Mornings at Bow Street: A Selection of the Most Humorous and Entertaining Reports which Have Appeared in the 'Morning Herald'Wight, J. (John)
General
Mornings at Bow Street: A Selection of the Most Humorous and Entertaining Reports which Have Appeared in the 'Morning Herald'
Wight, J. (John)
Crime -- England -- London
It appeared that on Saturday night Mr. Smith went to one of the Theatres;
and after the Theatre was closed, he went to the Rainbow to sup; and,
after the supper was over, he returned through Temple-bar, towards his
home in the West, arm in arm with a friend; and that friend was smoking a
cigar. In this way they walked along very comfortably--"by none offended,
and offending none"--quietly discussing the beauty of the night, and the
merits of the players, and the supper, and the wine, and the waiters at
the Rainbow, and every thing of that sort, until, just as they emerged
from beneath the arch-way of Temple-bar, Miss Charlotte Long, in passing,
squeezed the dexter hand of his smoking friend. Now, whether it was that
his smoking friend had "a hydrophobia" of ladies in general, or whether he
_smoked_ Miss Charlotte Long's _character_ in particular, Mr. Smith could
not say; but so it was, that Miss Charlotte Long no sooner squeezed his
smoking friend's hand, than his smoking friend _smoked_ Miss Charlotte
Long's _countenance_, by puffing a cloud from his cigar at it. Mr. Smith
could not, in justice, be held responsible for his friend's want of
gallantry; but nevertheless Miss Charlotte Long instantly gave Mr. Smith
such a smack on his nice round blooming cheek, that all the avenues of the
Temple echoed to the blow; and he, fearing the smack would be repeated
pushed her from him, and she lost her balance. "And this is the whole
truth of the matter," quoth Mr. Smith.
Miss Charlotte Long, on the other hand, declared that she never touched
the filthy fist of the smoker--but that as she was quietly walking along,
he rudely puffed the smoke in her face--a thing which she could not
a-bear--and then Mr. Smith knocked her down as flat as possible--like a
brute as he was.
The worthy magistrate having listened to these counter-statements with
great patience, expressed a wish to see the smoker, and that gentleman
immediately came forward; but unfortunately _his_ recollection of the
affair had entirely evaporated with the fumes of his own cigar; and
eventually the double charge was dismissed, upon each party paying their
own fees; the magistrate admonishing Mr. Smith to keep better hours in
future, if he valued either his morals or his complexion.
THE WEDDING RING.
Mrs. Catherine Casey was charged with having purloined Mrs. Judith
O'Leary's wedding ring.
The ladies are both natives of "the Emerald gem of the western world"--the
green land of shamrocks and shilelaghs. They came to this country together
in the days of their youth; they toiled together year after year in the
sunny harvest fields; they got comfortable husbands to them; they grew
old together; they ate, they drank, they smoked together; they were
gossips--"sworn gossips and friends." "But what is friendship but a name!"
saith the poet.--Let Mrs. Judith O'Leary tell her own tale.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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