Will She Ever Forget that Night of Ramance In June ?

NZ Truth, Issue 1190, 20 September 1928, Page 7

Will She Ever Forget that Night of Ramance In June ?

THE BUS DRIVER WENT BEYOND HIS TERMINUS

Eileen's Handsome Lover Stepped On Gas For The Belles of Belmont

When Eric Cleal Took One Trip Too Many With Pretty Passengers

FATEFUL HALF-MILE JOURNEY WITH CUPID AT THE WHEEL

INTRODUCING Eileen Motion to 1 Magistrate Cutten m the Auckland Maintenance Court, Lawyer Dickson remarked: "Hope springs eternal m the human breast." The girl was led to give , the details of her attachment to the bus driver who denied paternity of her child. They had first met when she was going to Cheltenham with some girl friends about two years ago. The occasion was a dance at the Foresters' Hall. After the dance, Eric took her home to Williamson's at Belmont, where she was. working. , This was the beginning, for it seems that the two young people "fell for each other," m modern parlance, and many, meetings followed. Eileen was henceforward a very frequent tripper on Eric's bus. She told the court how she met him practically every other Sunday night after she had attended service at the Congregational Church, Devonport. The actual date responsible for the court proceedings Eileen fixed as June 27 of las,t year. With a friend, Gladys Bell, she had returned from Dominion Road and was bound" for a social at the congregational Church. On their way up Victoria Road, they met a young taxi-driver, "Alf" Marshall, who told the two girls that Eric Cleal wanted them to go for a ride. • Eileen was collecting for some good cause, but when she had handed m the money she met Eric on his down trip towards the wharf. When en route, Eileen said, Eric made a certain suggestion to her, to which she replied: "No," but when they arrived at Williamson's Avenue, they left the bus. Walking up the drive, ahead of the other pair, they left the track and went into some bushes, where improper conduct took place. • The four met later at the top of the

Eric Kissed Her

drive, when Eric kissed Eileen good-: night. "After that," said the girl, "he seemed to cool off. He never Baid anything to me or grave ■me any reason . . ." In November, Eileen thought it about time to find out what Eric was going to do, as she was getting worried about her. condition. . . She went to see him, but there was someone else speaking to him and she found it impossible to get a quiet talk with him. Then, m January, she wrote a letter to him. "I am sorry to break the news to you," she said, "but there is a child coming and you must do something as soon as possible. If my people were to know anything of this, they would make it hard for us." A few minutes after she had handed him the letter, Eric came down to the Devonport beach, where she was waiting. "He asked me the meaning of the letter," related Eileen. "I told him he knew the meaning of it." Later, she went to see him with a friend of hers, a Mrs. Rouse, who asked him what Tie was "going to do about it." . - His answer, according to. the girl, was: "I'm going to do nothing about It, Eileen!" "He is the father of my child," was Eileen's final utterance to her counsel before Lawyer Sullivan commenced his cross-examination. "When giving" evidence la«t month, you didn't say anything about meeting Cleal every other Sunday night?" observed -counßel. "I didn't think it waß necessary," replied the girl. She went on to say that she went to Matthews and Clark, solicitors, the game day that she went to the Sooiety for the Protection of Women and Children. It, was just after she went to see irhat Cleal was going to do.

She Cooled Off

What she had said to him m November she could 1 not remember, but she could not tell him. about her condition, because someone else came up. "Nearly seven months after!" commented Lawyer Sullivan. "Yes," was Eileen's reply, "but I didn't have a chance." "That's five times you've said that," Lawyer Sullivan retorted. Counsel then referred to Eileen's letter, m which she had said that she waa sorry to break the news to Eric. "Why were you sorry for him?" —"Well, I was," sai.d. the girl. The child wan born m March, she told the court, and- It -was January when she went home to her people. She had not written home as soon as she found out what might be expected to take place, but told her girl chum, Gladys Bell, who, she later said, waa not still her friend, as since that night m the Avenue she toad "cooled off." Her meetings with Eric, added Eileen, had nearly always been when he was on duty. When she stayed -with him till he had done his last trip, he would take her home m one of the liiriousines. It was disclosed that 'the reason Miss Bell waa no longer friends with Eileen might be due to the fact that' the former had sided with Uric m the earlier case. Regarding the episode In Williamson's Avenue, Eileen said they had never been to that place before. They did not waste any time, because Eric had to get on to his next bus. "Did you ever hear of a man named McGregor or Martin?" Lawyer Sullivan wanted, to know. "No, I knew a friend of his," said Eileen. When the Incident out of which this case arose took place, she was only eighteen, she said. The girl's father, Richard Motion, a farmer from the Thames district, was then called. He related that his daughter had written home, saying that she was m jbroublfe £te ta& coma ua to tomy « J J

(Prom "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Representative.) "HE'S THE FATHER of my child and he knows it," asserted Eileen Motion, with an emphatic gesture m the direction of Eric Cleal, who was sitting beside his counsel, Lawyer J. J. Sullivan. It was Eileen's second attempt to have Cleal, a young bus driver, adjudged the father of her child, her first application—heard by Magistrate Hunt — being dismissed without prejudice. Cleal, for his part, raised strong opposition s to the girl's, allegations. Possibly he had gone into the question of figures during countless monotonous hours on his bus. To be ordered by the court to pay 12\6 a week towards the upbringing of a child which has made its unwelcome appearance m this world of sorrow and trouble, may not sound much at the moment, but how many young men, whose amours are more impulsive than lasting, have grasped the fact that— -all things being equal, so to speak— -their weekly payment, before it is done with, has involved a sum of over £500. . And there are many young men, who, if they set out to save 1 2\6 a week for sixteen years, have not tumbled to the fact that they might be m possession of a handsome little banking account at the end of that period; whereas, on the other hand, they have only a very vague claim to a youngster of their own, an offspring they would probably fail to recognize when passing m the street!

he had. to get a new leg, having an artificial one. When he arrived, he went to see Cleal at his home m Devonport, as he believed him to be the father of his .daughter's child. The conversation, as it took place when the two men met, was, said Motion, as follows:" "'You are Mr. Eric Cleal? Do you know Eileen Motion? I'm her father,' I said. 'Now, look,' I said, 'you got her into trouble; be a man. What are you going to do about it?' "He said he didn't know her; was never out with her . . . and slammed the door m my face." • . "He said you were drunk?" asked Lawyer Dickson. The father replied i "I .never had a glass of .beer, even; that's the biggest lie he could tell. I had a peg leg on. If I was drunk 1 couldn't have walked at all." Papa^ Motion told Lawyer Sullivan that there were plenty of days when he didn't drink at all and that he went without liquor for months. Lawyer Sullivan suggested that Motion had been abusive. "I was not annoyed," he replied. "I took everything nice and quietly." He had not gone to any other men about this girl — nor to McGregor or Martin. "What I said," went on Motion, "was: 'You'll never leave New Zealand until this ie fixed up!'" An artificial limb manufacturer, Hugh Murray, remembered Motion coming to see him twice m February, when his condition was that of a sober man both times. Eileen used to miss other ; buses to catch < the one of which Cleal was driver, said Dorothy Watt, of Devonport. She had known Eileen for three years or so; they went to the same church. She had seen the girl talk to Eric near his bus for five or ten minutes. "Who was Miss Motion's boy?" asked Lawyer Dickson.

Romantic Affair

"deal, so far as I know," replied the girl m the box. Gladys Watt, a sister of the last witness, gave evidence as to the display of friendship — or affection — between Eric and Eileen. She had seen Eileen on the bus which. Cleal was driving several times; m fact, all the time she was working at Williamson's. She had always called Cleal "Eric." There was no need for her to wait for that particular bus to take her home. "Eric, what are you going to do about things?" was what Mrs. Elizabeth Mary Rouse stated she had said to Cleal when she went with Eileen to see him on his bus. Eric's impolite answer, according to witness had been: "Nothing! It's no good worrying me I" It was true, witness told Lawyer Sullivan, that the night before they went to speak to Cleal he had met with an accident and the bus which he had been driving had run over a little child. To Lawyer Pickson: "I noticed, that he was white when we got on his bus to speak to him." This being Lawyer Dickson's case, deal's counsel asked the bench if he had a case to answer; he doubted his learned friend's right to go on a fishing expedition, as there was no corroboration, even if there had been opportunity. . "If there is a scintilla of corroboration, there is a case to answer," was Magistrate Cutten's decision. Defendant gave his name as Eric Cleal, of Allenby Avenue, Devonport, bus driver. He announced: "I am not the father of Eileen Motion's child." He knew her as a passenger on his bus and first met her at a dance m September, 1926. He denied any intimaoy whatever and had only been out with her on two or three occasions — and only on the bus he drove. That night m June, Gladys Bell had been there, too, with Marshall, and this pair were behind them all the way up the drive. Perhaps ten yards behind. CleaJ himself had never left the drive and it .was the only occasion on which lie had ever gone up the drive. • On this occasion, he had to hurry away to meet the ten o'clock rush from town; In his own words, he "had to tear away for his life." "What were your relations with this girl?" asked Lawyer Dlckson; "those of friend, lover or passenger?" "Passenger," was Eric's answer. He went on to say, under cross examination, that Eileen had been a passenger on his bus for about a couple of years, but she did not travel on his bus every other Sunday. "Then the statements of these young ladies are untrue?" suggested Eileen's, lawyer. "Untrue," echoed, Eric. The girl had not, to his knowledge, made a point of getting on his bus. In fact, there had been intervals of months when she had not travelled with him. Though he couldn't remember, all the

27 last year, when Eileen had met him at Henderson's store. But he couldn't, remember how many times she had been, on Mb bus m 1927, though it would not be a number of times.' "She was a stranger really, then?" asked Lawyer Dicks on. "Not exactly ithat," replied Eric. He conceded later that she might have been on his bus three times during- 1927 between January and June. Not very long after they had met, he commenced to call her Eileen and she had called him Eric. At first, he said that, he called the biggest number of his passengers who were girls by their Christian names, but — being pressed on this pomt — he amended his statement to say that he meant those he knew; not a hundred, perhaps. T Lawyer Dickson wanted to know if Eric had been keeping company; with another girl from September, 1926, for a year afterwards. "Close on that time I was," replied Eric, "but I can't quite think when." Lawyer Dickson was persistent concerning the name of the girl, but Eric showed a very becoming modesty on this point. His legal adviser objected to the question being pressed. uiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiini'iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiii

However, the bench upheld Eileen's lawyer and Eric was compelled to reply. He said he had been keeping company with a girl called Lane. Mias Lane had been on his bus, but she never came on now. "You've broken it off?" inquired the persistent lawyer. "No," said the defendant. "This girl's statements are a fabrication?" continued Lawyer Dickson with a nod m the direction of Eileen Motion, who sat at the side of the court, nursing her baby, which now and again burst into subdued whimperings. Eric replied: "Most of it Is." As to a certain term which Eileen alleged he had used to : her, defendant swore that he had never . used it, though it was a term he had used among his mates when "they were acting the goat." The lawyer twitted Eric with having a bad memory, suggesting that it was a useful thing. "Yes, very," replied Eric. It was plain that the young, darkhaired, clean-shaven man m the box did not enjoy the persistence of opposing counsel, who then delved into

the friends, which, Cleal had asserted earlier m the ca.Be, Eileen knew. But he admitted at last that there was a man called Worthington, another Martin and yet another, a married man named Chubb. "I knew about these beoauae they were the common talk of the Shore," announced Eric. However, he had never seen Eileen with Martin, though he had noticed her with Chubb several times m Albert Road m 1927, when he was on the buß. He had also seen her talking outside the church with "other boys." The statements of the girls who had said that Eileen met him every second Sunday were deliberate perjury, declared Cleal. He had never been intimate with Eileen. She had come up ,to Belmont as a passenger on that Sunday night m June. He didn't think she had paid her fare. "Did she leave you as a lover?" Lawyer Dickson inquired. "She did not," answered Eric. "Do you usually take passengers up a long lane . . . two and a-half minutes' walk?" he was next asked. "Not usually," Eric said, "but I did on this occasion." Gladys Bell, he thought, was keeping company with Marshall, but he himself did not make a practice of keeping company with Eileen. One thing Eric was positive about — he did not go "off the track" that night up the Avenue with Eileen. He did not kiss her, shake ' Hands with her or say "Kia Ora"; he just raised his hat and went off. If Miss Bell said they were three minutes away from herself and Marshall, It was not true; he didn't remember her saying it at the former hearing. When Mrs. Rouse came up to speak to him about the condition of Eileen, he changed into another bus, because he was not m a mood to contradict them, as he had killed a child the night before.

Indignant Denial

The reason he did not see a solicitor or write to the girl denying- paternity was because lie did not think it was serious. Some observations were made by Magistrate Cutten at this stage as to the distance of Williamson's Avenue from the bus terminus. The bench seemed somewhat struck with the unusual courtesy of Eric as the driver, going so far out of his Tray to take the girls nearer their destination. "Well, I'm very pleased I -was there," was one of the remarks which Alfred Henry Marshall contributed to the evidence. . He went on to explain that it would have been pretty awkward if Miss Bell and Miss Motion had been there m the Avenue that night m June . . . with | his mate alone. { "I wouldn't have liked my mate to be alone," was how the thoughtful Alfred, put it. Miss Bell was only his girl friend; the four of them never separated. Alfred quite indignantly denied that' he had received .a kiss as his reward for taking- his girl friend up the avenue. ' "Did you kiss Miss Bell?" asked Lawyer Dickson. At first Alfred, retorted: "That's my business," but the lawyer not being satisfied with the answer, waa told at last: "I never did such a thing!" Miss Bell had said they were separated frbm each other by about three minutes, but she had made a mistake. Marshall had not told Miss Motion, as he called plaintiff, that he would not give evidence for her because he did not want "his young lady" to know he had been out with Miss Bell. He had not said to Eileen that if she would go away Cleal would give her £35,. to which she had replied: "No." Alfred's well- slicked hair had become somewhat ruffled during his spell m the box and he appeared to be very relieved when his cross-examination was over. Miss Bell's name was then called, but she was not present. Magistrate Cutten decided to adjourn the court for the third hearing of the case, which had commenced on the previous Friday, until the afternoon, to give the defence an opportunity of bringing Miss Bell to light. But to fill the gap for the moment, James Linton Bailey, assistant engineer to the Devonport pumping station, was called. He proved to be a young man with a dark growth on his face. Hia evidence went to show that he had not always been an engineer, for at the time of Papa Motion's visit to Cleal he was driving a taxi. "I oan't say Motion was drunk, but he smelt the worst for it," sai.d James. To Lawyer Dickson he admitted that Motion had appeared to be rational and talked rationally. Gladys Bell, when she stepped with great self-possession into the box, proved to be not only a very charming personality, but also a very wellbalanoed, level-headed young: woman. It was noteworthy that she chose her .vomte— aa4 bat »»flWftr»— <witk sera

great deliberation and more than usual fairness. In fact, it might be said that the fair Gladys did more to bring about the ultimate decision than some of the witnesses for the plaintiff; She gave particulars . of the movements of the parties that night; also of the bus route and time. As they had all walked up the drive together, she did not see how misconduct could possibly have taken place. However, Lawyer Dickson had an unexpeoted shot In the locker. He asked: "Have you ever been out to Brown's bay m a car with Cleal, Miss Motion and Constable Stevens just before Christmas?" The hazel eyes of the witness gazed long and solemnly at counsel while he awaited her reply. : "Well, why can't you answer?" he asked at length, whereupon Gladys explained that she was "just thinking." Then: "I must say we did go." She added later: "I hjave rather a bad memory." Lawyer, Dickson: "It's true, then, that Miss -Motion has been out with Cleal about Deoember, 1926, and not only m his bus!" Gladys admitted that Stevens had taken witness, while Cleal had driven with Miss Motion m front. i She. went on to say that Marshall was not engaged to her; they were friends— sometimes off, sometimes on. Out of the mouth of Gladys Bell it was shown that Alfred's statement as to his having been m the bus and pulling up for the two glrla, was — well, not j quite veraoloui. He had, as a. matter of faot, hailed deal's bus. Alfred's memory had also slipped as to the cour.Be the bus had taken on June 27 after the girls had climbed aboard. As to the bus fares, the very deliberate witness said she certainly had not paid. "The gentleman usually pays

Counsel Protests

. . .1 can't say who paid, but I didn't." .--... Magistrate Outten remarked: "Just though tfulneaa on the part of the two men to take the two girls on a busy Saturday night half a mile beyond the termlnuß," m regard to the bus having gone so far as ■Williamson's Avenue. Gladys' account of the happenings after the four left the bus was somewhat vital. "I was walking with Marshall, but what Cleal and Miss Motion were doing, I don't know, but I would think they were walking up the drive . . . ."I didn't see where they were going, but Marshall may have. There was no kissing going on between myself and him ..." "Do you know what Marshall said about being there that night?" asked" Lawyer Dlckson; "I'll tell you — he says he's a friend of yours; you should know. He said he wouldn't care to be left alone with you two girls going up the drive." Gladys smiled pleasantly, but made no comment. As to what was alleged to have taken place, she gave her answer: "Something might have happened — but if it happened m three minutes it would be wonderful!" When plaintiffs counsel had concluded, Lawyer "Sullivan rose to reexamine on the question of what men Eileen knew; witness said that plaintiff had "been out with lots." One of her boys was a man named Johnnie Biddle, of whom Miss Motion had been talking "for a good while." Lawyer Sullivan was introducing a new line of evidenoe In his re-examina-tion when Lawyer Dickson protested. However, defendant's counsel continued and the benoh was constrained to remark: "I must stop this, really, Mr. Sullivanl" . But before the lawyer sat down he

Eileen's Victory

had extracted the statement that Biddle played m a band. Lawyer Sullivan quite enjoyed the little sensation he had, caused; 'he re-> marked to Lawyer Dickson: "You were quite perturbed; you have blushed, ,Mr. Dickson!" "It's nice ; to know I'm able to!" was the retort. The Innocent cause of all this trouble and contention, had long since drained the last drop out of its bottle and had had to be taken for brief hushabyes to the outside passage or laid on its front on its mother's knee to ease its small gastric afflictions; but at last it had found a father— at least, m the eyes of the law, for, closing his eyes, Magistrate Cutten gave his momentous decision. . "I need not reserve my decision; It is quite plain, to me. The girl tells a story clear and concise ..'.'•.. . "Her witnesses corroborate -her story; when they disagree with her, they disagree with one another. The defence,, on the other , hand, contradicts all reasonable possibilities. "There is corroboration of the girl's story — the defence makes admissions of all things except m matters of time ,on June 27. "The defenoe limits it to three minutes; the bus drive home and the walk' up the drive is quite good enough. "Defendant's conduct with the father is sufficient .corroboration. I disbelieve the defendants evidence . .; ." Eric Cleal was ordered to pay Eileen Motion 12/6 a week for the support >of the child, £8/8/- medical fees and ,£lO/10/i arrears of maintenance, while witnesses' expenses were fixed at £2/2/-. Defendant did not accept the decision of the court with any appearance, of delight. ; : From his seat beside Lawyer Sullivan, he growled: "I've a :boy to 'keep at school and I'm the sole support of my mother. 1 ' , ; • "And this girl has a ohild to supjjortl" setortei flUeoa'e