A ROUGH HANDLING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 266, 3 November 1908, Page 2

A ROUGH HANDLING.

POLITICAL CANDIDATE HARMED AND HUNTED. A COWARDLY MOB. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Lust Night. An elderly man named .). W. Taylor, an M.A., who is a candidate for' the City Central seat, received a rough handling to-night'at the hands of a large mob in which the hoodlum element was very prominent. Taylor had givi.n it forth that lie would speak at St. James' Hall, but when lie and a crowd of would-be listeners arrived there admission was denied them. The can-li- ' date thereupon announced"his intention of speaking at a street corner in the neighborhood, and started oil' in that direction. The mob then took charge of the proceedings. The luckless Taylor was hustled and jost'ed about the roadway for hali-an-hour. Every now and then missiles struck him, and he turned and lashed out at his tormentors. They only grew the more persistent, however. After a stormy passage Taylor reached a private verandah, and was just starling his speech from there when the occupier of the house ejected him. Me was hunted down the street again until he took refuge in the Fire Brigade station and gained the back yard. The crowd stormed the fence and were driven back by a promptly applied hose. After a lull of a quarter of an hour the candidate was ordered off the premises, ho and a few supporters being hurried on their way by the hose. The candidate fled down a side street, the mob following. He tried to speak, but fireworks and rotten eggs began to fry; and he was chased into Karangahake road. Here lie sheltered in a hotel, on leaving which by the back entrance he was again assailed by an unruly niub. By this time Taylor was bleeding from a cut over the eye, and appeared desperately frightened. The careless crowd, however, escorted-him, hustling him all the way to his boarding-house, and only dispersed when it was found that the hunted man had gone to bed. The police intervened once or twice, but no arrests I were made.