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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XII, Issue 511, 23 September 1867, Page 1

Riot aud Shootixo a Gnu..—Mr Justice Pogott, in his charge to (lie county grand jury at the Gloucester assizes, said : —He had to make a few observations on the c;sc of David Townsend, who was! charged with unlawftrly and maliciously| shooting Henry Dowle, with intent to do him grievous bodily harm. When hc| first saw that charge, and saw following i' the names of six men charged with shoot-! ing a young man It ■ was much su-p- ised to I Isee that sev n men should be charge i with j such an olleuee, and supposed that they ' were all engaged in a common object | But when they heard the cases, particuilavy that of David Townsend, th.y would ifind that these men, with others, had been engaged in a pigeon shooting match, and Ihe supposed did a# people in that class i f ; life were apt to do w hen they had a little innocent amusement —they must fall to drinking, until they had drunk too much, and cid not know what they were about. David Townsend, it was abundantly clear, when in a state of drunkenness, went an t llourished his gun about, and used all sort of vn'gar threats, which he («he learned judge) thought had little rr caning in them, and he shot off his gun very near to Dowle, whoso clothes were torn, and one shut seemed to have grazed his groin. It appeared that they went to a public-hoU'C 1 iit 11i£ Ijt and "wanted beer, which the 'wo* l i pie of the house were wise enough not to let them have, seeing tliat they were a riotous party. They then set to work shooting off their guns, and did enough in fact, to constitute a not. They alarmed all the people near, and one of them, in a most wicked spirit, shot through the window. The landlord had just passed this window, and might have been shot, but lortunately he escaped. T‘’C window was broken to pieces, and a little girl. who. was sitting by the fire, was struck on the tip by a shot, which drew blood, and that a j sufficient to constitute a case of unlawfully wounding against (ho person who fired off'the gun, and against all the seven, ;i they were engaged in an unlawful objjcct; if they were engaged in a not, and

in the course of that riot a wound were given, that would be sufficient.