COSTLY JOKE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 371, 4 November 1932, Page 2

COSTLY JOKE

PUBLIC OBSTRUCTED .» ; ARMY OFFICERS STAGE 1 A HIGHWAY HOLD-UP. STUPID BEHA\iOUR. Six young army officers, who were j said to have "emulated Dick Turpin," j -were each fined £2 by the magistrate i at Salisbury, England, on SepteMber } 13, and ordered to pay £8 -12§ 3d costs1. { Th'e charge against the officers was j "unlawfully and wilfully obstructing the free passage of the" highway" late at night at croSs-roads on the Devizes 1 Road, near Salisbury, j Prosecuting counsel said the officers ' arrived in two motor cars at the ! cross-roads and proceeded t'o hold up : the publici Ohe officerwas held acrdss , the road by his legs and arms by two 1 of the others, while' another ! stood ; waving a handkerchief. People were ' alarmed and terrified. ! Mr. Fred Gaisford, of Remerton, ; said that he was stopped while motoring toward Salisbury by a man waving ; a whits handkerchief. Someone came . i to the car and said there had been a I terribl'a accident. Three men then j jumped on the running-board, and he j was "a wa bit frightened," being | concerned for the women passengers ( in his car. Witness said h'e asked the men what they wanted, and ohe of them said' "I want you to drive us to Liverpool." They all talked at once ahd as he could not understand what they wanted he started up the car and drove away. ' A policeman said he found two cases of beer bottles in the•officers, car, all empty except one. One of the accused said four of them had been away for the week-end; They stopped three miles from Salisbury to finish four bottles of beer that were left, when someone" came along and asked if there had been an accident. They theh thought that as. the man had expected an accident they would "stage" one when the next person came along. "The joke," the officer added, "went down extraordinarily well with two men who came by and were not at all annoyed. Then we made the fatal mistake of repeating the joke, and frightened people. Acting like motor bandits was the last idea that came intd our minds." The Chairman of the Bench, in fining the officers, said their behaviour was "stupid."