Sarah
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Taunton Courier. Bristol ad Exeter Journal, and Western Advertiser. Wednesday 29 Mar 1905
Page 5 Column 2
COUNTY PETTY SESSIONS.
SATURDAY. - Before Colonel W. O. MEADE KING (in the chair), the Hon. E. W. B. PORTMAN, Mr. A. EASTWOOD, and Mr. E. C. TREPPLIN.
WANTED A PHEASANT TO COOK.
Alfred John OATEN, 14, who appeared to be a dull-witted sort of boy, and residing with his parents at Stoke St. Mary, was leniently dealt with in consequence, when he appeared to a summons charging him that he did unlawfully kill and take away one pheasant. He pleaded guilty, and it appeared from the evidence of Frank HULL, keeper to the Hon. E. W. B. PORTMAN, that on the 14th March he saw the boy near Stoke Wood, where he had set some traps for young pheasants for the purpose of taking into a breeding avairy. He missed one of the young birds, and information was given to P.C. SMITHERHAM. They afterwards went to the house of the boy's parents, where he admitted taking the pheasant, saying that he had knocked it on the head and had taken it home for his mother to cook. The boy now said that the bird was dead before he took it away. The Constable said the defendant was a bad boy, and when the Chairman asked the mother why she did not correct him she replied that the late Dr. Wm. LIDDON had told her that she was never to beat him as he had something the matter with his head.
The Chairman informed the mother that under the Act she was liable herself, where there was any evidence that she had neglected to look after her children. She ought to have sent the bird back to the keeper.
The mother said that she was going to do this just before P.C. SMITHERHAM came in. It was three miles away where the keeper lived.
The Chairman said the Bench did not wish to damage the boy's character by a conviction, and they therefore dismissed the case against him, but he must pay 2s 6d damages and 3s 6d as costs. A week was allowed for payment as the mother said her husband only earned 12s a week, and there was a large family of them.
Mrs. OATEN afterwards asked if she could have a summons against Frank HULL, the keeper, for “cursing” her, when he came to her house about the pheasant. He called her a b----- fool and used another word.
The Magistrates' Clerk said it was very rude of him, but it was not an offence against the law, as those particular words she had mentioned did not justify a summons for obscene language.
Mrs. OATEN then left the Court exclaiming “I shall go to his master.”
The Hon. E. W. B. PORTMAN did not adjudicate in this case.
A QUESTION OF VACCINATION.
George PAINTER, a chair maker, of Boroughbridge, appears to be a non-believer in vaccination, but having gained a certificate of exemption he did not put it to its full use. He failed to appear to a summons taken out against him for neglecting to have his child Emily, who was born in 1904, vaccinated. - George MEDWAY, vaccination officer for the district, proved the case, and said that the defendant had obtained a certificate of exemption but did not send it to him within seven days as prescribed by the Act. He had previously obtained such a certificate in respect of another child, and in that case had sent it in all right. - Fined 1s and costs.
PASSIVE RESISTANCE.
The Rev. E. CURTIS, retired Baptist minister, of Hatch Beauchamp, the Rev. H. J. E. BISHOP, Congregational minister, of Fullwood Chapel, and Miss Marion Emma DEARING, of Trull, were summoned for non-payment of that portion of the poor-rate devoted to educational purposes, and orders were made against them for the payment of the same.
The case of the Market Trustees against Messrs. Collier & Toller will be found reported in another column.
<NOTES: Alfred John OATEN son of Charles Robert OATEN and Caroline Louisa KITCH>