TAMING A HORSE WITH A STABLE FORK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 102, 2 May 1877, Page 4

TAMING A HORSE WITH A STABLE FORK.

Under the above beading the following strange case and ita stranger, conclusion are reported by the Guardian as baving occurred in the Dunedin Police Court last week:-— Mr Jonathan Snow, hotel-keeper, of Mosgiel, was prosecuted yesterday before I. N. Watt, at the City Police Court, for cruelty to a horae. The circumstances of tho case were some-: •' what peculiar. George Brown, a groom, who bad; been four days in defendant's employment, stated tbat on the evening oif tbe 16th inst., he put a home in harness, and Mr Snow started towards. Silverstream for, a drive. Three-quarters of an hour afterwards he returned leading the horse without the trap, excitedly demanding a stick, and exclaiming "Fll kill the ." No stick being . supplied, defendant led the horse through the yard int.O the stable, and then, seizing a threepronged stable fork,' thrust the prongs first into: the animal's belly, then between , its, fibs,- and .finally flogged it over, , tho-Jback till the handle -was broken- .While, this was going, on Snow kept ifcyiiig; " I'll kill you," ypu -—— ! I'll make you suffer for thiev" Mr E ... Hay appeared for (the defence*; and'oro.B-ex^mihed the witness as to ;, whether he had not been the worse for dridkjhat evening and received notice I of dismissal. This the groom emphatically denied, statfa^ that he had only one'jjlass bf beer, and thai it was only on the morning following when he showed :tha. constable into the stable thafrSnow toldihiih to go to h-— , as he did hot want bim any longer, and taking; bim at, his word he immediately: packed op his traps and left. He also stated that when the horse was stubbed there; were t^vo persons, in the yar_t-«--a youog man named Car .enter, and Charles Peacock, an employee at a threshing mill. After Snow had expended his fury, he rubbed the horse down with a wisji of straw,, covered him with at cloth; .put some ; hay before- him, and fetched some water, much to the di.J gust of defendant, who kept calling out" Don't do anything to the -^— . } » Constable Gilbert stated that on the morning of the 17th instant he saw the liorse." Tbere were two wounds-— one on tbe belly and another under the saddle— from.wbichthe blood waa still oozing. He denied that he ever threatened'to "have ; Snow .yet." For the defence it was submitted that the horae had simply been chastised; but not, ill-treated; and that as it had endangered the lives of .defendant and his. daughter by lying down in the bed of Silveratream, it was necessary, ,10, inflict a punishment such ns it woii-d nevj.r ba likhiy.tb forget. . Mr Hay was : proceeding to intimate that he should call witnesses to prove that the groom was drunk- on the evening of the occurrence, and had received notice of dismissal, when Mr Watt remarked that such evidence could have nothing to do with the4ll-t.eatmeht of the horse. Thia evoked the reply: "If your Worship bas any prejudice against me, personally, I hope you will not allow it le interfere with the case." " Mr Hay, "I will not allow these remarks to be made to me," retorted his.W6r.ship, looking very, serious. At this stage, on account of the Governor's levee, the Court was adjourned for half-an hour. On resuming, tbe defendant was placed in the witness box. Ho stated that on the evening in question, he was driving his eldest daughter to practise for a- concert at the North Taieri Schooi-house. Crossiog the Silver Stream, where (he bridge has been , washed away by the floods, the horse threw himself down, and afterwards came in contact with some of the posts, and "releasing himself from the harness,, boked back to his stable.. He. acknowledged having broken the handle of the fork over the horse, but denied having struck it with the prongs, and attributed tbe wounds it received to the; result of its oo.li.eion with the posts in tbe river. A witness for the defence named Robert Glen, alleged that on the night of the occurrence the groom was tbe worse of drink, and that after the defendant bad started, the groom remarked "You'll not get across the stream." He further stated that he was in the stable about ten minutes' after Snow went there with tbe horse, but saw no ill treatment, adding that at a late hour he examined the animal minutely, bnt saw no wounds or marks of auy kind. It was intimated that

since the affair, the horse had never been a day idle, and his Worship was asked to step into the passage and inspect it for himself. !0n his return Mr Watt said : " I Eaye examined the horse, and I find distinctly a small punctured wound — not WcK.[A£j /njufjir as I think ian? ordi* , nary Stake would' inflici. ThO^wotibaf would be more likely to have been caused by the projection of the wires in ;a wire fence, or else in the way dee-crib-d by tbe witness for ihe pro-O'cu-r ticjn. rit The circumstances under, which the grbbta appbar^ are _i._£icibu_. ; Hef was about to be dismissed, and he sujEfers them (defendant and his daiigh- !t te}) to proceed on their journey, and then says they can't get; acros? <the - stream. I cannot dismiss from my mmd tbat thereseems to be;an animus oh tbe part of the groom, and I must take his. evidence -with a great degree oil oauiion. The.-.eyidenco.pf tfie constable is tha. he found a wound in the hcjrse's; belly,. uoh .as he. would expect from the' stab of a fork; but on tbe whole, I. think the.eyidence is not;satisfactory j it ia a case of oath against oajth, and I shall dismiss the, case without costs.