Marble Man 6

Joseph Bell v. G. V. Sala.

— £6 5s claimed for board and residence

— Mr. Webb for plaintiff, Mr. Mclntosh for defendant.

— £3 15s was paid into court.

— Joseph Bell deposed to being a farmer at Cow Flat ; he claimed £6 5s for five weeks board ; Sala was there for about three months, and settled up to within five weeks ; he was to pay 25s per week for himself and son ; the son's schooling had to be paid out of this ; for two weeks of this Sala went to Cow Flat, before he went he promised to pay for the time he was away ; during this time witness sent him his food ; have asked for the money but he refused to pay it ; when Mr. Hughes came he took Sala's room as he was at Cow Flat; it was in January or February that Hughes came; Sala used to come to the place and instruct Hughes ; he sometimes had breakfast and dinner there and his tea was sent ; Sala was stopping at Croaker's old public house at Cow Flat; have never said that he was there for five months ; I know Sub-inspector Forbes, may have told him that Sala had stopped at Cow Flat for five months ; in January Sala told me that as Hughes had come he would give up his room to him but would continue to pay as usual ; for a fortnight after this witness sent him his food, but after this he preferred to board himself.

— To Mr. Webb : We had a settlement, but after that a proper account was kept; for three weeks after the settlement he boarded with witness, and for a fortnight after he supplied him with food at Cow Flat ; Sala was also responsible for Hughs's board and has not paid it ; the five weeks witness claimed for Hughes' board was not the same for which he claims from Sala.

— Joseph Bell, son of plaintiff, deposed that he was employed in the Rail-way Department, but went home every Saturday night ; he made entries in a book by directions of his father ; this was not done in Mr. Sala'a presence ; the first entry is January 12th ; father had had a settlement a week previously ; the last date is February 9th; for a fortnight after Sala left food was sent to him ; Mr. Hughes came there about January.

— To Mr. McIntosh : He only stayed a few nights after Hughes came.

— To Mr. Webb : Before he went away he agreed to pay for the time he was at Cow Flat.

— For the defence G. F. Sala deposed that he paid £3 15s. into court because be stayed there three weeks between the settlement and Mr. Hughes came; after January 22 Bell never sent him any food ; he took the house from Croaker in November and after Hughes came he went to live there.

— To Mr. Webb : With the exception or two or three meals at Bell's house, witness had nothing from Bell since January 22 ; the children did not take anything to where I was living after that date ; Hughes came in the middle of the week and in order to finish the week we let Bell send up some food to Cow Flat, and with this we fed the dog.

— Edward Sala, son of defendant, deposed that he went with his father to live at Croaker's public house on January 22 ; while there after this and while they were at Cow Flat they got their food from Rockley, Cow Flat and George's Plains.

— To Mr. Webb : We were doing nothing at the public house after January the 22nd but waiting to see what would be done with the machinery. Mr. Webb: You were not eating Mr. Bell's provender or making a marble man? No.

— Verdict for plaintiff for 30s. with cost of court and witness expenses.

At the Orange Police Court on Tuesday, according to the Advocate, Guisepha Fabrizis Sala of "petrified" fame, summoned Joseph Bell of Cow Flat, that he did on the 20th May, maliciously declare and threaten plaintiff in the following words, "Come, I will fight you'' and at the same time used words to plaintiff which were likely to create a breach of the peace. Mr. Isaacs appeared for plaintiff, and Mr. Sydney Webb, of Bathurst, appeared for the defendant. Mr. Isaacs said the circumstances were as follows :

The defendant resided at Cow Flat. On the 24th of May the plaintiff was exhibiting a marble or petrified man at Orange. The accused came to Small's Hotel and abused Sala, calling him opprobrious epithets freely. The plaintiff would have occasion to go to Cow Flat and apprehended the defendant would injure him, and, after hearing the evidence, he would ask their worships to bind the defendant over to keep the peace.

Mr. Webb : I would like to have the depositions taken in this case, as there are reasons why it is necessary, as you will see before the case ends that my application is a wise one.

The application was granted. G. F. Sala said he was a mineralogist, and lived at Cow Flat. He knew defendant Mr. Bell. He rented a quarry from defendant at Cow Flat. On the 20th of May he (witness) was at Small's Hotel taking dinner when the defendant called him to the door. Bell said "I want you to pay me." Witness replied, "I will pay you if you wait a few days." The defendant said, "If you do not, I will turn over everything in the shop." Accused said. "I will give you trouble all day." I will give you a black eye." In the evening witness again saw accused after 5 o'clock outside Small's Hotel. Bell had a letter in his hand from Mr. Kearney demanding an apology to plaintiff. Defendant "shaped" opposite plaintiff, and said, "Although you are a big man, and eighteen stone weight, I will fight you." Bell said, "I am a small man, come down and I will take a few rounds out of you ?" Defendant called witness the "Son of a gun." Some persons took Bell away. He was afraid Bell would do him some injury.

By Mr. Webb : It was after getting a summons from Bell that I took out this summons. The case against me was heard yesterday at the Small Debts Court, Bathurst, and Bell got a verdict. Defendant went in to see the marble man. He said something to me about the box that was around the marble man.

Mr. Isaacs : I object. We have nothing to do with the marble man ; that has been disposed of. (Laughter.)

Mr. Webb submitted that this was a case wherein the plaintiff asked his client to get sureties, and the first thing the magistrates had to inquire into was whether the threatening words were used, and in the second place us to whether plaintiff had any reasonable apprehension of injury from defendant.

The Bench allowed the evidence, Mr. Webb (sarcastically) : That was a petrified man ?

Mr. Isaacs : I object.

Mr. Webb: I will not press it, but he was a petrified man. (Laughter.)

Witness : I did not say he was a petrified man. Defendant said something to me about the letters 'G.S.' on the box. Those letters stand for my name.

Mr. Webb : Where did the box come from ?

Mr. Isaacs : I object. Now we are trying whether this is a gonuine box and a genuine petrified man.

Witness continued: Mr. Kearney wrote the letter to defendant demanding an apology, as a friend and not as a solicitor. I went to see Mr. Kearney next day, 21st May. I did not take out a summons then, as Bell had left town.

Defendant said, "By __, I will give you a black eye if you don't pay me my money."

Mr. Webb : Have you been to Cow Flat since ?

Witness : I did not go to the quarry since.

Mr. Webb : I hear you have been a military man ?

Witness : Yes. If any man asks me to fight I will take fight at any time, but I don't want to take the law into my own hands at all.

Mr. Webb : Have you not told someone since this affair took place that you had some powder and lead for Bell ?

Witness : No ; I never told anyone that.

By Mr. Webb : I have known Mr. Bell about ten months. During a portion of that time I lived in his house. I stayed in his house until about the end of January. Since then I have been staying at Croaker's old public house at Cow Flat. Bell took a column of marble from the quarry for me to Croaker's. On another occasion he (defendent) took up plaster-of-paris for hip. We were good friends until the 22nd of January. I know the defendant had a hard feeling against me for leaving his house. I do not think Mr. Bell was a dangerous man up to that time. Some eminent doctors in Sydney who examined the petrified man gave their opinions respecting it. On Friday last I gave instructions to my boy to have a block of marble from Cow Flat sent to Dr. McCarthy, one of the eminent scientists, who reported favourably on the petrified man.

Mr. Isaacs : That shows that Dr. McCarthy's instructions were bona fide. He was one of the eminent doctors who gave a favourable opinion of the petrified man. It had been asserted that this fossil was made from marble at Cow Flat. People said so, but of course people could say what they like.

Mr. Flanagan : You are not afraid of Bell ; you seem to be a stronger man than he.

Witness : I am afraid of him because I am a peaceful man and I want to respect the law. (Laughter.)

By Mr. Webb : I do not know if the petrified man was sold for £1000.

Mr. Webb : It was sold.

Witness : It was, I think. (Laughter).

W. Brydon gave corroborative evidence with reference to the language made use of by the defendant. Bell said to Sala "the marble man was made out of 16 cwt. of marble from Cow Flat. He (the witnes) took off most of the marble over the petrified man at Caleula. He never saw the petrified man in his quarry at Caleula. Edward Sala, son of the complainant, said he heard accused calling his father a -- -- fraud and a swindler. He did not put any tarpaulin over the petrified man at his father's request. A basin was carved out of the marble column by his father, and Bell had it in his possession now. The chips from the column which was defective were strewn out- side Croaker's public house. The report of Sub-Inspector Ford's with reference to a hole in the kitchen in front of the fire place was not true. His father used acids. The acids were sent to William Gilford, who wrote his father's correspondence. He knew a man named Hammond. Every word he stated in his report was false. A man named Field never assisted his father with loading the marble column at Cow Flat. The petrified man came from Caleula.

Mr. Parker said the magistrates were unanimous in giving their decision. They considered the charges was very frivolous, and thought it should never have been brought into Court. They would dismiss the case. Mr. Paul said it was disrespectful to bring such a frivolous case into Court. He hoped the magistrates would deal in a similar way with such cases in future as this one now before the Court, as their time could not be taken up with such trivial matters.

Mr. Isaacs : I did not advise the proceeding to be brought into court. If I had I would have advised that the case be brought under the Vagrant Act. I was only instructed in the case this morning.

Mr. Parker: That is what should have been done. Sala should have had the case dealt with at the time it happened, and not allow all this time to elapse. The defendant was allowed 21s professional costs and 25s witness' expenses.

The Sydney Fossil. — A few weeks ago Australia was startled and delighted by the report that a petrified figure, which might be regarded as a perfect specimen of primitive man, had been discovered in New South Wales. Further enquiry has unfortunately proved that the discovery is an unmitigated fraud. Everybody who has the interests of his country at heart ought to be sorry to learn that this is so. The one thing that was necessary to prove the full fitness of this country for inhabitation by white men was something to show that we could boast of antiquity. Egypt has its mummies and its pyramids, and is, besides, mentioned, with more or less credit to itself, in the Bible. Other countries have their petrified elks and mammoths of all kinds. Why should not Australia have something to compare with them ? This, it turns out, was the line of thought adopted by Mr. G. F. Sala, of Cow Flat— odious and unpoetical name! Mr. Sala, yielding to the popular aspiration, thought that fossils, as well as other things, should be procurable. He was a good Protectionist, and he accordingly made within the colony of New South Wales a figure of marble which might do duty as the fossil remnant of an antique personage. He sent it up to the city, where it deceived the very elect. His figure was a 'petrifaction,' it was a fossilized party, and, presumably, the living image of the people who inhabited this continent of Australia thousands of years before Botany Bay was an institution. Mr. Sala chuckled to himself whilst the wise men were examining his 'fossil.' He thought everything was all right, not knowing that Nemesis was after him. Nemesis took the shape of a policeman— she often does in these degenerate days. She found out, through this prosaic agency, that Mr. Sala had manufactured his fossil and that, to use common parlance, 'there was nothing in it.' All the theories which had been formed and which were about to be formed about this fossil crumble into dust. The truth, which, was hidden from the learned, was revealed unto the police man as the reward of vigilant observation, and the scientists of Sydney who professed their faith in the 'fossil' are now in Queer-street. The policeman concerned, who knows as little about petrifactions as a cow knows about the military manoeuvres on Monteficre Hill, has upset all their calculations and made hay with their theories. Can the ingenious Mr. Sala be punished for his action ? Is It nothing to befool the wise men of a nation, and to cheat a lot of citizens out of their reasonable expectations ? We say nothing about the moneys which individuals gave to inspect the 'marble man,' who is now proved to be all marble and no man. It is not fair to induce people to make fools of them selves. Mr. Sala is 'little better than one of the wicked.' He can be no relative of the famous journalist of the same name. But at least he has founded a claim to the regard of posterity— to a place of honour amongst the forgers of base coin. The proudest boast of the first Roman Emperor was that he had found Rome built of mud and that he had left it built of marble. Mr. Sala, when he is comparing his deeds with those of the Macphersons and the Pigotta, can at least claim that his forgery was in high-class material— that his lie was enshrined in marble.