SHOTS FOR PICKETS

Shannon News, 12 November 1926, Page 2

SHOTS FOR PICKETS

JUDGES ADVICE TO TAXIMAN To Judge Hugh Sturges, at West London County Court, a cabman stated that he could have made a fortune with his , taxicab during the strike, but the strikers would not let him take it out The Judge; They would have attacked you?—Yes, and damaged the cab. Then you could have brought them into court and made them pay:—-You have got to catch them first. The Judge: I should have held on until I was dead. This is a free country, and if I were you I would have taken out the cab with a couple of revolvers in your pocket and shot right and left. The strikers would sodu have left you alone! Commenting subsequently on the advice tendered by him to the taxi man, Judge Sturges explained that “the man told me that if he had taken out hi's cab during the strike tie would have been murdered and his cab damaged. I conveyed to him that he could have used force to repel force, but did not mean that he could go about brandishing a couple of revolvers to provoke trouble. In common law a person is entitled to defend himself from violence, even if it means using violence. I do not doubt that I was correctly reported, but one uses words in court that are not perhaps well chosen, but I think my moaning is perfectly clear.”