HIS WIFE SAID THAT PERCY BROWN SLEPT ON

NZ Truth, Issue 1149, 8 December 1927, Page 9

HIS WIFE SAID THAT PERCY BROWN SLEPT ON

\ THE GRASS AND LOST FALSE TEETH, ' / X N^ LATCH-KEY AND GLASSES -/ \ COUNSEL ENGAGED USE STRONG /' . TERMS ■/

he would teach him the value of money." Referring to their life at the Bay, Emma said her husband was drinking every day. Rarely a day passed when he did not take liquor I—those1 — those occasions were very rare. Counsel: WMat was he partial to?— Whisky is his drink. He was very nasty and bad tempered when m the house and it was impossible to speak to him. Once she handed him a cup of tea through the slide from the kitchen to the dining-room and he threw It m her face. One day m September (her son's birthday) she went for a drive m a car to Carterton. Her son accompanied her. Percy was indifferent to her goings or comings so she did not tell him where she went. All he knew on the matter was that they were going out. That night when they came home Percy was drunk and chased 'her out, saying: "'No, you don't; you don't get into this room.' I had to sleep m the dining-room." Tho grand climax to their matrimonial differences, however, came when, one Sunday morning Percy went out to get the milk bottles. Dick, her boy, used to sleep m the dining-room as they had no second bedroom. $

Percy came back to her room and left the door open. She asked him to close it as Dick was m a direct draught with the window. Her spouse returned to the sleeping Dick and stripped

"Thrashed Him"

the clothes off him, and told the child to get up and make him a cup of tea. A row ensued as a result, and Percy attacked her, kicking her with hard slippers and punching her. Dick then took a hand m the game m protection of his mother. "He got up and thrashed him and sent him back to bed," added Emma with the light of remembrance m her eyes. That was on November 6. She had to leave the house. She told Percy she would stay there, but he said: "No. It would not be good for her and her son to stay m the home." Terrified, she took the children and left. A fortnight or so later and after the papers for the present proceeding were issued, Percy sent along a note enclosing a money order for £2 10s. "m pursuance of the agreement arrived at between our respective solicitors." "This was returned," said Lawyer Sievwright, "as no arrangement had been come to between the parties." Complainant's counsel told the bench that he had written to defendant on this matter and asked that the letter be produced. Lawyer Treadwell strongly objected to this and a heated argument between counsel ensued. "It is only an attempt by my learned friend to manufacture evidence," remarked Lawyer Treadwell wrathfully, but "my learned friend" had his way and the letter was produced. .Counsel again crossed swords when Lawyer Treadwell arose to crossexamine Mrs. Brown. He started digging into the past, when her counsel jumped to his feet and indignantly

asked the court's direction as to whether this was admissible.

"It is most improper," he- said. "They wish to throw as much mud as they can. It is going a little bit too

far."

Lawyer Treadwell submitted he was entitled to go back into complainant's

first marriage somewhere about 191-1. She ultimately became separated from her first husband, he said, and the case was on all fours with the present one.

The Bench: It is hardly necessary to go into the history of the earlier marriage, Mr. Treadwell.

Lawyer Treadi ■well: I submit, sir, that the matter is relevant as it points to the character of this woman. We hear with a blare of trumpets and oratory at the opening of her counsel that she is degraded by having to live with my client. I want to show you j w hat sort of a | woman she is. I j She certainly had | 1 a pension when she 1 married my client, | but she is no war widow — her husband died m camp. Lawyer Sievwright; You told me 1921 was too far to go back; now you want to go a little further back yourself. Her affairs and marriage to her first husband have nothing whatever to do with those proceedings, which concern defendant only. After further lengthy discussion between Lawyer Treadwell and the bench, the former was loath to take Magistrate Salmon's ruling, and there the matter dropped —for the moment. | Lawyer Tread- = well (to witness): | Did you stay out f three consecutive § nights when yo u I were at the Waver- = ley? — No. I was | only out once to a | girl friend's birth- | day. | What explanation | did you give your i husband for return- | ing home after mid- | night m a taxi? — 1| have told you. § Do you know he 1

Wine merchant and hotel broker. A brother of witness Frank Brown and defendant Percy Brown. Of the defendant, the Magistrate said his career was a persistent failure m striking contrast to Harold and Frank.

day's work this year through drunkenness? — Yes.

Do you know he has been of sober habits since working for Laery and Co.? — He has not.

Lawyer Treadwell wanted to know if

Emma had not returned home under the influence of liquor from a friend's

place once. To this she gave an emphatic denial, and said she never touched the stuff. She admitted her husband had served

papers on her from the Supreme Court last year, but he had no legs to stand on; he could not divorce her.

Interruptions by her counsel on his method of questioning:, made Lawyer Treadwell rather wrath, and at one period he slammed his brief on the desk and sat down. Questioned concerning her sister, M r s. Pobar, a widow, Emma said she had stayed with her a few days perhaps, but never for weeks at a time, either at Carterton or Auckland. Lawyer Treadwell: Wasn't she ordered out of the house by your husband? — No. Did he forbid that Mrs. Pobar was not to bring men to the house? — Not that I know of. Percy's allowance, apart from his salary, was not stopped while they were at Taita. Did he not check you with the accounts every week? — He used to ask me what the bills were for the varir ous items. I Wasn't that be-

I cause you used to I waste his money m | wanton luxuries? — | That was never so. | What was the | cause of the row | when you left? — He 1 was making tea 1 for himself — or me, | perhaps. | Questioned con- | cerning an incident | which counsel said I led up to the row, i Mrs. Brown said | such a thing never

Lawyer Treadwell: Do you think the j mind of my client is so low that he could imagine such a thing? — I couldn't say. When you were all fighting did you put your arms round, your husband and tell Dick to hit <him? — No. Is Mrs. Pobar going to be a witness to-day? Lawyer Sievwright volunteered some remark, but was immediately picked up by his learned friend. "Perhaps Mrs. Brown can answer the question without any help from her distinguished counsel," snapped Lawyer Treadwell. Lawyer Sievwright took the opportunity to bow as he murmured: "Thank you, Mr. Treadwell." Lawyer Treadwell (to witness): I put it to you that this is just a vulgar frame-up between you and your delightful sister, Mrs. Pobar? — It is nothing of the sort. Lawyer Treadwell intimated that he intended to contest the question of custody of the child. It was their contention that the mother was not a fit person to have custody of it. Mrs. Brown said she knew Brown pere had the wherewithal and the inclination to provide for and keep her little girl, but he was not going to have her. "We shall see," said Lawyer Treadwell. So far as the scratch on the husband's face was concerned, said Emma, [she did not do it or know who did.

Those Shares

He had thrashed her sister screaming down the passage at the apartment house.

When did your husband last mention his interest m Laery and Co.? — When we were at the Bay. He said he was waiting for his father to return from England for the payments of dividends on the shares.

Before he went away, pa had said "the bally man (his son) would be m gaol if he didn't come to his rescue." He wanted the money from the shares to pay his debts. There was the debt for furniture at the Repatriation, the

dentist, doctor, Harry Duthie, etc.

Has anyone apart from you and Mrs. Pobar seen your husband the worse for liquor? — Yes.

Re-examined by 'her lawyer on the question of tho furniture, Mrs. Brown said the debt was contracted six years ago for furniture at the house m Carterton.

Lawyer Sievwright: And he sold the furniture when you left Carterton? — Yes.

He sold it, although there was a bill of sale over it. Did he lose over the sale? — I could not say.

What was the reason of putting the shares m Frank's name? — To protect some other business that Mr. Brown and all of them were interested m.

Dick, a smiling and sturdy lad, stepped into the box to corroborate his mother's story. Asked by counsel if he knew whether his step-father was a sober man, he said: "Not very," and- added very ingenuously: "He drinks rather heavily, as a matter of fact."