Mornings at Bow Street — Page 22-34

A WATCHMAN'S WALTZ.

Two young men--the one a deputy drover, and the other an operative boot-maker--were charged by a watchman with having "bother'd him on his _bate_," and refused to "go along off of it when he _tould_ 'em."

He was asked to describe the nature of the _bother_; and he replied, that they came rambling up to him _intosticatedly_, and _ax'd_ him--"Charley, where am the _waits_?"

[10] "I don't know," says I--"get along out of it;

and don't be after axing about such nonsense," says I. "We won't," says they--"we'll wait for the _waits_ and have a dance, for we've nothing better to do--without we go and break open a house!"

says they to me.

"Fait," says I, "but ye'd better be off to the beds of ye, out of the _kould_," says I; "and with that they got _hould_ of me, and twirled me about and about for a bit of a _waultz_, as they called it.

So then I twirled my rattle, and they twirled me, and more watchmen came twirling into it--that's the waltz: and we twirled and twirled, all in a bunch together, till at last we managed to twirl them into the door of the watch-house; and here they are, your honour, to answer for that same."

The defendants were asked what they had to say for themselves, and the drover undertook to be spokesman:-- "Your worships, last night I lost two fat _ship_ (sheep), and I _goz_ me over the water to see for 'em, and couldn't find 'em, not nowhere, your worships.

'Dang the _ship_,' says I, '_vauts_ the use of _vaulking_ my legs off arter 'em, I'll get a drop o' summat vaum and comfortable; so I goz me into a public-house, and calls for a pint o' beer with the chill off; and the beer, and the wexing about the _ship_, made me desperate hungry; and so I _vaulks_ myself to a slap-bang shop, for half-a-pound of beef; and just as I'd got it up, to pop in the first bit, a woman, _vaut_ I nows nothin' on, comes behind me, and vips it off the fork.

--'Hallo!

missis,' says I, 'don't you come that 'ere agen.'

"-- Here his narrative was broken off by the magistrate desiring him to come to the watchman's charge at once; and he cut short his story by showing his wrist, marked with five little wounds, all a-row; which wounds, he said, were inflicted by the teeth of the lady who wanted his beef, and that he "got _vell vhopp'd_ into the bargain by some of her chaps."

Then the loss of his sheep, the bite of the lady, and "the _vhopping_ of the chaps," made him "desperate out of humour," and meeting with his old friend the boot-closer, they went and got tipsy together, and, in that state, they thought to have a bit of fun with the watchman; but he was "sich a sulky chap," that he shut them up for it.

The magistrate told them to pay their fees, and go home, and mix a little wisdom with their merriment in future.

A LITTLE BIT OF A CAUTION.

Patrick Saul, a good-humoured looking Irishman, was charged with maliciously throwing a boy into a deep well, with intent to do him some grievous bodily harm.

Robert Hemmet, the boy alluded to, was crossing a field at Walham-green, when he met the prisoner, who asked him to fetch him half-a-pint of porter, and, before he could reply, took him up in his arms, and threw him into a well, in which there was seven feet depth of water.

Having thrown him in, he walked leisurely away, and had he not been fortunate enough at his first rising to catch hold of the curb of the well, he must certainly have been drowned.

Honest Patrick said he had no intention of injuring the boy; and he denied that he walked away from the well after having thrown him into it.

"I only wanted to give him a dip, your honour, by way of a _little bit of a caution_; _bekase_ he is always _tazing_ me about my country and my languages, _bekase_ I happens to be an Irishman, your honour; and, _plase_ your honour, I never meets him not at no time, which is every hour in the days of every week almost, but he comes after me with a 'Hurrah, Pat!

which way does the bull run now?'

saving your honour's presence; and I can't get any _pace_ for him at all, your honour."

The lad denied having insulted him in any way; but the magistrate did not seem to give much credit to this denial.

He, however, asked the prisoner how he could think of adopting such a strangely violent mode of punishing the boy, as throwing him into the water.

"Why, _plase_ your honour, I larned a little bit of the law in my own country," replied honest Patrick, "and I understand thereby that I'd no right to take the law into my own hands, by _bating_ him with a stick, so I dipp'd him in the water instead."

The magistrate laughed at this curious distinction in Patrick Saul's Irish law; and, after some further investigation, he was ordered to find bail for the _assault_ only.

The magistrate observed this was a very serious charge, and told the prisoner he ought to be very thankful he was not standing at that bar on a charge of murder.

DUNNING EXTRAORDINARY.

Mr. Thomas Kingston, a military officer on the half-pay list, appeared in custody to answer the complaint of Mrs. Bridget Bull.

Mrs. Bridget Bull was an old lady of respectable appearance, very gentle in manners, and rather infirm.

She deposed that the defendant, Mr. Kingston, was indebted to her husband the sum of four pounds six shillings and ninepence halfpenny, for goods sold and delivered; which debt he neglected to discharge, and thereby caused her husband and herself much trouble and inconvenience.

That on Wednesday last, she, by desire of her husband, waited upon defendant with an earnest request that he would settle the account forthwith.

Defendant said it was not convenient for him so to do, and she therefore took upon herself to remonstrate with him on the impossibility of their waiting any longer; whereupon he pushed her out of his room with such violence, that she fell down and bruised her arms and back shockingly.

--In proof of the violence, she exhibited her arms to the magistrate, and doubtless they were bruised shockingly enough.

Mr. Kingston, "a goodly portly man, of a cheerful look, a pleasing eye, and a most noble carriage--and, as we think, his age some fifty--or, by'r Lady, inclining to three-score," entered upon his defence with an impassioned eloquence that would have done credit even to a Phillips.

He spoke of the nature of his income making it impossible for him to pay but at stated periods; and of the remorseless rapacity of tradesmen.

He disclaimed all intention of hurting Mrs. Bull, expressed his pity for her bruises, and contended that what he had done he did in his own personal defence.

After having expatiated on all these matters for some time, he, at the earnest request of the magistrate, descended to a particular answer to the charge at issue.

In the first place, he said Mr. Bull came, in the morning, urging payment in no very gentle terms.

He promised him payment as soon as he should receive money, and with that promise he departed apparently satisfied.

In less than an hour, however, just as he had dressed, and was leaving home in search of money, Mrs. Bull, with bill in hand, presented herself before the door of the house, and positively forbade his egress.

He requested her to get out of his way, and let him pass about his lawful business; but the more he requested, the more she refused.

She declared she would never lose sight of him till he paid her the money, and she dared him to send for a constable to remove her.

Then he told her he should retire to his own private apartment: and he warned her of the impropriety and unconstitutionality of following him thither, as he should consider it as his "castle," agreeably to the good old English adage, for such cases made and provided.

She vowed she would follow him whithersoever he went, let the consequences be what they might.

Nevertheless, he did not believe she would dare to put this threat in execution, and therefore he commenced a retreat towards his own private apartment; and, to his great astonishment, she followed him step by step, continually vociferating--"Pay me my bill!

Pay me my bill!"

Having reached the first landing of the stairs, he attempted a parley, in the hope of convincing her of the impossibility of his paying, without money to pay with; but to all he said, she only answered--"Pay me my bill!"

He retreated farther up the stairs, remonstrating as he went, and she still following with the hateful cry of "Pay me my bill!"

even into the sacred retreat of his own private apartment.

What was to be done?

Money he had none, at that moment--he was not ashamed to confess it.

He called a council of war in his own mind, determined upon a system of operation, and quietly, but firmly, addressing Mrs. Bull, he said, "Mrs. Bull--you come here to seek money; I have none to give you--This room is my castle, and if you do not depart _instanter_, I shall be under the unpleasant necessity of compelling you."

Having so said he advanced towards her, for the purpose of gently ejecting her from the apartment, but she was too quick for him; she eluded his grasp, and seizing him by the _under-lip_, led him by it in triumph round the room!

What could be more annoying than this?

To be led about by a violent old woman, holding by his stretched-out and bleeding under-lip!

The magistrate admitted that it was a very awkward situation.

Mr. Kingston continued.

--Under the circumstances, he called out, as well as he could, for help; she cried out also--but it was the old inveterate cry of "Pay me my bill!"

At this moment a noise of people approaching was heard, and she relinquished her hold upon his lip.

He went to the door, and saw it was Mr. Bull, and a whole posse of his servants and neighbours, coming to the assistance of the lady; and seeing this, he resolutely seized her by the shoulders, put her out of the room, and locked the door before the great body of the enemy could reach it.

This was the whole head and front of his offending.

If the lady fell and hurt herself in consequence of his ejecting her, he was sorry for it; but she had brought it upon herself by her own misconduct.

Finally, he submitted to the magistrate that he was justified in what he had done, inasmuch as the lady was a trespasser on his premises, and he had taken the only means in his power of removing the _nuisance_.

The magistrate held that the means he had used were improper.

If, when she insisted upon remaining in his house, he had sent for a constable to remove her, he would have done right.

On the contrary, he had taken the law into his own hands, and must therefore find bail to answer the assault at the Quarter Sessions.

STREET ETIQUETTE.

This was a proceeding by warrant upon a matter of assault and battery, alleged to have been perpetrated upon the person of a very nice young attorney, Mr. William Henry Squibb, by John Bloomer, a youthful and golden-haired grower of cauliflowers and capsicums, in a pleasant village on the banks of the Thames.

Mr. William Henry Squibb deposed, that on the 22nd of March, between the hours of eight and nine o'clock in the evening, he, the said William Henry, was passing through Leicester-square, in the parish of St. Anne, Soho, and in the county of Middlesex, in perfect good-humour with all men.

That as he (the said William Henry) was so walking, in manner aforesaid, and having a new brown silk umbrella on his shoulder, firelockwise, he was aware of the defendant John Bloomer coming, in an opposite direction, in company with two feminine persons, commonly called, "ladies of easy virtue" by the polite--"blowens" by the vulgar--and "courtesans" by the classically fastidious--he, the said John, having one of the said courtesans on either arm, and thereby monopolising at least two-thirds of the pavement.

That he, the said William Henry, without having any or the slightest intention of offending the said John, regarded the aforesaid ladies of easy virtue with a _kind of smile_; whereupon the said John, being of irascible and pugnacious temperament, did then and there tell the said William Henry that he resembled an _index post_, with his umbrella over his shoulder, and that if he did not get out of his way, he would twist him up into a figure of 8!

That the said William Henry, though he had no objection to be denominated an _index_, simply, yet he could not bear to have the appellation _post_ applied to him; especially when coupled with the threat of distorting his person so shockingly as to produce the figure of 8; and considering the aforesaid appellation and threat as calculated and intended to excite a breach of the peace, he did forthwith lay hands on the coat collar of the said John and call loudly for the watch, in order that the said John might be conveyed to durance as a daringly dangerously disorderly sort of personage; but that the said John, without waiting the arrival of the watchmen, did instantaneously let fly a right-handed, point-blank belly-go-fister into the bread-basket[11] of the said William Henry--thereby depriving him of his wind, and convincing him that he had formed a right opinion of the dangerous qualities of the said John.

This was the substance of the evidence; and it farther appeared, by the conversations which ensued, that Mr. William Henry Squibb not only lost his _wind_, but his umbrella also, by the violence of the stomachic concussion above mentioned; but that nevertheless a parley ensued, which ended in Mr. John Bloomer going voluntarily to the watch-house; there, the night constable refusing to interfere, cards of address were interchanged;

that, on the following morning, and for several days thereafter, sundry Chalk Farm-_ish_ messages passed and repassed between the parties: that their gunpowder propensities, however, gradually and mutually evaporated;

and, in conclusion, Mr. William Henry Squibb "determined to apply to the laws of his country, for redress."

Mr. John Bloomer began his defence by informing the magistrate, that it was an understood thing--a sort of _street etiquette_ observed by all well-bred people--that when one gentleman happened to be in company with ladies of a certain description, no other gentleman should at all interfere in the business; either by "casting tender regards" upon the said ladies, or otherwise.

This general understanding the complainant had grossly violated, by looking very significantly towards the whole party;

and he, therefore, very properly, as he thought, applied the term "_index-post_" to him and his shouldered umbrella; but complainant took the term so to heart that he seized him by the collar, and then he certainly did strike him something in the manner he had described; and he would do so again under similar circumstances, let the consequences be what they might.

He would not be insulted, he said, by any man, or attorney either.

Mr. William Henry Squibb now drew forth a large bundle of letters (supposed to be the warlike epistles above-mentioned) and was preparing himself to go more fully into his case, when the magistrate desired him to reserve his _documents_ for the sessions, for he really had no more time to _waste_ upon the matter; and having so said, he ordered the defendant to find bail.

In less than ten minutes, however, the parties again presented themselves before the bench, and said they had agreed to shake hands and say no more about it; upon which his worship observed, that he wished with all his heart they had thought of that mode of settling the matter an hour sooner.