AN UNRULY SAILOR.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2175, 27 April 1908, Page 1

AN UNRULY SAILOR.

ASSAULTS HARBOR OFFICIAL. CAPTAIN MARTIN THROWN INTO RIVER; Shortly after, 10 o’clock on (Saturday night, while tho scow Zingara was, being berthed alongside tho wharf, Captain Martin, assistant Har-bor-master, had a. somewhat startling experience. Ho was assisting ill the berthing operations, when lie was accosted by a burly Swedish seaman named Lars Rist, who offered his services. Seeing that- the man was under the influence of liquor, Capt. ■Martin took lio' notice of him, beyond asking him to stand back a little. The offer of assistance was again repeated by Rist, who was staggering about the wharf, but tho Captain again declined, and once more motioned him back. Tho next thing Capt. Martin know was that lie was seized, and half-hurled, half-pushed into the water, narrowly missing striking his head against the side of the vessel as ho fell. His assailant at once made off, and much to Capt. Martin's astonishment., the onlookers gave chase, leaving him struggling, unassisted in tho water. An individual eventually threw him a line, but omitted to make the top end fast, and the unfortunate Captain hauled down several fathoms of line, and went under the water a couple of time before the mistake was realised. Ho eventually got out and on to the wharf, being none the worse for his untimely immersion. In the meantime Rist' had been captured by his pursuers, and Sergeant Hutton drived on the scene, and after a desperate resistance on the part of tho assailant, managed to handcuff him and convey him to the cells. Rist is a very powerful man, and both at tho time of his arrest and afterwards in the cells, was extremely violent. Ho will appear at the Police Court this morning on charges of drunkenness and assault. ■