TARRING AND FEATHERING CASE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3776, 1 October 1907, Page 3

TARRING AND FEATHERING CASE.

Accused Dismissed. New Plymouth, Yesterday. At hie .Supreme Court, New Plymouth, yesterday, the Grand Jury failed to find a true bill against S. Cameron, Daniel O’Sullivan, Oliver Cross, James Hickey, George Looney, Harry Dickenson, Charles Hodgson, atid Richard O’Dea, for tarring and feathering a man named Hill at Opunake some time ago. ’ His Honour was not satisfied with the discussion. In his address his Honor strongly advised that a true bill should be found. It was a charge of unlawfully assembling at Opunake and disturbing the peace, and of making an assault upon one Hill. The case he understood, had caused considerable excitement in this district. There was a clear prima facie case in which, under ordinary circumstances, a true bill should be brought in, but there were circumstances which he thought made it his duty tq refer to the case at greater length than he otherwise would. Tarring and feathering, his Honor described as 7 ’ a piece of blackguardism we had evidently imported from America. , After recounting the evidence of Hill, his Honor said that it Was undoubtedly a disgraceful circumstance, and was unquestionably a violation of the law. There was no doubt that the proceedings at Opunake were to carry out some sort of rough justice. He assumed that Hill had been guilty of some breach of the social laws, but nothing could justify such reprehensible conduct. He was sure the jurymen had too much respect for the law and for the oath they had taken to allow sympathy to influence them. He knew of nothing more calculated to sap the law and order of the country than such proceedings. The jury knew what disrepute the so-called “ unwritten law ” had come into in other countries. He hoped it would not be countenanced here.