaped, put up the middle part of his body," (in deference to which fearful and wonderful object the Professor retreated towards- the wall), and accompanied the pugilistic action by such words as " thief," "robber," "squint-eyed essence of a scoundrel," —and worse. The Professor declined to light "with such men," and Mr Johnston, on second thoughts, also declined to do so personally, but intimated that he " would hire his barman to do so." This, and a good deal more, was given on one side, and sustained by evidence. Mr Johnston's statement was milder, but he admitted having, in retaliation for the Professor having called him a "swindler," threatened to "give him fits," and described him as " the squint-es-sence of a sweep." Mr Johnston's allegation, as to the bill, was that the charge made was the ordinary one paid by "commercial travellers," and that the Professor gave more trouble than any two gentlemen of the peripatetic profession. The scene occurred in! the bar of the Melbourne Hotel, which the ; Magistrate held to be " a public place." His Worship imposed a fine of £3, with p.-ofes-1 sional and witnesses' costs. The he»rm<> - f) f j the cases lasted till half-past two o'clock, a larg.3 amount of irrelevant matter having been introduced, and an amount of deliberation given to the decision which was worthy of the trial of a capital crime. The Professor, .)f necessity, did not give his " mid-day parlour performance," and, point of view, the parties are, tH^%^€ s quits."-7-Grey River Argus.

Lost Children. A reporter of the New-York Times has in■terviewed a sergeant of the city police whose specialty is the care and restitution of lo3t children, and has gleaned some interesting information on the subject. It seems that during the summer months an average of 2000 lost children are picked up in the streets of New York and conveyed by the police to the several stations. Ahout three-fourths of the number are reclaimed by their parents or guardians within a few hours after they have been taken in charge. What are left unclaimed after sundown are drafted to the head-quarters in Mulbury-street, where they remain till called for. "It is wonderful,'" the sergeant remarked, "how far the children stray from. We have had three and four-year-olds come to New-York and wander through the streets that had strayed away thirty miles from New-York. Brooklyn children are as common as Jersey city and Hoboken babies. How they smuggle themselves on board the ferry-boats is strange. On procession days we have whole rafts of them." Summer excursions are other occasions which, according to the experience of the sergeant, are peculiarly productive of police difficulties with children. " The parents get dancing or on the spree," and though, as the officer remarks, one " would think that mothers always, or even fathers," would, under any circumstances, recognise their own oil'spring, it sometimes occurs that they fail. " Babies get levanted otf in a surprising manner, and I have known it take close on a week before we could assort them right and to the satisfaction of all parties." A peculiarly sad case in point is cited. Four years ago there were some six or seven babies left in charge of a little girl in a barge, while the mothers went on shore for refreshment. Some reckless I persons, observing the situation, managed to j entice the girl on shore, and engaged her ! attention while their female accomplices got j into the barge, and, undressing the babies, j deliberately made an interchange of underi clothing. The police sergeant is not able to : " say whether the affair is settled yet,"