Daniel Thomas FLANAGAN [5026]

  General Notes:

Barrier Miner (Broken Hill NSW Tuesday 5 December 1911 page 4
ALLEGED MALICIOUSLY WOUNDING.

Daniel Thomas Flanagan was charged with having on September 25 last maliciously wounded with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm on Honorah Gale at North Broken Hill.

The accused, who was defended by Mr. A. J. Hall, pleaded not guilty.

The following jury was empanelled : -F. Mars, F. B. Harnett, F. E. Elvidge, P. Annello, H. J. F. Hamilton, J. J. Kelly, G. Miller, T. Stevens, J. Lanyon, R. de Magnussen (foreman), R. D. Morton, A. S. Clarke.

Honorah Gale, a married woman, living with her husband at Lane-street, North Broken Hill, said that there were three children living at home : she knew the accused since he was going to school ; the witness remembered the night of September 25 ; she left home, at about 6 o'clock alone, and went to the home of her married son, John Gale, and afterwards to the home of Mrs. Harvey, where she stayed for a little while ; the witness went to the Newmarket Hotel to get some gin for a sick grandchild ; the witness met the accused on the verandah of the hotel, and she said, " Hello, Tim," and passed into the hall of the hotel : Mrs. Tregloan served the witness with some gin ; the witness then walked towards home and when at about Mrs Bamoss' store she heard a hissing sound and turned towards the Newmarket lane ; she then fell unconscious ; the witness saw " Tim " nearby ; the witness was struck on the head ; she was just coming to when she heard the words " Skinny Gapper " ; when she opened her eyes she saw " Tim "; the witness said, " For God's sake, Tim think of poor old mother " : the accused struck the witness three times on each eye ; the witness pushed accused away and then knew no more until her son, George, found her ; there was blood on one of the witness's hand ; the witness felt very bad when she got home and her son took her to Dr. Bartley ; when the witness went to the hotel, she was feeling quite well ; she put the gin in her pocket after she got it at the hotel and never saw anything further of it ; she was in the hospital for a week, and even when she left she was not quite well, but she wanted to get home to her children ; she still felt the effect of the blows she received.

By Mr. Hall : I have a number of sons, and young Flanagan has lived with them and worked with them, and all the years I have known him, he has not attempted to insult me ; I take a glass, but never feel the effects of it ; I have a drink occasionally, but never go to excess ; I had a nobbler of drink before I put the horse in the trap to send for my husband, but I never had a drink between 3 o'clock and the time I went to the Newmarket Hotel : Mrs. Tregloan and myself are not enemies ; Mrs. Tregloan did not refuse me a drink because I was drunk ; I remember telling you in the Police Court that they refused me a drink at the New- market Hotel ; if young Flanagan asked me to have a drink it would be the first time the boy ever did so ; the camel camp is at the back of Mrs. Harvey's ; Mrs. Harvey occupies an Afghan's house ; I did not have anything to drink there : the bright light at the Newmarket Hotel shines at night down the road to Bamess' store ; I know that Flanagan struck me with his hand ; my son George had not spoken to me for a week, but it was not owing to my drinking propensities ; I never said anything about " Skinny " Gapper to the police ; I only heard the words and do not know who said them.

Dr. J. P. Hartley stated that he examined Mrs. Gale on September 25 at her residence ; her face was very much bruised and swollen and covered with blood ; her hair was tossed and matted with blood to a great extent : she had an irregular shaped wound about half an inch long over the left eye, and there was a small wound under the left eye and a similar wound behind the left ear ; the eyes were swollen and practically closed ; there was dust and blood on the cloak she wore, and bruises on the outside of the left arm, and her hands were also smeared with blood ; there was some blood on the inside of her skirts at the bottom and on the right knee : there were other bruises on her limbs ; the woman was suffering much from shock, was very weak, and inclined to wander ; her condition appearing to be serious, the witness had her removed to the hospital : the bruising and swelling on the face was such as one could expect to get after a severe pommelling with the fists ; the cuts over and below the eye and at the back of the ear could have been caused by some blunt instrument the raised edge of the band ring produced would cause the wounds described ; there were no signs of drink on Mrs. Gale.

By Mr. Hall : Any irregular shaped instrument would, cause the wound ; the shock and injuries Mrs. Gale sustained might possibly cover up the signs of drink ; a woman resisting one strong man might easily be so injured.

Mrs. Maria Tregloan, housekeeper at the Newmarket Hotel, stated that she knew Mrs. Gale, who was at the hotel at about 10 o'clock ; the witness served Mrs. Gale with 1/- worth of gin in a soda water bottle ; Flanagan was at the hotel while Mrs. Gale was there ; Flanagan passed through the passage ; Flanagan and Mrs. Gale spoke at the slide in the passage ; they both stood there together and asked for drinks, which were refused them ; Mrs. Gale did not have a drink at the hotel that night, but accused had ; he was about the hotel for about an hour ; there was no sign of injury to Mrs. Gale when she was at the hotel ; there were no signs of blood on Flanagan then, but when he returned later he said in answer to a question relating to how the blood got on his hands, that he had been fighting ; witness saw no signs of men fighting near the hotel.

To Mr. Hall : I refused Mrs. Gale a drink, because I thought she had had enough drink ; I also told Mrs. Gale to go home ; I think she was undoubtedly under the influence of liquor ; Flanagan went through the passage into the back yard and returned with two or three others : Mrs. Gale stopped Flanagan, and the others went into the front bar : a young fellow known as " Skinny " Gapper was one of the party who went into the front bar and remained there until Flanagan returned to the hotel.

To Mr. White : It was about 10 o'clock when Mrs. Gale was last in the passage, and it was very nearly 11 when Flanagan was back at the hotel.

To Mr. Hall : I refused Flanagan liquor because he was with Mrs. Gale.

Albert George Gale, laborer said that he was a son of Mrs. H. Gale ; he lived about 80 or 90 yards from the hotel ; the witness was working up to a quarter to 10 on the Monday night, and got home about 10.30 when he heard someone cry out ; the witness went to the door and called out, " Is that, you, mother " ; the witness went outside and found a shoe and fur which he recognised as his mother's ; the witness followed certain tracks for about 12 yards and then found his mother ; the witness took her to his place, her face was covered with blood ; witness told his father and brothers, and then went to his home ; the witness's mother spoke when he picked her up ; she recognised him ; the witness went back after the constable arrested Flanagan, and picked up a corked sodawater bottle, containing a liquid ; the bottle was handed to Constable Monday ; there was no one in sight when the witness found his mother.

To Mr. Hall : I was working at the Junction North, and coming home I would pass the spot where I found my mother ; I did not see any sign of my mother on my way home ; I had not been speaking to my mother for some time ; a girl named Flo Harvey lives at the Afghan camp ; I do not know if any other white girls live there ; I had just got inside, and took off my boots when I went outside ; I passed Bamess' on the way home at about 10.30 o'clock.

Mrs. Gale was recalled at the instance of Mr. Hall, and said that she felt three blows on each eye ; she had said in the lower court that she did not know how many blows he struck, or where he struck her.

Senior-constable Monday, stationed at North Broken Hill, said that he remembered the night of September 25 ; the witness went to the Newmarket Hotel, and arrived there, a few minutes after 11 o'clock ; the accused, was sit- ting on a seat with others ; and the witness told him to come over to where he was ; they went to George Gale's home on the opposite side of the road ; and there saw Mrs. Gale sitting in a chair ; her face was covered with blood and swollen ; the witness said, " You've been assaulted ;" she said, " Yes, Tim Flanagan ;" witness said, " Would you know him ?" she said, " Yes, that's him there ;" the witness said to Flanagan, " Where did you get that blood ?" Flanagan was wearing a hat that had blood on the front rim ; the shirt had blood on the front and cuffs ; Flanagan said that he had had a draught at the Brewer's Arms Hotel, and that he did not know who he was fighting, but that " Skinny " Gapper was with him ; the witness asked Gapper who Flanagan was fighting with, but Gapper said that he did not know : Gapper again said that he did not know, and was not going to tell any- thing about it ; the witness asked Flanagan to give an account of who he was with and where he was from 9 o'clock that evening : Flanagan replied that he would tell nothing more ; the witness then arrested Flan- agan, and on the way to the lock-up he said that he was doing well, as he had two brawls last week and one that night, which was good ; the wit- ness asked him who it was with at the Brewers' Arms ; Flanagan said it was not at the Brewers' Arms, and he would not tell where it was ; he afterwards said that he was glad to be locked up, as it would get him off the "shicker" ; Flanagan took the two rings from his fingers ; he said that they were his knuckle-dusters, and he could use them, too ; there was blood on both hands ; he said that he was not bleeding about the body ; the wit- ness charged Flanagan, but he did not make any reply ; the witness went back to Mrs. Gale's and was shown some tracks on the road by George

Gale, near Bamess' store ; there was a pool of blood where the tracks started, and the track continued to a vacant piece of ground by the side of the store, 16 yards in all ; there was a large pool of blood on the vacant ground ; the tracks looked as if someone had been dragged head first to the vacant ground ; where the tracks started there were.

The accused gave evidence, in which he denied the evidence given by Mrs. Gale, and said that he had had a fight which accounted for the blood on his hands.

His Honor, in summing up, said that the jury could only bring two issues to bear on the case-whether the woman was maliciously wounded with in- tent to inflict grievous bodily harm, or only maliciously wounded. He then reviewed the evidence at length, and pointed out that the charge was different to others of the kind, insofar as she had known the person she accused since he was a boy. Whether because she had more drink than she would admit she should not be believed was for the jury to decide.

The jury shortly afterwards retired to consider its verdict, and had not returned when the Third Edition went to press

The Sydney Morning Herald NSW Tuesday 24 December 1912 - page 8
ENTANGLED IN BARBED WIRE.
BROKEN HILL, Monday.

Daniel Thomas Flanagan, whilst on the way home on Saturday night, became entangled in a barbed wire fence surrounding the Proprietary dam paddock, and an artery in the hand was cut. Flanagan lost so much blood that medical assistance had to be sought. He was afterwards admitted to the hospital.