RAILWAY GUARD ASSAULTED.

Otaki Mail, 26 February 1919, Page 3

RAILWAY GUARD ASSAULTED.

A SERI®T/S AFT AIR. ""] A respectably-dressed man named George Francis. Fraser pleaded guilty in the Wellington Magistrate, Court on Monday, with having, on 22nd February, between Paekakariki and Plirn- . merton, broken a pane of gkiss in one of the carriages and having assaulted the guard, Mr M. Stewart. Acting-'Sub-Inspector Emerson said the defendant was drunk, and behaved in a violent manner. But for the gates of the platform being closed, it was possible that he would have thrown the- guard off the train, and perhaps caused his death. Defendant, who said he was a single man, and ascribed his behaviour to drink, was told by the Magistrate that a drunken man in the "street was a nuistrdeo. but people could keep away from him. A drunken man' on a railway -train or a tram was an infernal pest, and a source of danger, and defendant' was lucky.that he was not before the court on a charge of manslaughter. A train guard or a tram guard was in charge of the traffic., and anyone who interfered with them was gtiiliy of a very serious offence. It was his business to stop that sort of tiling. "There was no previous record against prisoner, but he would be ordered to pay the amount of damage. 12s (id, or undergo three days' imprisonment in default: for assualtins the guard he would be fined £lO, with 7s 3d costs, the alternative being one month's imprisonment.