WHEN "BARNEY" GREEN SAW RED

NZ Truth, Issue 1196, 1 November 1928, Page 9

WHEN "BARNEY" GREEN SAW RED

Perfectly Polite

••.♦ ' • . ' ' ftvg^ tfk Edith Cashmere 'sßoy Friend yf{ jy Packs Powerful Punch %r^r|Pr' HUSBAND GIVES EVIDENCE FOR WIFE'S ENEMIES

|| . (From "N.Z. Truth's" 'Special Christchurch Representative.) || II CHRISTCHURCH HAS LONG been regarded as having reached a dead end so far as fistic matters are || 11 concerned, but unknown to the world at large, the Gillespies and the Cashmeres have been carrying on the good |j I! work for many moons. The preliminaries have been staged m Durham Street, m which neighborhood the || II parties reside, and the grand contest was billed for the Magistrate's Court last week, when the referee was || II Magistrate H.P. Lawry. ■ _ H 11 An imposing array of legal seconds comprised Lawyers W.J. Hunter, W.F. Tracy and A.W. Brown. The [| II participants m the conflict were John Gillespie; flyweight, a glass beveller by occupation; his wife, Caroline, [[ II light-heavyweight; Edith Cashmere and her daughter, Muriel, bantamweights; William Cashmere, (according to j| II himself not m the Jack Johnson class), cruiserweight; and Bernard ("Barney") Green, a Maori, m the Heeney |j || category. f| = 3 ' . . ' ... : iiMiitiMiiiiiuiiiiii[i[itititHiiiiiiiiiiiiii[iiiMitiiinitiiiuuiiinituiMtitiiiiiiiiinuiiHuiii[uiiuiiuiiiiti(Minnr>^ g

llmimiimmmmmummuimummuummimiiimmumiiu^^^ THE action disclosed a very involved 1 set of circumstances. Gillespie proceeded against Mrs. Cashmere for assault and sureties of the peace, Mrs. Gillespie sued the daughter, Muriel, for sureties, while William Cashmere proceeded against the Maori, allegedly Mrs. Cashmore's paramour, for assault. As is typical when friends fall out, the contest was colored with much bitterness and the parties spared nothing m their, estimation of each others' characters. There must be a comedian at every boxing tournament — and this element was provided by Green, whose testimony kept the body of the court m a wave of mirth.' At the conclusion of the case, the magistrate could only arrive at a decision m the case of Green,, who was fined £2 for assaulting Cashmere. The tilts between the Gillespies and the Cashmeres ended m a nordecisibn bout, contingent upon hostilities ceasing forthwith. Two months' truce was declared, but if the Cashmeres train -their guns on the Gillespie family within that period there is a chance of the decision going against them, m which case there will be no loser's end. Caroline Gillespie, a well-dressed woman, who toyed with a vanity-case throughout the period m which she gave evidence, stated that it was Mrs. Cashmere's association Avith Green, a Maori, which caused witness- to break relation's with her. Mrs; Cashmere had replied that she would please herself what she did, as she Avas impervious to the slanderous tongues of her critics.

Told Some More ?

A few days later, Mrs. Cashmere accused witness *o£ taking her girls' characters away, whereas all she had said was -that Mrs. Cashmere should not allow her girls to attend "common dances." "On one occasion m April, when I was passing hei* house," the witness added, "Mrs. Cashmere called out: 'Go on, tell some more lies, you big '." A solicitor's letter 1 warning her to curb her' tongue apparently had no effect on Mrs.' Cashmere ' and her daughters, who, on August 21, made unladylike gestures towards the Gilles'pies. On this occasion the Gillespies were going out to play for an evening at Nazareth House, and the girls, Muriel and Irene, sneered at them and questioned their ability as musicians. On another occasion, Irene had passed insulting remarks and said to witness: "You put more powder on your face than I do on my !" Still another occasion . occurred on which the Gillespies, according to the story of Caroline, had to suffer the taunts and jibes of the Cashmeres when Gillespie himself came scurrying home one evening to relate that he had been attacked by Edith Cashmere and her daughter, Muriel. When witness went to the gate to interrogate the Cashmeres about their behavior, a melee ensued m which Witness says she was struck, while her spectacles were torn from her face and .' thrown m the street. A little color was added to this conflict by Mrs. Cashmere calling witness a "dirty .German — ." Lawyer Tracy: Why did she say that?— Because my parents were Germans. Caroline went on to state that her husband's face had been badly scratched and bled profusely.

Cashmere, the defendant's husband, had been boarding with the Gillespies since June last, but CaroVine* assured the magistrate that this had not been a bone of contention with the defendant, Edith. Under, a gruelling cross-examination by Lawyer Hunter, Caroline denied that Edith's separation from her husband had m any way impaired their friendship, adding that she was m no way sided with Cashmere, even though he was a boarder at her home. She did not intend to be friendly with Mrs. Cashmere any longer because of her association with the Maori, Green. ( Counsel: Doesn't jCash mere mow your lawn with his wife's mower? — No, I borrowed the mower from ' Mr. Aldersley, -a friend. "I think the whole trouble was started through your husband calling the Cashmere girls 'a pair of '?" Caroline replied that such words had never been used towards the girls. Your husband drinks a good deal and gets drunk, doesn't he?-^-He drinks a little, but he does not exactly get drunk. , A suggestion by counsel that the Gillespies had been the aggressors m the conflict outside their house on the evening of October 6 was refuted by Caroline, who attached the blame to. the Cashmei'es. f ; Counsel suggested that Mrs. Gillespie had attacked Mrs. Cashmere, whereupon the girls had endeavored to pull Caroline off. This, was not the witness* version of the affray, however. She alleged that

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CERGEANT (prosecuting): I object to this man putting himself before the court as a lilywhite character. He has been up before. Counsel for accused: That was twenty-five years ago; The sergeant may have been caned at school once himself!

luuimimmmimimmmmiiMiiiimimiimimiiimimiiimimimmmt iimimiiiuiiiimimiiiuiiiiiiiiimiii one of the girls pulled her spectacles off and ..threw them m the street. Counsel: You are a strong woman, Mrs. Gllleapio v Do you really suggest that you are afraid of this young girl hurting you? — Yes, I am. I don't believp m fighting and making myself low. You object to Green because he is a Maori?— Partly, I do. Lawyer Tracy: "Well, tell us the rest." The. witness added that she had observed Mrs. Casnmere kissing the Maori and had seen them on intimate terms. She did riot like his character. To Lawyer Brown, who appeared for Cashmere, Caroline said she saw Green strike Cashmere on the face during the melee outside her house on October 6. Green had two or three other men with him.. - Cashmere hatl retaliated and knocked Green down. • She did not know, she told Lawyer Hunter, that Cashmere had challenged Green to a fiflht and called him "a black dago." John Gillespie, undersized and clapper, stated that his participation m the conflict arose on the evening of Oc- ( tober 6. . * He was m. a shop near his home buying a paper when Mrs. Cashmere .came m and challenged him about something he had allegedly said concerning her daughters. , Mrs. Cashmere, he alleged, opened negotiations with a right to the jaw,

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllMlllllll and, believing m the old adage that discretion is the better part of valor, Gillespie took to his heels with Edith and her daughter, Muriel, m hot pursuit. He denied fighting a rearguard battle, but admitted clouting E~ilith with his paper. His eye was scratched, so he went inside to put some raw meat on it. When he came out again, his wife was being assaulted by Edith and Mm'iel. Gillespie stoutly denied Lawyer .Hunter's allegations of making disparaging remarks regarding the girls' characters. "I was perfectly polite to them," he said. Eyidence for the Gillespies was given by George Bennett, a traveller, who said that while he was accompanying them to an evening at Nazareth House, where they were going to play, the girls passed them on the street, and, m a sneering voice, one of them .said: "You call yourselves musicians, do you?" Another -boarder- at Gillespies named Wilkinson, a railway porter, told of having seen the girls behaving m an objectionable.manner towards the Gil- , lespies one evening as they passed the i house. .--.'■ Gladys Ivy Williams, the maidservant at Gillespies, gave her version , of the melee on October 6. She had helped to search for Mrs. Gillespie's spectacles, but they had been thrown so far away that they were not found until the next morning. "I was nursing the dog m the . front bedroom," she asid, "when ; the girls passed and put their -fingers to their noses." . Lawyer Hunter:" "Show me how!" Gladys indignantly declined to "do that sort of thing." ; , This closed the case for the Gillespies. Lawyer Brown called William

Cashmere, a lorry driver for the City Council, who stated that he- had been separated from his wife for two' years and since June had boarded with the Gillespies. • On the evening of the memorable 6th of October, he was returning from the chemist's shop when "he saw the missus and the kids chasing GilleaiJie down the road." When they reached Gillespie's gate, there was. a bit of a brawl. "My daughter asked me why" I did not stick up for them and I replied: 'You don't stick up for me when you stick up "for 'Barney' Green, who goes out with your mother.' "Green then came across and knocked me down and ruined my hat, so I retaliated and knocked him down. ■■• "Ho had two others with him, but I told him I was not J|ack Johnson and would not take the three of them on." Under cross-examination by Lawyer Hunter, Cashmere stated that the cause of his separation from his wife was her liking for other men. Counsel.: "Was it not cruelty?" The witness was endeavoring to establish his reputation as. a virtuous husband — giving his wife all his wages, washing and polishing the floors — when he was interrupted by the magistrate, who asked if Cashmere had any objection to his wife associating with the Maori. Cashmere said he had none whatever. He denied an allegation that he had. met his wife and Gi'een together m Gloucester Street last Easter Monday night and that he had made any ob-

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiimiiiiimiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiHiiiiiimiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiii jection to paying his wife £2 a week to be going with "a black dago." Cashmere also denied inviting Green round the corner for a fight when he met him with Mrs. Cash-, mere one night on the river bank near the law courts. The witness admitted, however, that lie did not like having to puy his wife £2 a week when she was "knocking about with a man like Greeji." "I thought the money was only for people that were respectable," he added; , ..' • # S.M. : And do you think your wife is not respectable? — I don't think she is. Counsel: Well, why don't you bring it to the notice. of the court? — I am going tb. . • Cashmere went on to state that his wife had been scandalizing and molesting him, even to the extent of 'telling lies about- him to his foreman. The case for the defence w.a,s a denial of the. story told by the Giilespies and Cashmere. Edith Cashmere, a sickly-looking woman of slender build, said the cause of the trouble was Gillespie's attempt to blacken the character of her daughters, v ■ ' She declared that s when she tackled Gillespie about it m the shop, he struck her first- with his paper and then she boxed his ears. , She followed him to his home, but .when she reached the gate Mrs. Gillespie came out and punched her. "Regarding her association with Green,, witness declared that her husband had made certain statements about him and had challenged him to fight on two occasions. Lawyer Hunter, m attempting to show that Mrs. Cashmere was' not m a fit . condition to harm anyone, stated that she r had undergone two operations

inuiiminniimiiiiiinmiiuiiimmiiunuiiimiuuuiiiiliuuiiiiuiiuiiuiiiiiumuuuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiih< and was preparing to enter hospital for a third. The date of her last operation, however, was some eight years ago. Lawyer Tracy (to witness) : You remember getting a letter from me last March on behalf of Mrs. Gillespie, inviting you to bring before her anyone who': could prove that she or her husband had said anything about your daughters? — Yes. . And you didn't take the trouble to do so? — No reply. In answer to the. magistrate, witness said she could not remember any lies Mrs. Gillespie had told about her. ■ She added that the Gillespies had "a set" "on * her daughters for going to dances. Lawyer Tracy: Didn't they warn you about your daughters going to common dances? — The Gillespies play at dances and are" glad to get the money for it. Muriel dressed m a complete outfit of sombre black, said she was sixteen years old and worked at Aulsebrook's. She and her sister, Irene, frequently went to dances run by Bennett, the witness for the Gillespies. They were supposed to be "common dances," the witness added confidingly, but there was nothing wrong with them so far as she could tell. She denied ever using insulting remarks or unladylike gestures to the Gillespies and claimed that on certain occasions, when Gillespie had passed some remark m the street, she never' answered him.* , "On October 6, Gillespie' accused me of insulting his wife and relatives, but I did not answer him."

A Cutting Retort . *

Lawyer Hunter three times asked the witness: "What else did Gillespie say?" before the magistrate intervened, stating that lie did not want an answer to the question, as the girl's mother was trying to talk to her from the court. On the night of the melee, witness admitted that she pushed' Mrs. Gillespie out of the 1 way, for she was attacking witness' mother. Irene Cashmere, a self-satisfied!flap-per, infused a good deal of feeling into her accusations . concerning the ; Giliespies' conduct. With cutting replies to the xcrossexanrination, she denied ever insulting the Gillespies. She accused her father of not "sticking up" for them and added that "no mother would stand for that — to hear her daughters called ." S.M.: "But your mother did not hear you called that?" Irene: "No, but she has a right to stick up for her daughters, hasn't she?" SjM. (sharply) :' Do you know where you are? — Yes. . "Well, just remember, please!" Young Cashmere, the girls' brother, a full-grown sheik, m blue doublebreaster and full Oxford bags, declared without hesitation that the Giilespies were the aggressors— all his father did was to stand and look on while his mother and sisters were knocked about. His explanation of two" men accompanying. Green to the scene was that they Avereto give him a hand "if he got the worst of it." "Barney" Green, a pheasant-faced Maori, with an irrepressible smile, m defending the action for assault brought by Cashmere, said he had been taking Mrs. Cashmere about for some time. On Easter Monday night, while m her company, he was admiring a pair of semi-Oxford bags m a shop window

ailed His Bluff

m Gloucester Street, when Cashmere came up with the greeting which included something about paying for "a —^— black dago." "I told him to tut it and took him round. the corner with the intention of j giving him m charge . . . and told him that any moment he felt fit enough : for a fight, he could come round to where' l lived and step himself out. "f threatened that*one of these days I would call his bluff and told him to get the women' out of the way . . ■. and I would give it to him any way he liked. ' • . . "He said he had never seen a Maori yet who could put up a decent flg-ht, so ! I told him to wait just a little longer. ', "On the night of October 6, I heard that there was trouble outside Gilles.- . pies' and when . I arrived Cashmere , .lumped out from behind a telegraph pole and rushed at me." ■ > Counsel: And what did you dp? — ■ I lashed out with a straight left, ■ followed by one ; to the ear with ' the right (laughter). , Green went on to, describe graphically ' the melee and confusion which followed, claiming, that he had the right ' to defend himself. . However, Magistrate Lawry considered that he had -gone looking for trouble and had found it, so he , separated him from £2 for assaulting Cashmere. ■.-■;■ 5 The ill-feeling .between the parties ' and the animosity shown by the Cashmerqs was not sufficient to induce the magistrate to bind over the family. He adjourned the applications ; for two months.'