RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 89, 17 April 1871, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Before J. Sharp, Esq., E. M. ; N. Edwards, Esq.; and J. Shephard Esq., J. J. P. This Day. Knox v. «7. Kerr. Action to recover £100 damages for an assault committed on plaintiff by the defendant on the 10th inst. John Knox, sworn : I am plaintiff, and for some time have beeu in the employ of defendant as teacher to his family. On the 10th inst. I rendered au account for a quarter's salary. At breakfast time defendant struck me several times, and kicked me when dowD. As soon as I could get away I ran out of the house, and defendant followed me out aud threw stones at me. I never struck or kicked defendant. I had no words with him, but after breakfast he called me outside. I never threatened to knock Mrs. Kerr down, and never said anything disrespectful of her, nor did I ever -ask her not to tell her husband what I had said to her. Cross-examined: I ran out because Kerr said he would get a knife and cut my throat. He didn' hit me then with his fist, as I ran too fast. I had once ordered Mrs. Kerr out of my bedroom, when she came to search for a pocket handkerchief. She never complained of my calling her children names. George Walker, constable, said : Plaintiff came to my house on the morniDg of Ihe 10th with his face covered with blood. At his request, I went back with him to Kerr's to get his clothes. We met Kerr coming out of his gate on horseback, and he said he was just coming to me to give Knox in charge. Knox asked him whether he had ever struck him (Kerr), to which he replied after a moment's hesitation "You would if you could." Dr. Squires stated that he had been consulted by the plaintiff who came to him on Thursday last. His eyes were blackened, and the left side of his face swelled, and he had the general appearance of a man who had had a good hammering. He complained of tenderness in the spine, and was suffering from nervous irritability. He would not be fit for his work for some time. This concluded the case for the plaintiff. John Kerr, sworn: I am defendant. On tbe morning of the 10th after breakfast, I said " Knox, I want to speak to you," to which he replied " I'll give you to understand that my name is not Knox but Mr. John Kuox," and he then flew at me and struck a blow which I warded off. He came at me a second time, and said he would give me a d d good hammering. I then, of course struck him, and we had two or three rounds in the room, after which we went out and had two or three more, when, finding ho was getting too much, he bolted across country, and I never saw anything more of him until he returned with the constable. I never threatened to cut his throat. Crosß-examined: I never struck him after he was down. I swear that he struck me first, and that he struck me .several times while we were fighting. Frederick Symons, who was present at the breakfast table at the time of 'the assault, corroborated Kerr's evidence in every respect. Evidence of a similar character having been given by another witness, . a verdict was given for defendant with costs, £7 19s. Mary Richardson was charged by the Inspector of Nuisances with permitting a nuisance to exist, in the shape of a receptacle for filth, after having received three days' notice from the informant to abate the same. Case dismissed.