(A look at some of the stories that made the news ‘back-in-the-day’ with CLIFFORD STANLEY)
‘I forgive 70 times seven’
A PARSON, who is also a lawyer, did not go to Court yesterday morning to give evidence against three people who stole from his garden, and so Magistrate Ivan Churaman struck out the case and dismissed the defendants for want of prosecution. The Parson, Rev. Robert Adams, said afterwards: “I preach to forgive. I forgive 70 times 7.”
Before the court were Basdeo, a gardener, his wife, Leila Persaud, and Bona, a farmer.
The Police alleged that they stole Mr. Adams’ tomatoes, lettuce, celery, turnips and pepper from his kitchen garden.
The crops were worth $300.
The Magistrate, when the case was called, said Mr. Adams would not be coming to court to give evidence and struck out the case.
Interviewed afterwards why he did not attend Court to testify, Mr. Adams, who only this week became a registered travelling preacher of the A.M.E. Zion Church, said:
“I am preaching to forgive.
“When Jesus was asked by Peter: ‘Shall I forgive seven times?’ Jesus answered: ‘No, but 70 times seven.’”
Mr. Adams added: “If I preach something, I must live by it.”
(Guiana Graphic: March 23, 1963)
Husband loses wife through drink
EILEEN Bemaul, a seamstress of Albuoystown, got a decree nisi over the weekend because her husband, after regularly drinking out his salary — $10 a week — deserted her.
The wife told Sir Joseph Luckhoo in the divorce court:
“We were married in 1951, but shortly after, my husband began drinking heavily. He drank out his whole salary of $10.67 a week, and never gave me any money.”
Her husband, Joseph Bemaul, a labourer, she said, went home at nights “high as a kite,” and when she asked for money, he would beat her.
Then in April 1954, he left the matrimonial home, telling her: “I cannot pay the rent.”
The wife said she begged him to provide a home away from the in-laws, but he told her: “I cannot provide a home for myself. Live the best way you can.”
(Guiana Graphic: January 2, 1963)
Cpl. is new Cadet Officer
CORPORAL Lloyd Barker, 32, has been appointed a Cadet Officer in the B.G. Police Force by the Police Service Commission.
The appointment became effective from January1, 1963.
Cadet Officer Barker joined the Force on August 15, 1951, and was promoted to Corporal on January 1, 1958.
He will attend a Non-Gazetted Officer‘s Course at the Police College, Hendon, in the United Kingdom.
Cadet Officer Barker came first in the promotion examinations from Constables to Corporals, which was introduced in the Force in 1957.
He was also commended and given an award by a former Commissioner of Police, Donald Matheson, for work done during the visit to B.G. in 1958 of Princess Margaret.
(Guiana Graphic: February 14, 1963)
CID man to bring back $41 fraud accused
DETECTIVE Inspector Bacchus will leave the country tomorrow morning to bring back from Bermuda an ex-civil servant who is wanted by the Police in connection with an alleged $41 fraud.
Cecil Louis Parker, it is alleged, committed the offence while he was carrying out the duties of an electoral registrar in the Werk-en-Rust Constituency during the 1962 General Elections.
Parker left the country on May 23 last year, travelling on a Bermuda passport.
The CID sleuth will be accompanied by Mr. Edgar Jack, Electoral Officer.
(Guiana Graphic: February 19, 1963)
Dad to pay for son’s gambling
THE YOUNG father of a 15-year-old son was ordered on Friday by a magistrate to pay $12.50 or serve one month’s imprisonment  after his son had been found guilty on a charge of gambling with cards.
The boy will also come up for sentence by Magistrate Horace Mitchell at the Providence Court for being found guilty the same day of fowl stealing.
The court was told that the youth, on February 14, was found gambling at the La Penitence sideline.
Later the same day, he stole a fowl, valued $6, and sold it to a cake-shop proprietor for $1.
(Guiana Graphic: March 3, 1963)
Boy falls from tree
LENNOX Abrams, a 14-year-old schoolboy of Norton Street, Wortmanville, suffered  injuries to his back when he fell some 15 feet from a star-apple tree yesterday.
Lennox is now a patient at the Georgetown Hospital.
(Guiana Graphic: February 25, 1963)
On the way out, unless…
THE ARAPAIMA, B.G’s giant fish — one of the largest freshwater fishes in the world — is threatened with extinction.
This warning has come from the museum director, Mr. Mohammad Hanif.
The arapaima, which inhabits the Rupununi, is being ruthlessly caught and sold across the Brazilian border, mostly by Amerindians.
A recent survey in the Rupununi disclosed that this fish, which, when full grown, weighs hundreds of pounds, is gradually becoming scarce.
And it is felt that unless something is done early, B.G will have lost a very valuable species.
(Guiana Graphic: March 10, 1963)
Stevedores caught with brassieres fined $50
MAGISTRATE Dhan Jhappan yesterday warned stevedores that he would send them to prison for unlawful possession in future.
He said that they had no right to steal, as they received good wages.
The Magistrate issued the warning before imposing a fine of $50 on Brentnol Baird, who had pleaded guilty to unlawful possession.
Baird was held up on the waterfront by a Constable who saw him looking bulky about the waist.
Two brassieres were found in his possession when he was searched.
(Guiana Graphic: March 20, 1963)
(Clifford Stanley can be reached to discuss any of the foregoing articles at cliffantony@gmail.com or by telephone: 657-2043)