CLAUSEN GETS HIS CLAWS CUT

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

CLAUSEN GETS HIS CLAWS CUT

Laborer McDowell Took His Farewell Lying

IT is cad to think that the site of the Queen City's winter garden

should be the scene of assault and battery, but m some way or another, George McDowell, a young laborer, incurred the wrath of the foreman on the job, to wit, one Neil Clausen, and Clausen, being full of rich, red blood, handed out a wallop or two. As a salve to his injured feelings, McDowell had a bit of blue paper served on his former foreman demanding £25 damages and doctor's fees. McDowell's story was that on November 2, about 1.30 p.m., Clausen asked him what he had done m the way of work. "I said: 'You've seen what I've done,' and Clausen replied: 'I know all about that, my boy — I'll give you your time and five minutes to get off the job.' " All that the plaintiff said he replied with was: "Righto! give me my time." KNOCKED OUT This overture to the later happenings took place near what is known as the potting shed, and McDowell went towards a tap about 15 yards away to wash his hands, Clausen following him. While this procession of two was on its way McDowell said he remarked to his late foreman: "I was with the Fie ten ci' Construction Company hefore you came, and I'll be here after you've gone." "As I straightened up from the tap he hit out at me — right and left — one on the mouth and one on the jaw. For about thirty seconds I was knocked out, dazed. "Another man, Joseph, came to my rescue and picked me up. Clausen's knuckles were bleeding. I ..went to Doctor Bull straight away. He put some stitches m my jaw." When witness could speak again he said to Clausen: "I'll get the police." Clausen replied: "Get the — police; I'm not afraid of the police," and told the witness to clear out of the job. With a roll of paper and his pencil m his hand, the doublefisted, foreman, who conducted his own case, rose m the best legal manner ancLcommenced his crossexamination of McDowell. "I found fault with your work?" Asked by the bench what was wrong with it, witness replied: "He said I was not doing enough." McDowell admitted that it was not his first appearance at court, and with some gusto, Clausen shot back: "In fact, you are quite an old hand?" Up to the striking incident, Clausen had found no fault with his work. The reason for this trouble, might have been that he had had a row with one of the Dalmatians about two weeks before. The only reason for being hit, that McDowell could think of, was because he had said he had

Down, but Received Damages

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Representative.)

WHEN Foreman Clausen said farewell to one of his laborers it was with both hands — knuckles upwards — and the employee was so overwhelmed that he hit mother earth. When the matter came before him, Magistrate Hunt worked it out at £5/10/- a fistful, plus expenses.

been on the job before the defendant and would be there after him. Dr. Horton testified that the blow which McDowell had received must have been a severe one as the jaw was bruised and the lip had been cut, and it was eight days after that he saw the man. The evidence of Charles Edward Joseph, straightforward enough, corroborated that of McDowell. He had seen the blows struck and Clausen's knuckles bleeding. The foreman had seen the witness after and said: "He called me a big- bluff; why, everyone on the job will think I'm bluffing if he gets away with that." On the morning of Saturday, November 26, Joseph stated his foreman Clausen had called him into his office, taken out pad and pencil, and asked him what he had actually said to McDowell's solicitor about the business. "I said: 'I don't think you have a right to know.' " Clausen, said witness, replied: "I have." What Joseph had to say, he replied, he would- say m court, and to this his foreman had 'retorted: "I'll tell you how good it is — I'll fire you. I won't have men on the job who are hostile to me." GOSPEL OF JOSEPH Witness expressed an opinion that this was victimization, but Clausen had said: "You have a holiday till Thursday and I'll see what you say." Before the two parted, continued Joseph, Clausen said: "You are a pair of damned fools, you ought to be blind and deaf on a job like this. I'm responsible for your bread and butter." "You've not been back since?" asked Magistrate Hunt. — "No, sir." Clausen, who gave the impression that he relished carrying on his own case, commenced to ask Joseph many questions about the blows, but the magistrate interposed that he was splitting straws, the thing was, were the blows struck or not? Another line was taken by Clausen then; he suggested that Joseph had. "fixed up" what he was going to say. "Isn't it a fact that you were afraid of crumbling to pieces under cross-examination if you gave me a statement when I asked you?"— " No."

Did you ever make a suggestion to me to settle this out of court? — No. The bench observed: "There's no harm if he did." Before he left the box, witness said it -would be wrong to say he was sacked for any other reason than the one he had given. Brady, another witness for McDowell, had also been called m to the foreman's office and had been told, he said, that one member of the firm had announced that if there were any traitors on the job who'd give evidence against the foreman, he ought not to be on the job; and had added the remark about "being blind and deaf." NOT UP THE POLE "Have you been sacked yet?" asked his worship, — "Not yet." Replying to Clausen, this witness said that there was something said about Dalmatians, and "you said, 'Dalmatians or not, I'll give you five minutes to get off the job. 1 " Clausen brought up the matter of perjury with Brady, too, said witness. "When you called Joseph m I thought it was coming to me next," he added. "Now, then, the defence," urged the bench, and Clausen brought forward Dalmatian number one, whose right eye was veiled with a long black curl. This, man told how he "vas bizee vid ma verk" at the base of the telephone pole," but not so busy but that he saw a man "hooding a, peeze of rack." He was not an easy witness, but it was finally discovered that "dings vere mixing op. He was and he was not able to say who had the rock. Then again, he saw, m the words of Clausen, something peculiar about McDowell's hands. Did he see the rock m McDowell's hands? — "Y-y-y--es, I did." It was a case of — "Lak you know — " or "'E vas yust — " Asked if McDowell's attitude of holding the stone was friendly, or not, he decided it was not. Lawyer Hall-Skelton was anxious to know if the Dalmatian was up the pole or not, and he told the witness to be careful. Finally, the witness stated: "I'll swear to anything on my life." The lawyer did not want him to do that, and at last was told that he was not up the pole.

There were only two Dalmatians on the winter garden Job, and It transpired that they had been carried on from another job. Another Dalmatian gave evidence on similar lines to the first and then Clausen himself went into the witness-box. It was remarkable how soft-toned he beoame as a witness, by comparison with his legal voioe. At times it was hard to hear him. His story ran that on the day that the trouble was "supposed" to have taken place, he had had some trouble with McDowell. There had been a matter of some fisticuffs on the mixer and so McDowell had been given a job by himself. "I said: 'George, just come and show me what you've done m five and a-half hours.' I said: 'Give me a fair show.' He's a hasty-tempered individual." To something- which McDowell said, the defendant replied: "I don't take that sort of stuff at all." "He says: 'You're a Daily's man,' m an abusive and vindictive way. 'Come, get your time,' I says. When he got to the top of one of the levels, m a hissing voice he barked out: 'You're a — .' "I said: 'It will be a long time before you get another job with this company? " McDowell's reply was the one already mentioned, that he'd worked with the Fletcher Construction Co., etc. x "In a jeering sort of way, he said (but it must have been very unpleasant, for the big man m the box lowered his voice most modestly). Then I said, 'Come on, quick and lively, out of it.' . . . And he said something and stuck his chin out. He said: 'Will I?' He would have struck me — sure thing!" STORY IN TWO PARTS "But there was no stone or rock there?" queried the magistrate, "Oh, yes, there . was, there are two parts of the story — as soon as he came within range I hit him. I may have hit him harder than I thought. I'm a big man. He picked up a scoria block and I gave him another one." The magistrate had heard all he wanted to and told Clausen to stand down, Lawyer Hall-Skelton making no objection. "I'm quite certain your blows ought not to have been used at all. However, I'm not going to give him £25 — £11. The incidental tally, when it was arrived at by the clerk of the court, worked out: Two witnesses £2, solicitors' fee £2/12/-, and court costs £1/15/-

.Clausen's features, as he gathered up his notes prior to leaving the scene of action, indicated that he had not found tho. most economical manner of sacking an employee.