MAGISTRATES' COURT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 142, 16 June 1881, Page 2

MAGISTRATES' COURT.

[Before L. Broad, Esq., E.M., and H. B. Curtis, Esq., J P.] Thomas Hahted Harley was charged with unlawfully assaulting and beating Mary Mercer. Mr Bunny appeared for the complainant and Mr Moore for the defendant. The following evidence was given : — Mary Mercer. I am the wife of John Mercer, landlord of the Travellers' Rest Inn, Appleby. On Friday evening my husband closed the bouse, atd we went to bed as usual. At 2 o'clock my children heard somebody who was standing on a ladder tapping at my daughter's window. My husband went down and opened the door, and found Harley, Batchelor, and John Satherley tberei They asked for sometbiog to eat, and he gave them some bread and cheese, and they had six bottles of beer. Between six and seven they wanted breakfast. Barley in the mean time bad thrown Batchelor under the table. He went out to the pump and was washing himself. I went to the kitchen to get them some breakfast. I bad the frying pan in my hand. Harley followed me out, and before I bad time to look round be caught me round the waist from behind. Batchelor, when he saw this, ran through the kitchen into the parlor, abutting both doors behind him.. Harley held me with one hand, and with the other tried to lift my clothes. I hit him on the arm with a bit of wood. He let me go,' and then struck me on the eye. (Here the : witness showed the bruise on her eye and forehead.) I tried to ecream. He knocked^ me against the wall, and then took up the broomstick and called me an old bitch, and told me he would kill me. He then seized me by the throat to keep me from calling out. He picked up a poker, and by that time Satherley and Mercer heard the noise of scuffling, and they came in and Satherley told bim he had better put down the poker. I am 38 yearaof age. i Cross-examined by Mr Moore : Harley picked up the broomstick outside the door. Where the assault took place is a lean-to at (he back of the house. I daresay the. whole thing did not occupy more than two minutes. The kitchen was between us and the parlour. I did not taste any liquor with them. Harley told me to get whatever I wanted, and I said I would not have any. I didn't scream, hecause I couldn't. Harley called out to ( Batchelor to come and help him when I struck him with the potato-masher. When I got back to the parlor, I told my husband that Harley had followed me out and caught me, and I wished I had been able to hit him on the head and mark him. I did not feel any pain then except in my arm. I did not have a drink with Harley afterwards. I did not aek him to stay to breakfast, My busband did not accu.se me of being drunk, and

tell me to go to ted. I have not been intoxicated during the last fortnight. Satherley said to-day that lie should soy I bad been co, but ho has been bought over by Barley, and that I can prove. Mr Moore : Did you ever quarrel with your husband ? Witness : That's a nice question to ask I euppope every husband and wife quarrel occasionally. He has strnck me and I bnve dt fenrk-d myself, but it is months t-ince we bai a quarrel. We went to bed at half-past nine on Saturday ni^ht. Gapper called with meat during the day. I dou't remember saying anything to him about the afliiir. ] saw the doctor on Tuesday morning. I don't think I waß intoxicated when I saw G-apper on Saturday. He-examined : I came in on Monday and weufc straight to Dr Collins. He was not in and t came in again ou Tuesday) saw the doctor, and! then laid th.3 information, i John Mercer : I am the latd'.ord of the j Travellers' Rest Inn. Early on Saturday morning when we were in bed, Harley, Batchlor, and Satherlry came and tried to set into one of the upper windows by a ladder. ] went down and let them in. They had bread and dheese and beer in tbjs bar. At daybreak they asked for breakfast. My wife left the room to get it. Batchelor and Harley had bad a bit of a scrimmage and the j latter knocked him agninst the counter aud cut his eye. Batchelor went out two or three timea to wash it. He was oat washing it when my wife vvent to cook the breakfast. Harley followed her. After a time Batchelor rushed iv from the kitchen and banged the door behind him. Just af er my wife came in with a potato crusher in her hand and Harley followed with a broom siick. He called her all sorts of names aud said he would kill her. He then picked up the poker and was waving it about and threatening her, £a'.herley and I told him he had better put it down, and he did go and went away. Cross-examined : My wife told me tha'-j Harley had caught hold of her. 1 can't remember tile exact words she used for I was so bewildered. Only Satherley and I were present. ' Batchelor had gone otlt: My impression was that she bad been abused Harley did not stay a minute. He was off at once. I don't remember saying anything to Satherley.- I dil not see Harley pick up thepoker. He paid he would knock her head ofE beciuse She had broken bis arm. It wa> daylight at this time. My wife wa3 quite sober. I doa'c believe she had tasted anything that night. I did not accuse hrr of being drunk. I told her to go to bed because I thought they would go away if she did not stop up to get breakfast. I had some glasses of beer. I spoke to Mr W. Harley last week about leaving the place. I dou't remember saying anything to him" about my wife. Stu gets intoxicated sometimes, so do I, so doe? everyboly. We quarrel occasionally. We have come to blows. We did not quarrel on Saturday higbt. She went to bed between 8 and 9. The children helped her to undress because she could not do it herself, her arms were bt bad. Satherley stayed to breakfast. My wife did not complain then. It was not till after dinner on Saturday that she began to feel the pain. Re-examined: My wife was perfectly sober when she went to bed on Friday night, &Dd did not have anything to drink when she got up At breakfast time Satherley said he did not want to have anything to do with the matter because he and Harley did business together. John Satherley : I live in Waimea West. I went wi-h Batchelor and Harley to the Travellers' "Rest early on Saturday morning. Mrs Mercer, after we had been there some tinia, left the room to got breakfast. Bachelor meantime, bad fallen down and cut bis eye and went out to wash it. Mrs Mercer and Harley aleb went out. They were ow about a minute and I heard scuffling. Batchelor came through from the kitchen, and just afterwards I beard Harley call ou> " Open the door." Harley then came in iv a great rage saying Mrs Mercer had broken his arm. She followed with a mallet in her hand. He then picked up a broomstick and said if he had had it he would have struck her. He then picked up the poker and said if he bad had that he would have cut her head off. I asked him to put the poker down because he was so angry with her because she bad struck him. We bad a drink afterwards. Mrs Mercer asked Harley to stay to breakfaßt afterwards. He said "You have given me enough brf akfnst " and got into bis trap aud went off. I remained to breakfast. Mrs Mercer did not complain then. I saw no marks on her. On the Sun day following I said I did not want to be brought into the business. Cross-examined : Mrs Mercer had some drinks. Mercer picked up her glas3 and smelt it and said " She pretends to be drink iug soft stuff, see what it is." She was tbr worse for liquor. Mercer told her so. and told her to go to bed. Both of them have been worse for drink for a fortnight. She made no complaint when she camo into tht parlour, and was joking about. Harley as though she had got the beßt of it. I beard Harley, call out "Open the door" immedi ately after Batchelor came through. Mercer said nothing about it. Harley picked up the poker because he bad struck her. She did not eti ike bini" when they came in, but said "If you touch me again I'll knock your brains out." " She bad two or three glasses served put to her whilst we were there. Harley was in my sight the whole time except about a minute and a half that;hewasafc the back. I had no notion (hat Mrs , Mercer had any reason for complaining.' • ■, Re examined : I am quite certain it was j not Mrs Mercer who called out " Open the door." . .•■..•:• j , By the Bench: Mrs Mercer and Harley came in both in an excited state. The firßt thing I heard was Mrs Mercer oaying, "If j you touch me again- I'll knock your brains out." , ■•..:• George Batchelor : I was with Harley and Satherley at the Travellers' Rest, I went to the pump to wash my eye. Mrs Mercer j came out there first, and Harley afterwards. Harley took hold of me to look at my eye. Mrs Mercer said, " See what you have, done to. the poor old man." I laughed, because I did not ftelhurt. Iran out and then saw Mrs Mercer hit Harley with a billet of wood and heard him singing out blue murder. I thought she must have been hitting him becaus> she thought he was hurting me. I was not intoxicated, and never was in my life. Cross' examined : I slammed the door behind me, aud Hartley sang out juafc afterwards. , Harley never, struck her while I was in the room!, . She had the billet of wood, in her hand then.' Mrs Mercer drank with us. I think she had gin. She appeared to me to be a little bit on. Her husband told her she bad no business to be up as she had been drunk the night before. She made no complaint about Harley!,, and had drinks with ua. By the Bench : Mrs Mercer took up the bit of wbod.and ran after- Harley. Dr.iCqUins.: Mr3stercer called on me on Tuesday moruing. .She has. been a patient of mine' for too years.. She said she had been assaulted by Mr Hai-ley, and asked me -to take a note of; the condition she waa in. I found .that Bhe had a severe contusion on the right eye, and another bruise. on the top of the h 1 cad. She complained of stiffness in the thumb and severe pain in the Bhoulders, There were no marks on them; She said she could not raise ; h^r arm on account of the treatment she had received from , Harley. She showed me a scratch on the neck, which she Baid was done by Harley's finger nail as he seized her. The bruise on the eye mußt have been done by something small. Cross- examined : If I bad Been her on Monday she might have come, for professional advice. On Tuesday she. came for evidence. The bruise had the appearance of being inflicted two or three days before. It might have been inflicted on Saturday night. Re-examined : About ft year. ago. Mrs Mercer had a severe attack of typhoid fever, arid can scarcely be called strong now. This closed the case for, the prosecution. -For. the defence Mr Moore called the following witnesses :— i 'Thomas. Harley: As I opened the door to go in Batchelor was'holding a towel to his eye. I took him by the Bboulder to look at b'ii eye. . No sooner did I "do this than Mrß Mercer took a mallet off the table and began to beat me, Batchelor ran put and slammed the door. I tried the door and could not get out, -and then called for help. I ran riiind the table and got hold of the door and got out, calling out ail the time for assistance as I did pot want to toueU the woman, J

picked up a broom hocdle and told her if I bad bad it I would have stniek her. She followed me into the bar with the mallet whereupon I picked up the poker and aaid if she struck roe I would cut her head off with ifc. I complained bitterly to Bstchelor for running away and shutting the door and getting rap into such a scrape. When I rut down the poker in the bar, Mercer said, " You old bitch, go off to bed or I'll black your ej'e." Mrs Mercer had drinks with us during the nighft. Fhe bfgged me to slop to breakfast, but I refused, .syyirg I had already had enough. Cross-examined : 1 went into the kitcben to ask Batcbelor to come hemo. I don't know what Mrs Mercer went in for. Sl'e was standing by the table doing nothing She had the mallet lv hel 1 hand. The only reason I can give for her striking me is that I pulled Ba'ni elor elf the sofa, and a8 he got up he shlrllblerl ftnd fell and cut hjs eye, and she thought I was going to attack him aivi so she flew at me. I went up to Mr Boltou s that night and was returning lo town. J never caught hold of Mrs Mercer or touehe:! her in any way. Carrington Gnpppr : I am rt, butcher rend- ! ing at ilichmond.' J called at Mercer's on Saturday evctilng between five and six. I i had some conversation with Mrs Mercer. She Bald she and Hurley had had a few wordp, that she did rot approve of his language, had broken his arm, and was going to summons him. She pave m§ the impression that there had been a bit of a rough and fumble betwYeti thnm but. noshing serious. She eaii she had -disposed of tha place. to Harley. She was intoxicated then, I saw no bruises on her. If she had a black eye 1 must have seen it. She trrated fie whole matter very lightly and as if she had ha 3 the beat of it. Crosß examined : 1 was talking to her m the bar. There wa9 a caudle there. Mrs Mercer said she had been up since very early in the morning. This closed the case for the defence, and the Bench having retired for an hour delivered judgment as follows: — ! After weighing the evidence carefully we find the defendant guilty. Wo think ihe evidence of Mrs Mercer is corroborated,^ the wounds which are sworn to have been in fliefced by the defendant, and are not ehowi to have been inflicted in any other way, an>i tba( they were inflicted at or about the tim seems clear enough, although it is quite possible that they would cot have been specialh visible at the time Mr Gapper saw Mr* Mercer. And then Mr Satherlev's evidence is strongly corroborative of both Mr and Mre Mercer's, for he says her first exclamatioe npon coming into the room with Harley was. "If you touch me agf'in I'll break your brains " — a remark to which Harby seems to have replied that " the had broken his arm " It ia evident that, some of the male witnesses had been sitting up all night drinking, and their evidence was confused and not Very re liable. For these and some other reasons we do not think it necessary to state at length, we find the defendant guilty. The defendant ia fined £10, and in default of immediate- I payment one month's imprisonment with hard labor. _ ;

1g The following rather startling adventure by flood and field is nat rated in an Australian contemporary as occurringduring a recent flood at a place culled the Six mile Gale, leading to a certaiu station. It appears that a man and his wife passed tbrough|and reached the above locality on the day the rain commenced. He had his wife aud goods' in a spring-cart, and oroesed a bend ot the liver to be near water. The rain poured down. He could not find his horses. He was caught between tte arms of the crack. On the next night the cart began to sway about in tha water, and finally began to iloat. He thought it time then to shift. First he carried his wife, swimming about twenty yards and wading the rest, and deposited her on high ground on the top of a fence. Next he swam with the child, Theu he carried off 6ome clothing and provisions, and at last lashetl the dray to a tree. He and his family lived on the fenc? until the third day, when ths water subsided. Not a few council chambers, like Noah's Ark, (says the Napier Herald) cousin a curious medley of creatures, clean and unclean. Sir Oracles are there, wUer in their own conceit than the seven sajjfcs of Greece, and let no dog bark when (hey opau their mouths. The penny-wise and pound-foolieh are there, a compound of miser and spendthrift, straining at gnats and swallowing cimels, and never able to make both ends meet. Blockhead 3 and babblers are there, dull of brain and glib of tongue, worthy < f being decorakd with the distinguished order of cap and bells. Trimmers aod wire pullers are there, winking at abuses, throwing gobs to Cerberus, and forming the; chief hopa of useless officials, needy place-huniera, and cringing sycophants. And, fortunately, there also are honorable, intelligent, csp&b'io mep, anxious to justify the confidence reposed in them, to keep their fingers clean from the taint of corruption, to spoil the game of unprincipled schemers, and to show, as far as in them lies, a fair day's work for a fair day's ray. The Chinese question (writes the San Francisco correspondent of the Auckland Herall) is once mote in agitation. An cuormous mass meeting has been held in our city under the auspices of the Kspublican League and State Central Committee, regarding the necessity of ratifying the new Caineso Treaty, which is at present suspended in the balance, in consequence of a deadlock in the United Stares Senate regarding it. Oar new Senator, General Miller, is taking a course in this matter which is approved of and endorsed by public opition. It is considered that the ques ion of restricting Chinese immigration ia of more imj o:'tance in the present affairs in this ~tate than any partisan question that may arise. Whereas in the earlier iim:s Chinese labor Burplied a want impossible to fiil from any other source, the temporary and economical assistance rendered by the M n| m"ii I'pe placed in our midst a great ani still growing evil, which is affecting our Hie ii^cris,.-. True it is that the race has heretofore been a benefit, in consequence of the impossibility of procuring white men's aid, but now, with a State overflowing -with impecunious thuu Bands, and a regular army of tramps, wbo are made so from want of employment, it becomes time to place a limit on the shiploads that infest our shores. For every benefit that has been derived from tht Chinese race a thousand injuries have accrued, and should unrestricted immigration continue we may confidently look forward ii. a few years' time to an absolute ruling by the Chinese people. There can be no doubt that our population and wealth is less than it would be were the Chinese element banished from our coast. In the line ot domestic servants alone the Chinese employed outnumber the whites by hundreds, and in the factories " John " reigns as übso lutely as ever. Therefore this new restrictive treaty now before the Senate, and proving a bone of contention, as all anti-Chinese measures have ever dove, is looked forward to wi;h unusual anxiety. A M irion (Indiana) telegram says : -Mr J ha Wallace went into Warner's barbar Bhop tn get shaved to-day. Warner hnd a new hand, a dapper youug mulatto, whom his customers were getting to like. Walkcs waited until the mulatto's chair was empty, and then got in it. The young ojan carefully la' here J his face, and then, leaning heavily upon him and holding his head back by a powerful grip of his chi:), looked him straight in the eyes and said : "I am going to cut jour throat " Wallace saw that the negro was a raving lunatic desperately in earnest, frothing at the mouth, possessed of abnormal strength and gloating over his proposition. For a momeut he felt paralyzed, The barber swung open bis raz )r , eyed its edge with satisfaction and look c firm hold, lie seemed delighted at Wallace's position of absolute helplessness, and said, " Yes, lam going to cut your throat. Vi v needn't look scared. I won't hurt you. 1 can do it in a moment. I'll first cut your throat and then IM slit you down the Btomach and let your bowels out. I'd like to know what's inside you anyhow. Oh, 1 know what they'll do with me for killing you, but I don't care for tbat. They'll hang me. I'm not afraid of death : are you ?" Then he straightened out his arm to make the final movement, when Wallace, by a sudden desperate effort, managed to roll over and out of the chair and fled. Help was Buminoned, and the crszy negro, after & desperate struggle, wag overpowered and locked up. A friend of mine hal a pet canary, writes a correspondent of the London Spectator, while her brother was the owner of a retriever that was much petted. One day the cauarj escaped from the house, and was seen fly if g about the grounds for a few days, and wbere it. perched was generally on high elm trees. At last it vanished from view, and the dear little pet was mourned for as lost or dead. But after the interval of another day or ?o the retriever came in with the canary in his mouth, carrying it most delicately, and went to the owner of the bird, delivering it into her hand without even the feathers being injured. Surely nothing roald il!u trite more beautifully faithful love and gemlimas in a dog hao this.