LEE ON LEE SHORE

NZ Truth, Issue 1199, 22 November 1928, Page 7

LEE ON LEE SHORE

Tried To Coax His Wife With Razor and 'Wood Block ;' V T-; SAILOR .'IN A COURT SQUALL (From. "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Representative.) Some, men try to. coax their wives, with, a new hat,, a fur coat, ■or -a- bouquet of flowers. It's all a matter of personal taste or inspiration. But it was left to James Charles Lee, once a sailor, but now a waterside worker, to use what was i described as a chop* ping* block and a razor to. try to coax his wifet back to a more loving frame of mind towards himself . ■ ; . . , It is hardly necessary to say that James' methods failed, and developments indicate that his wife, Annie Elizabeth, has not much inducement to resume conjugal relationship with her spouse. ; . .

T AWYER SINGER, who appeared for ! lv Annie Elizabeth Lee, told Magis- 1 trate Hunt that James was. at one time' a, seaman on the "Tofua." The pair were married m 1917 m England, they came to New Zealand m 1922, and there was one child, a boy, Annie asked the court to give her maintenance and separation . on the grounds^ of drunkenness and persistent cruelty. Annie said that her husband had been drinking a great deal too much, and when m drink he became abusive, used vile language to her, twice threatened to smash the home up, and had hit her over . the head several times. : -.- ' This was. the second .time she had left him On account of his conduct arid she had /been with a woman friend of hers, a Mrs. Gordon, since her last departure. . . When Annie returned before, James promised" to be different, but on July 12 he came home drunk, and hit her on the jaw three times, tore her dress and gave her a. black eye. Because of this she took proceedings about August, but her , husband asked her to withdraw the proceedings on condition that he would- not molest her. Since September he had paid her about £6: but; he had been out' of work. Annie told the court that while she was at Buckjands Road m October, James had. gone to the house and assaulted her. -He had gone' to -the house three. weeks ago, and last Tuesday. "He threatened ■ • ■ me with razors. He ' was drunk, and had a thick beard on. Mrs. Gordon took the razor out of his hand." ' James did. not hit her on that occasion, but he had said: "Nothing will ever part us." . "What did he call you?" asked .Lawyer Singer.' Annie: "The usual things. He said he would. cut my head' off." James called. again. later, and was as bellicose as on his former visits. . "He threatened me with a chopping block and chased me down the yard. Mrs. Gordon stopped him. I'm real scared of the- man," said the woman. Asked as to the money he had allowed her Annie said: "He's not kept me short of, cash, but that's not everything, is it?" She went on to say that over a cer- ; tain period Jame^ had given her £100, and she had".put! £10 m the bank. - Annie was asked by James 1 lawyer whether, if her husband took out a prohibition order, she would take him back? "It's no good. Under no circumstances will I take him back," announced Annie emphatically. Violet Gordon, wife of Henry Gordon, a. weli -dressed, alert -looking woman, told the court that she -hud known Annie for about three years or more. She ..said she had seen James the worse for liquor, had heard him use language to . his wife, and had seen bruises on her friend's legs. She had also seen Annie m a state of collapse. Mrs. Gordon went on to relate how she had been m bed one s night when Annie's little boy had come to' her and pleaded with her to go. to his mother. "She was m a terrible state when I got there," said the witness. "I

Not Everything

had to go two miles. When I got there, her dress was torn and her face was unrecognizable." Referring to the chopping block incident Mrs. Gordon stated that James had rushed his wife with a large-size block of wood and threatened to knock his wife's brains out. "You made him leave the blocK alone?" asked Lawyer Dickson. Mrs. Gordon replied: "He did' when he was told to." In reply to an interjection by Lawyer Singer she ' said she had taken the [razors away from him. Lee's counsel inferred that Mrs. Gordon had been the cause of some of the trouble, but the answer he received was: "I've a good man of my own and I don't want her home broken up." Lee was then called. He proved to be a' clean shaven, darkr haired man somewhere m the thirties. > Unhappiness had only begun about three years ago, he said. They had shifted from Summers Street, to Baker Street because by so doing they would be saving, 6/- a week rent. His wife did not like the change. When he came home from a trip with the steamer "Kurow" he went to the school where his boy was, to find out where his wife was • living, and he found her with Mrs. Gordon. His wife had sold the home up. ]To. Magistrate Hunt he replied that he had made it up with his wife, and started afresh. • He had given Ms Tvife £60 m acer- • '" tain number of '■■' months, and- they had been living at Edendale prior to the separation. . While on the "Tofua" he had paid his wife £9. It was three weeks after the mutual separation that he had gone to see his wife. He had asked his boy to -bring: her out,' as he wanted to see her. Later his son had stayed with him for a week and he asserted that he had not a singlet to his back, although he. had given her £160 m the past. She said she was making him some. Explaining the razor incident. Lee said: "I gave a friend two" razors to set. I got them back at 11 o^clock m the morning, and had a few drinks. One razor had no case. I didn't produce the razors. I told Mrs. Gordon that I had cut my thumb on one of them. She said: 'Give them to me/ and I threw them on the table." "What about the chopping block?** asked his worship. "I was trying to coax her," was James' answer, and the _ court naturally smiled, while Magistrate Hunt observed: "What! With a chopping block?"/ . "I never tried to hurt her," added James, "I'm very fbnd of her." While he was on the "Tof ua," continued Lee, he had tried to 'persuade his wife to get a place by the time he came back. - • -,' - Mrs. Gordon, 1 he asserted, had his pots and pans, and "her boy sleeps on a bed that belongs / to .me." At : this Mrs. Gordon clapped; her hands and was told to be silent. ' : "My boy," he aSded a few minutes later, "can give evidence that my; wife can drink as much as I can." Magistrate Hunt granted a separation and made an order for £2 a week.