BOOZER BUZZERS.

NZ Truth, Issue 74, 17 November 1906, Page 5

BOOZER BUZZERS.

TWO PUBLIC-HOUSE PESTS PEPPERED.

The Country Coot and the Bar Blowflies.

The vinous vagabond who hangs round hotel bars, and then follows out drunken men possessed of cash jn order to ruthlessly rob them, and leave them without a stiver, is a rogue who is :• .rather too prevalent m Christchurch, writes ..our correspondent. And now that visitors are pouring into the city m ,shoals, and drinkv persons with gonce are plentiful, these lazy. looting loafers keep their eyes peeled and. take advantage of any opportunity; that offers. There vvas a very bad. case investigated at the police court by Bishop, S.M., m which two men were concerned, and the audacity displayed' by the culprits was surprising, becaiise the victim was robbed 'in a righk-of-'^ay leading oft one of ttve main streets m broad daylight, about. 2 p.m., while people were looking on. It was

A OOUNTRY COVE, as usual, who catoe m from Longbeach station. His name is Cook, he is a cook by occupation, ., and froni a financial view, point he was cooked properly. The men; charged with going through his pockets, were James Joseph Donnelly, and a ginger-head-ed fellow named Edward Jones. The amount said to have ,been abstracted from him #as £10, and the charge was assault and -robbery. Both accused pleaded not' guilty, Lawyer Malley defending Donnelly, " ; Ginger" speaking for hiiriself. 'Tec Chrystal conducted the case, but it was soon observed that prosecutor James Cook was m a particularly obfuscated condition. He didn't remember much, and side-tracked into a lot o£ ir relevancies, 'having to be hauled up time after time. -He told the S.M. that he had only had one shandy that morning, but the Bench expressed the opinion that foe had' had four or five. However, Cook said he reached town on the night prior to: the opening of the Exhibition with between £15 and £16 on him. Then: lie: ;m;' : .

STARTED 0N,.. THE WINE, meeting a couple of shipmates, and also the accused Donnelly, for whom he shouted swankey. He didn't remember meeting the red-headed bloke, Jones, at all. He didn't know how he lost his money, or where he lost it. Witness appeared very confused at this point, and' '-Tec Chrvstal couldn't get any sort, of satisfactory answer ou<t of him! However, he remembered having dropped m at the Terminus Hotel and giving the barman a pound for four bottles of whisky, which he intended taking back to his mates at Longbeach when he left town. Alas, those mates will get no whisky now, as the nound was asked back when he was left penniless. Another thing that he remembered was that he slept at a boarding hoivse, but after, that his mind was a . complete blank. 'He must have been partially drunk on the following mornhw of the day when the roWbery . happened because fie didn't recollect entering any hotel that day. The first time

THIS COUNTRY POOL awoke to reason he found Himself m the -lolice cell for dunkenness, and his sole monetary possessions totalled one and a sprat. Although Cook was a most unsatisfactory witness, the police had three boys m attendance who were only a few yards awa-" when the barefaced robbery took place. ( Wesley King, a lad of 15, saw Cook, who was very drunk, and the two accused m the right-of-way alongside Kempthorne, Prosser and Co.'s, Lower High-street. "Ginger" Jones was going through the man's pockets, Donnelly standing. Iwside him. Cook appeared to be p-oinp- to sleep. Witness was with two other boys watching the proceedings, and when Jones noticed them he picked up a stone, threw it at them, and chased them away. Clarence Melbourne Wilson, aged 14, was more pointed m his evidence. 'Jones, he said, put. his hand m Cook's waistcoat pocket and Donnelly m the trousers. Both accused, "whom he identified, were half drunk, at the time. Corroborative evidence was tendered by James Lloyd, aged 16, who spoke to '

THE TWO ROBBERS, saying that he would tell the police about it. Then Jones picked up a stone, swoj:e, and. cleared them off. ►Subsequently the three boys returned and found Cook lyrnc m the gutter with his head cut. . Detective Ward deposed that he spolie to Donnelly on the night q£ the Thursday, and asked him if he had been m the right-of-way mentioned that day. Donnelly replied that he was, H2 went on to sa-v, "Another chap and. I saw an old smoker P-et fired out of the New Zealamder Hptel, and -we took him down there out of the way so that he could have a steep." Magistrate Bishop here wanted to know what an 'old shicker". meant, and he was politely iniormed by the 'tec that it was a slang term for a drunken man. Mr Bishop should really possess himselt of a slang dictionary. Ward went on to say that he then arrested Donnelly on, the Present, charge • he made no reply. When searched at the \EfA 10 5.i ad no lxW>lley - Constable Mfck Flanagan was the next m the witness box: He arrested

THE SOMNOLENT COOK m the ripht-of-way for drunkenness • tie had a cut over his eye, and only Js 6d-in his pocket. Later on he complained of having lost his oof, and as witness- had seen Jones with Donnelly m. front of the Excelsior Hotel that afteraoon he arrested Jones next day. On hearing the charge ''Ginger" observed, : "I have been drinking all Uie time ; I .don't know what I have V-w-n doing or who I have been knocking about with. They took me home drunk last -night." Mrs Alice King, second-hand dealer m Tuam-street, who had Inown the prosecutor for 12 years, deposed to having seen money m his possession on the Thursday ivinrnin^. This concluded the case, and the S.M. said there was no evidence to support & charge of assault, so he struck it out, and accused could be ilealt with summarily if they liked. They elected to be so, and Donnelly got into the box. He swore that he never saw Cook on the Wednesday night, but on the Thursday afternoon la the New Zealandet Hotel when