NASTY NEIGHBORS.

NZ Truth, Issue 127, 23 November 1907, Page 6

NASTY NEIGHBORS.

A ; Fendalton Feud.

Neighborly relations aren't so sweet and pleas-ant and juicy as they should be: Constant bickerings over one thing or another often lead to Police Court levees, and then the inhabitants of the particular street;" affected revel m a riotous legal holiday. It may be the fowls, 'or the kids^ or the clothes; jealousy or something of that sort, but whatever it is the lawyers don't mind. .Some peopie would kick up a row if your bees trespassed on their property m search of honey. In a recent Fendalton .(Christchurch) case the trouble was about a dog, Mrs Nellie Larraman proceeded against Hfnry James Catermole, whose conduct, she alleged, was of suoh a character tliat she applied to- the Court for protection and sureties of the peace. According Vio Nellie, who is an amply proportioned woman, 1 -and* whose husband's occupation, whatever it is, keeps him away from home a good deal, often three months at a time, Catermole called at her place after dusk, accompanied by his brother-in-|aw, and asked for her. husband. Stie told him that he wasn't home/ She was m, the yard at the time, v ari'd then Catermole caught hold of her by the arm and 'said : "You h-r~ yellow cow, what have you been doing to. nir dog?" In her best dramatic style she said, •• .

"UNHAND ME, VILLAIN !"•

or words to that effect. He let go when she called out for assistance, and Mr Burn, who lives rest door, came along, but both Oateimole ■a-nd his friend had decamped. - Mrs Larrama.n said that she was frightenad of her life of the defendant. On more than one occasion he had passed insulting- remarks towards ■ her m., the public thoroughfares. Once he yelled out, "Hlello, Mother Larraraaii, how are you getting on?" -.Then he- jeered and threw off at her. '

Prom .the cross-examination ! of counsel Donnelly it would appear that the complainant was a very unamiable sort of a cat. She is a spitfire, m fact. ' - You have beea convicted of spitting m a woman's face m the street? queried Lawyer Donnelly.— What has that got to do with it ? "

Answer me ; weren't- you before the Court for spitting m a woman's face ?— JYes, hut she spat at me first.

V^eren't you then bound over to keep the peace yourself ?— No, I was not. ■ ' s Well, I appeared for you m that case, and I thought you were. ■ It was elicited that there was litir nation concern-ing ■ the maiming of the dog- over, which the. -row was' all about. Complainant's story was unshaken m cross-examination.

Next-door neighbor William Burn, who works at Mason Strutters', testified that he. heard Mrs Larraman's cry for assistance, but <«rtien he got to the scene there iras . only herself there. His twelve-year-old boy. though, ha-d heard something. He had been sent to borrow Ike paper, and bad ?;ot to Mrs Larrafnan's gate when he heard 'her say " Let go my arm." He -heard her CALL SOMEONE 1" BRUTE, but didn't 'hear any stronger language used. ' He ran back to his" own house.The defendant Catermole. denied having called the woman a b—-yel-low cow ;. nor had he caught' her arm; he hadn't approached within a couple of yards of her, She called him offensive names when he asked. her about the dog, and threw a junk of wood at him, saying, "GJet off my place, you dirty, low b— — ." He got away duick and lively when the timber was levelled at his countenance, and she only/ called for assistance when he and his mate were well down the road. Catermole- said ,he had never accosted, the woman of annoyed her, and had no intention of annoying her. After Joseph Henry Meimell, who accompanied the last witness in Mhe dog expedition, had given similar .. evidence, Mr Day said that the evidence was' very contradictory, and he would make no order. So lively Larraman and curious Catermole left the Court as they were, so to speak.