THREE MUST-GET-BEERS

NZ Truth, Issue 1188, 6 September 1928, Page 2

THREE MUST-GET-BEERS

But They Founld Themselves In The Wrong Abode (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Christchurch Representative.) Perhaps they were disappointed at the absence of stousk — or shall we say action? — m the Rugby League test; perhaps they were merely three musketeers who took the wrong turning.

AT all events, they made things lively for Rosa George, widowed Assyrian, of Truro Street, whose modest homestead was much the worse for-wear after the visitation of the "shades of Ned Kelly." But whatever the cause of the donnybrook, William Walter O'Connell, William Henry McAlister and David William Lamond will have a few days at Papakura m which to ponder on the advisability of saturating themselves with liquor and then conveniently losing the use of their memories. McAlister and O'Connell attended the recent Rugby League test at English Park and from the finish of the match "until the fatal 'hour of 6 p.m. they replayed the game m the Grosvenor Hotel. -.7 They gathered m Lamond later m the evening arid together went m search of a certain house, described by their counsel as an abode not a hundred miles from Mrs. George's home, where they would have been very welcome. , \ Unfortunately, the house they were looking for was not Mrs. George's, but that hardly excuses them for their behavior when they found out — if they ever did — that they were m the wrong dwelling. Their behavior was certainly erratic. Even the most intoxicated of men will usually take the ■ - ■ . ■

line of least resistance when m heavy weather, but the v three' musketeers gained access to

the George homestead by kicking down some palings from the fence enclosing the backyard In broken English, Rosa George, tolc Magistrate Mosley of the invasion ol her home. "They come m ma place and I thinl they gonna kill my child ... . ; never see them before, but they sweai at me, throw things around, break dc cups on da floor and then hit ms nephew with a bottle of beer." With her nephew, witness went foi tho police. Before they returned, the invaders had strewn bread and potatoes about the kitchen . and spilt beei about the floor of her son's bedroom. A roll call after the battle revealec that two , boxes of chocolates and a shirt had been taken from the house during witness' absence. The chocolates had not long beei m the possession of the Georges, as John Aya, a young Assyrian hawker who said he was Mrs. George's nephew had Avon them that evening at th< Winter ' Show. "You are a pretty good shot?" counsel conjectured. "! land them first pop," the foreigner replied with tons of assurance and a mobile smile. . "I first hear someone outside sweai at auntie and we go-out see who h( is. "Three men ' there and we go foi police, me and auntie ... "When we come back they all In the bedroom with Peter, my cousin. ••"When the .police come, McAlistei hit me on the shoulder with bottle ol beer, full, and it break. . "The policeman catch Lamond, bu the other two run away." This self-appointed Kelly gang apparently made things pretty merrj during their short stay and offered i

Landed First Pop

warm reception to Constable- Devlin, whom Lamond grabbed by the throat. The inadvisabillty of such ungentlei manly conduct was rather apparent i when Lamond appeared m court with heavy bandages hiding the portion : of his head which came m contact with Devlin's baton. Peter George, a youth, substantially i endowed with a Roman nose, was first : warned of the invasion by the breaking : of a cup m the kitchen. "Someone came into my room about 10.30," he said, "and asked for s matches . . . and further asked i where was the woman and the other man, meaning, I suppose, my mother and my cousin. ' "The other two then came into the bedroom and started drinking beer out of a bottle. "O'Connell attempted to strike me, but McAlister stopped him." When Constable Devlin arrived on the scene about 11 p.m., he found Aya being assaulted by Lamond, who had the Assyrian by the throat. "He turned and attacked me," related the constable, "and I hit him with my baton and handcuffed him. "The other two ran out of the house and escaped through the hole they had made m the back fence." McAlister and O'Connell were subsequently arrested by Constable King m ; Moorho.use Avenue,

when they denied being at the place. Lamond and McAlister pleaded drunkenness, stat-

ing that they had J no recollection whatever of, being near . the place. 1 In reviewing the list of charges, f which included being rogues and vagabonds, assault, theft and wilful dame age, Lawyer C. S. Thomas impressed I on the court that the men were acr tually looking for another' house at i which they would have been more. than i welcome, a fact which was borne out, he said, by their inquiry for "the f woman." T. 5 Counsel remarked that both Mc- -. Alister and O'Connell had clean rer cords, while Lamond had been only once before the court for drunkenness. "I don't know whether Lamond 4 was silly before he was hit on the head with the hammer, but there is no question that he is now," counsel observed. 3 > The • three-, accused wore severely • ( castigated by the magistrate, who re--3 duced the charges of being rogues and vagabonds to being. found unlawfully . on premises. On this charge each accused was sentenced to fourteen days; hard labor. Lamond, for resisting the police, received fourteen days, and McAlister, for assaulting Aya, a similar term. For wilful damoire, each received r seven days, while McAlister, for the i theft of a shirt, was convicted and discharged. r