Journal Volume 7 2013
Disagreement at Greystones Station (continued/3)
Devanes Smyth asked the witness if he had been there at the start of the quarrel and was told that was the case. One of the other magistrates, Col. Rowan Hamilton, asked the witness if he was a carman and was informed by the witness that he was and drove for George Milne.
In the arguing no one appeared to be concerned about what had happened to the three ladies whose conveyance had caused the row between Evans and the Gormans. But Mr Meldon hadn’t. He asked the witness where were they while the carmen were arguing and Ryan’s reply ‘They got into my car’ led to another outburst of laughter in the court. Once order was restored Mr Meldon asked the witness if he was swearing that he saw Evans strike Richard Gorman with the wrench and was told that this was the case and that the ladies were getting into his cab at that time. Evans then interjected ‘The ladies never wanted any cab.’
Christopher Gorman was the next witness called and said that Evans took a wrench out of his cab and ‘insaulted‘ his brother by striking him on the arm with it. Mr Meldon quickly picked up on this term of ‘insaulted‘ and said to the witness ‘He insaulted your brother with the wrench?’ to which Christopher Gorman replied ‘Yes and that was all he knew.’ But Meldon returned to the attack ‘Do you mean that this man Evans went and took a wrench out of his cab and assaulted your brother without any provocation?’ but Gorman declined to answer.
| Meldon: | Was there any provocation? | |
| Gorman: | James Evans took the wrench out and insaulted my brother. |
Devaynes Smyth was not impressed with this answer and indicated to the witness that while they were aware that James Evans had taken out a wrench to assault his brother he wanted to know what made him do this. The reply he received was –
| Gorman: | He ( Evans) went over to where my brother was with the ladies. Evans was trying to get inside to drive these ladies when he told my brother that he would break up his car if he did not clear out of the road. |
When Mr Meldon asked which of the carmen eventually got the ladies, Gorman said ‘Nobody’ which resulted in another outburst of laughter in the court with Evans then interjecting ‘The ladies did not want a cab.”
Sergeant Barry said that Constable Webb came upon the scene and told each of the three men that he would summon them if they did not prosecute each other. Mr Meldon asked the sergeant if he knew anything about the three men and he said that they were three very decent men. Devaynes Smyth remarked that they appeared to be respectable looking men and Mr Meldon, perhaps realising that this was the type of heated row in which threats and words are said in the heat of the moment, suggested that perhaps the best course of action would be to make the three of them shake hands and become friends and then dismiss both cases, a remark with drew a further bout of laughter in the court. When a Gorman said that he thought it would be a good idea, there was renewed laughter.
In his final words to the three carmen Mr Meldon said that the next time they got three ladies for a fare they should divide them amongst themselves - a comment which resulted in the court rocking with laughter and his final words were to the three to go home and that the cases were dismissed.
There is an interesting observation about the case - Constable Webb who came on the scene at the time of the argument for whatever reason told them they were to initiate actions against themselves or he would summons them and one wonders why he did summons them and if Sergeant Barry had a quiet world with him afterwards about his course of action given the magistrates’ dismissal of the case.
