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Taunton Courier. Bristol and Exeter Journal, and Western Advertiser. Wednesday 02 May 1923
Page 5 Column 4
TAUNTON BOROUGH POLICE-COURT.
WEDNESDAY. - Before the Mayor (Alderman J. E. KINGSBURY), in the chair, Mrs. C. MINETT, Messrs. H. J. Van TRUMP, J. WHITE, W. DRAYTON, and J. P. SIBLEY.
UNATTENDED MOTOR LORRY.
Thomas ROWE, motor driver, of the Three Tuns Inn, Tancred-street, pleaded guilty to leaving a motor-car unattended with[?] the engine in motion.
P.C. DOUGHTY stated that on the 12th April he was on duty in North-street when he noticed a motor lorry standing unattended with the engine in motion. He waited for quite ten minutes before the driver came back, and then asked him if he was aware he was committing an offence. He replied “Yes, I know it is an offence, but I did not think it would matter[?]. I did not leave it long.” - Defendant was fined 10s.
THE KEEPER, NOT THE OWNER.
Henry DAWE, labourer, of 20, Tancred-street, pleaded guilty to keeping a dog without a license. - P.C. SPILLER stated the facts. - Defendant said he had kept the dog for a fortnight for a man named PALMER, who was out of work. He had since bought the dog, and immediately took out a license. - The Clerk said it was the keeper of the dog who had to have the license, not the owner. - A fine of 5s was imposed.
ADSBOROUGH DROVER'S CRUELTY.
George FOXWELL, drover, of Adsborough, pleaded guilty to cruelly ill-treating a cow at Taunton on the 14th inst.
Inspector H. H. FISHER, of the R.S.P.C.A., who prosecuted, stated that it was a case of cruelly beating, within the meaning of Act. He did not wish to say that it was an aggravated case. Defendant was a well-known drover, and, from what he knew of him, a rather good drover, but, unfortunately, he was inclined to use the stick too much, and it was hoped that that case would be a lesson to him. - It appeared that on the 14th April P.C. HILL was on duty by the Castle Hotel, when he saw defendant coming down from Castle Green to the Parade in front of a number of cattle. As he came towards the corner of the Corn Exchange one roan cow attempted to get past, and defendant, who had a stick in his hand, gave the cow a violent back-handed blow, hitting the cow on the nose, causing blood to flow from the nostrils. In reply to the constable, defendant said “That's nothing, I had to stop her as she is very wild.” P.C. HILL took possession of the stick, and told defendant he would be reported. He also noticed that afterwards the cow went on quietly. - Defendant said he had been warned that the cow was wild, and it took four men to get it into the stalls when they got to its destination. - He was fined 10s.
YOUNG COUPLE'S GRIEVANCES.
SEPARATION ORDER GRANTED.
Edna SMITH, of Tancred-street, Taunton, made an application to the magistrates for a separation and maintenance order, on the grounds of persistent cruelty, from her husband. Alfred H. SMITH, of Three Tuns Court, Tancred-street, Taunton. - Defendant pleaded not guilty.
Complainant said the defendant was cruel to her nine weeks ago, when her twin babies were a month old, and she had to go to the police. He struck her on the neck and shoulder, and burned her with a hot poker. They had been married three years, and he had been cruel to her practically the whole of that time. On one occasion he threatened her with a razor, and he never gave her any money for herself, simply a shilling each for the babies. Her husband was a dental mechanic, but had been out of work since they came to Taunton two years ago last November. She thought he was receiving £1 a week, and sometimes he would buy food for the babies.
Defendant said he did not burn his wife with the poker. He had to twist it away from her to save himself, and in doing so she was burnt. On another occasion, when he put the fire out by throwing a kettle of hot water over it, his wife threw the kettle across the room. The mark on her neck, where she said he had struck her, and which she went to show to the police, was a birthmark.
Asked if he had anything further to say, defendant said “I don't think my wife's story is hardly worth going into.”
CAUGHT HER BY THE THROAT.
Mrs. ADAMS, a neighbour, living opposite Mrs. SMITH (the complainant), said the defendant was always ill-treating his wife. She heard her scream out in the middle of the night, and she had to go for the police; it also made her ill. She remembered one incident when defendant hit his wife and caught her by the throat because she would not give him her money.
Mr. HUGHES, of Elm Cottage, Mount, the father of the complainant, said that about 18 months ago they had to take their daughter in because of the husband's violence. She was badly bruised about the neck. Later she went back to live with him again, but soon returned to them, whilst she also went to Stogursey to nurse her sister, and while she was staying there her husband visited her, and pleaded with her to go back and live with him, promising that he would be good to her. His (witness's) daughter, who had walked in from Creech that morning in the rain to give evidence – but was not present in Court – saw defendant thump his wife when she was in bed with her one-month-old twins, and again when the babies were nine weeks of age.
P.C. HANNAM gave evidence to the effect that on the 7th inst. the complainant came to the Police-station and made a complaint to him, and showed her where she had been burned on the right arm. She asked his advice, and he explained to her what proceedings to take.
DEFENDANT'S STORY.
Defendant, in making a statement to the Bench, said the whole family were down on him, and they tried to make out he was a rogue. Subsequently[?] they interfered with his own parents. Defendant handed a letter to the Bench which he received from his father two years ago, and brought forward several other points, but he was informed by Mr. E. B. KITE (the magistrates' clerk) that there was no excuse for cruelty to a wife. On occasions, continued defendant, his wife picked up kettles and saucepans and threw about the the room, whilst in the middle of the night, because he was not awake, she gave him a knock across the head with a shoe. Evenings he often went to the pictures to get out of the way of her. Sometimes, when he raised his voice, the neighbours could hear him through the walls, and not his wife, and consequently they thought it was always him causing the trouble. When they were married he was in work for his father, and was in apartments, but as there was insufficient accommodation he shifted to Taunton to his wife's home. She said there would sure to be a job he could get at Taunton, but he had been out of work since he had been in the town. He often gave his wife some money, whilst previous to coming to Taunton he lived at Coventry. He received 8s a week pension and £1 from the Labour Exchange, but for the last three weeks he had received nothing, owing to having come to the “gap.” He considered that, with his temper, he had been very lenient with his wife, and he did not object to a separation order being granted, but he was not in a position to pay her anything. He was quite willing to support the babies.
The magistrates decided to grant the complainant's application for a separation order, the Chairman mentioning they were sorry to have to part such young people, but the husband did not object, and ordered defendant to pay £1 a week maintenance. The opinion of the Bench was that the defendant could get work if he tried, and that the penalty might induce him to make an effort to get work.
REPORTED ELSEWHERE.
The case in which Charles HILL, licensee of the Princess Royal Inn, Canon-street, Taunton, was summoned for supplying intoxicating liquor during non-permitted hours on the 10th April, is reported under another heading; whilst a report of the case of Evelyn BELLAMY and Phyllis DAY, aged 14 years, who were charged jointly with stealing a quantity of soap, &c., from Messrs. Woolworth's Bazaar, will be found in another column.
<NOTES: Edna SMITH is Edna Eliza HUGHES daughter of William Walter HUGHES and Eliza MALE, married Alfred Haydon SMITH>