“A DRUNKEN SAVAGE.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1388, 20 April 1915, Page 3

“A DRUNKEN SAVAGE.”

At Feildiag yesterday, a man named Alexander Thompson, whom the Star refers to as “a drunken savage,” was sentenced to three mouths for using obscene language, and three months for resisting the police. Accused was first observed emerging from a fish shop violently assaulting Mr Robert Hammond. Mr Hammond was bleeding from the ears and face, and being an old man, was not able to defend himselt. Mr Thomas Hirst was driving past at the time, and went to the assistance oi Mr Hammond. On asking Thompson not to knock the old man about, the latter rushed Hirst, who was kept very busy defending himself. All the while Thompson was keeping up a flow of frightful language. Constable Anderson, on being informed, hurried to l t, and laid his hand on Thompson’s arm to quieten him. Thompson immediately grabbed the constable, and the two men were very soon rolling on the street. Thompson kept up his flow of abominable language, threatening to kick the constable inside out, and so on, before he would be locked up. With the help of civilians, Thompson was eventually arrested and lodged in the cells. Constable Anderson stated the accused was the most powerful man he had had to deal with. He behaved like a savage, and his language was fearful to listen to. The drink he had had did not affect his limbs, but made a madman of him. But for the help of the residents, said the constable, he would not have been able to arrest Thompson. Prisoner admitted he had been sentenced to three months’ imprisonment in Christchurch in 1912 for obscene language aud resisting the police.