AN ERRING BOER.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43087, 2 May 1907, Page 4

AN ERRING BOER.

At Te Awamutu recently a Boer named De la Ray was charged >by Constable Matthew, of Te Kuiti. with stealing a hammer and knife, the property of E. Lowe, schoolmaster.. Accused pleaded guilty, adding that drink was the cause of all the trouble. Constable Lander stated that prisoner was in a very bad state, and more like a mad man. De la Ray always carried, a bottle of methylated sp rits, which he drank freely in large quantities. ■Prisoner would fill a jug with water and mix it with methylated spirits and drink the lot right off. On being asked by the magistrate what lie had to say for himself the accused - stated that he had fought for the Boers in the late war. and had a, bullet in his abdomen. The habit of drinking methylated spirits was aequ’red during the war. It was taken to kill (lie fumes of the lyddite. The* methylated spirits had now got- such a. hold of him that it was almost impossible to do without it, and besides he found that it eased the pain caused by the bullet. In reply to the magistrate the, accused said that he did not know how long it would take to, get the methylated spirits out of his system —whether 14 days or three months. He was sentenced to 14 days in Mount Eden, and also a similar term on a charge of assault.