C. E. Mitchell appeared to answer a charge of having, on the 3rd instant, at a house in North Szechuen Road Extension, assaulted Alexandra Effimoff by' striking her on the body and threatening to stab her with a bayonet.
Mr. O. S. Franklin appeared for the defence. 3 The complaining witness stated that on the afternoon of the 3rd instant she was sitting in her room, when the defendant entered and assuming a threatening attitude and scolding her, began to strike her about the shoulders with his fists. Then he ran upstairs, and immediately afterwards came down with a bayonet in his hands and threatened her with this weapon, A Mr, Volkhoff, who was in the room at the time, then interfered, and seize ed the defendant by the wrist, preventing him from assaulting her further. Defendant, who was a little drunk and rather excited, struck her several times, and once very hard, knocking her out of her chair when she had a baby in her lap. While defendant was quarrelling with her, a Mr. Hyndman came in and asked him to desist. When defendant entered the room with the bayonet in his hand it was in its scabbard, but in the struggle the scabbard came loose.
John Volkhoff gave evidence that he was in complainant's room when the alleged assault took place. He was rather drunk at the time and did not see any blows struck, but he remembered seeing defendant enter with a bayonet and taking it away from him.
The Commissioner said, in reply to Mr. Franklin, that in his opinion there was not sufficient to justify him holding the defendant for trial before the higher Court, but he would reduce the charge to one of disturbing the peace of the complaining witness.
The defendant gave an emphatic denial of either threatening or assaulting the oe plainant. He had an argument with her as to some aspersions she had made about another lady, but neither threatened or struck her. Volkhoff was very drunk and looking for a fight, and the reason why witness took the bayonet in his hand was to cow Volkhoff, who was by far the stronger man. When witness produced the bayonet, Volkhoff became friendly at ones, and the incident then ended.
In reply to the Court, witness said that he occupied the upper portion of the house and Mr. Volkhoff the lower portion. They frequently visited each other, and on the morning of the alleged assault
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