“Boy Messenger: To explain fully the circumstances which led up to being molested by a boy clerk on the 6th inst.”
“The Inspector: I was coming back from a wait case and I saw Messenger Jones through two cupboards and I called to him and the boy Clerk mentioned called me and gave me a wait case to take out and I told him that I did not know where to take it and he threw me outside. When I came back from the wait case he dragged me downstairs to the ground floor and kept hold of me while he was showing another boy clerk to get papers out. About ten minutes later he pushed me upstairs and bent my arms back and hurt my wrists at the time. He turned round on me all of a sudden and caught hold of my neck and pressed as hard as he could and wrung it. This happened on the First floor in the corridor.—E. C. P.”
Now listen to the boy clerk's explanation. Note the superior tone of the boy in a higher position: it is a case of dignity and impudence.
“The Superintendent: Respecting the complaint made by the messenger P——, I wish to point out that any injury done to him by myself was done under circumstances which could with every justification be called self-defence.
“I was asked by Mr. Green to forward a case to the Ledger Branch, and when I asked P—— to go he after being absent from his bench for a considerable time gave me a blank refusal. I prevailed upon him to go after threatening more than once to report him. On arriving back he on each occasion when going past my desk passed sarcastic and insulting remarks, such as 'fool' and 'swanker.'
“Later he actually asked me to go down to the basement and fight him though he is barely one-third my size, and for the second time threatened to blacken my eyes. He also deliberately gave me a blow in the pit of the stomach and several kicks upon the shins, upon which I again cautioned him. Taking no heed, he rushed at me with hands raised, and in the struggle which ensued he imagined he was badly hurt. Regretting having been in any way connected with this disturbance, I trust this explanation will be considered sufficient.”
The italics are mine: we cannot fail to admire the way in which, in most trying circumstances, the boy clerk maintained his dignity.
The fighting instincts of the average boy are indeed the chief difficulties of his Superintendent. “I was coming out of sorting-room ground floor when Messenger B—— and I knock up against one another. So I tapped him on the head and he tapped me back and one thing brought on another and it ended wrestling.”
A very pretty and reasonable story, which does not, however, prevent us forming a tolerably correct picture of the savage fight which actually took place.
Here are a few more explanations:—