Recorder (Port Pirie, SA : 1919 - 1954), Friday 20 August 1937, page 1


ALBERT AUGUSTINE EDWARDS FACES

CHARGE OF ASSAULT

ALSO ALLEGATION OF INDECENT LANGUAGE

SISTER-IN-LAW TELLS OF STORMY

INTERVIEW IN HOTEL BAR

ADEL Ai D L-. Thursday.

ALBERT Augustine Edwards, hotelkeeper. of Hindley street.

pleaded not guilty in the Adelaide Police Court today to charges of having assaulted and used indecent language toward his sister

in-law.

The complaints were laid by Mrs. Millicent Edwards, on July 27 following a visit to Edwards" hotel in Hindley street on the pre-vious day to discuss money matters.

Edwards is the Labor candidate for the Adelaide seat in the House of Assembly.

A protest has been lodged against the result of the plebiscite.

During cross-examination Mr. Harry Alderman (counsel for Edwards) al-leged that Mrs. Edwards had indulged in a campaign of calumny and abuse against the defendant, and had vilified his mother in a letter. The case is being heard by Mr. Muirhead, P.M.

Mr. C. T. Gun, for Mrs. Edwards, in opening, said that there was nothing extraordinary in the assault with the exception of the alleged cowardice and the nature of the language used.

"Some time ago A. A. Edwards ar-ranged to have the licence of his hotel premises taken out in the name of his brother, Arthur Edwards," said Mr. Gun. "At the beginning of the occu-pation of the hotel Mrs. Edwards

went there at the request of A. A.

Edwards. Having money, and defendant

having none or little, she provided food and did general work at the hotel

for some weeks."

Shortly before July 26 she had in-structed her solicitor to make a de-mand upon A. A. Edwards for pay-ment of £35, being £25 which she had laid out and £10 for her services and other work.

A. A. Edwards, through his lawyers, had denied liability, but the reply was couched in language which Mrs. Ed-wards deemed vilified her. The letter said that the allegations were also lutely untrue, and that the claim was an afterthought and had no substance

whatever.

PHRASES RESENTED

Resenting these phrases. Mrs. Ed-wards had gone to see A. A. Edwards to ask for a personal explanation why she should be called a liar by him,

and why the claim was suggested to

be an afterthought.

Mrs. Millicent Edwards of Williams avenue. Victoria Park, giving evidence, said that on Monday, July 26. when she went to Edwards' hotel premises, the Castle Inn, at the corner of Mor-phett and Hindley streets, in conse-quence of the phrasing of the letter, there were, several customers in the bar.

"I said, "Mr. Edwards. I want to talk privately to you." He said, 'Out of this bar before I throw you out.' He approached me. waving his arms, and I moved hack a few paces.

'"I said to him. 'Why are you telling all these lies, when you know I was down here working and fed your mob?' He did not answer."' Mrs. Ed-wards said.

'"Edwards swung me round by my shoulders toward the door, grabbed me round the neck, and pushed me through the doors. He still had hold of me as went down the steps leading to the footpath."

There Edwards swore again at her and told her to go back to the lawyers. The witness refused to re-peat in court one word which she said Edwards used frequently, but wrote it down on paper.

HAD A GOOD CRY

"l said to him, 'What about the three and a half years' wages you owe my husband—£1.400?' He kept following me as I was backing toward Mor-phett street. Edwards was waving his hands and thumping them together quite near me, at the same time abus-ing me.

"He slapped me across the cheek and pulled my nose, saying, 'I've a good mind to pull your nose out of your face.'

'"I told him to cool himself down and not act like a madman all his life. He said it was bad luck there was not a motor car coming along, as he would push me under it so that I could not give evidence against him."

Mrs. Edwards said that the smack she received shook her nerves and hurt her. She was not crying, but when she returned home she broke down and had a good cry.

Mrs. Edwards said she could not

sleep that night. Her nerves were bad and she had to take some aspirin.

Cross-examined by Mr. Alderman, Mrs. Edwards said that Edwards had given her a violent blow on her face. He had jerked her nose down and it hurt terribly.

SORRY AFTERWARD

When Mr. Gun objected that subse-quent cross-examination was irrele-vant. Mr. Alderman said "This woman indulged in a campaign of calumny and abuse, and went down to the hotel to continue it.

"I say this prosecution was launched as part of a miserable campaign of blackmail. This woman is a black-mailer and a filthy one at that."

Continuing his cross-examination, Mr. Alderman said, "Was it ever necessary for you to write to the de-fendant for the protection of your own interests and say that his old woman was dirty?"

Mrs. Edwards: Well, I just wrote what I thought, and I was sorry after

ward.

How long ago did you write that".'— it is a good while, ago.

Did you know that anything could hurt the defendant as much as a statement like that?—No. Nothing could hurt him.

You don't think that to vilify his mother would hurt him the least bit ?

—No.

Mrs. Edwards broke down and wept in the witness box. When Mr. Muirhead. P.M.. suggested that he might- adjourn the court for a while, Mrs. Edwards replied she would like him to do so. and the court rose.

When the hearing- was resumed Mr. Alderman asked Mrs. Edwards what she hoped to achieve by going down to see him. She replied that Edwards might have made some reasonable of-fer.

'A MERE SAYING"

She said she never used threats and that the letter she wrote him was a "mere saying-." She had saved Ed-wards' motor car and his home and had supplied him with money. Her hus-band had sacrificed hirnseli' for Ed-

wards. Their money had run out and she had had to borrow money to carry on. She was going to tell defendant

all that.

She tried to see him before she went to her lawyer, but he was too rude. and he said he was too busy to see her. Mrs. Edwards said.

Mrs. Edwards denied that she had said to Edwards after the affair at the

hotel, "I'll fix you for this."

She also denied that she had sug- gested to a woman that the woman's son should administer a little punish- ment to Edwards and that she had told someone that she was going to set out to give Edwards a good blow- Ing up before the elections."

Mrs. Edwards said she had no feel- ings of hostility toward Edwards and no desire to cause him any trouble in his election campaign.

The hearing was adjourned until next Wednesday.