Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1879-08-12
He was an alderman, a grocer with {

blameless conscience, and he feared no
man. Feeling that his character for YER
acity and common sense was at stake he
resolved to give his evidence against the
wife of Lord Keynsole's cousin with no
more hesitation than if she were the
commonest jail-bird. s2N R9ssn3
From that date, however, things be-
gan to go wrong somehow with Mr..
Pottridge. 1t seemed as though his long
luck had forsaken him. On the morrow
ofhis adventure in London, Mr., Chuckle-
town, who was Lord Keynsole's legal
adviser, passed him in the street with
out nodding, and later in the day Mrs.
G. sent stiff note begging that Mr.. Pot
fridge would send in his bill, and inti-
mating that she would thenceforth pur-
chase her groceries at another house.
Now the Chuckleworths had always
been excellent customers of Mr.. Pot
fridge. ..-Fe 49,.
This was bad enough, but worse was
to follow. Next day some inspectors OF
weights and measures arrived at the
alderman's shop and found piece of
lard sticking under his scales. They
declared they should make a report Of
the fact. Scarcely had they gone, leav-
ing the grocer soeechless with confusion,
than two well-dressed strangers entered
and bought some tea, brown sugar,
cocoa, pepper and a pot of mustard !;
after which they stated that they were
public analysts, who were going to ex-
anime the quality of these goods. They
examined them, in truth, SO fast that
two days later Mr.. Pottridge received a
summons to answer a charge of putting
birch twigs in his tea, sand in his sugar,
turmeric in his mustard, clay in his
cocoa, etc. Mr.. Pottridge shrugged his
shoulders at first, taking it for granted
that the charge would be dismissed by
his brother magistrates, Messrs. Dott,
Bungs and company; but before the case
came on for hearing it fortuitously tran
spired that Mr.. Pottridge had been up
to London interviewing Lord Beacons-
field for the purposes we know, and this
made the other aldermen furious. Mr..
Bungs, the brewer, was particularly
angry, and declared that Pottridge was
a traitor, lnsomuch as the poor grocer,
instead of having a friendly bench to
Judge him, found very stern one
g. I am sorry for you, Mr.. Pottridge,n
said Mr.. Dott, who sat as chairman,
but men in your position should set an
example. You are fined EGO on each
count, with costs; total, fI2O."
Ill-starred Pottridge! He left the
court politically and socially done for,
for he could no longer hope to be re-
elected mayor nor to marry Miss Dott
He should have, moreover, to resign his
aldermanship, and his personal charae-
ter, as well as that of his tea, sugar and
mustard, was ruined.
So ruined was Mr.. Pottridge that
when he went to London to give evil
dence against Mrs. Pounceforth- -Keane
the irstquestion asked him by the coun-
sci for the defense-a clustering Old
Bailey barrister-was, II believe YOU
have just been convicted Of selling
adulterated goods and at false weight?''
LET me explain" stammered poor
Pottridge.
mo explanations. sir. Give me a
plain answer, yes or nol'
Yes, them
"Well, then, if you are liable to make
mistakes about your weights, you may
err in other things"
Perhaps" replied the grocer, des-
perately. g / may have been mistaken in
thinking this lady was thief | have
had enough of bother about the bust
ness"
.'You ought to be ashamed of your
harshly, and the wretched grocer hob
bled out of the witness-box feeling very
mean indeed. After this confession Of
possible error on the part of the chief
witness the case against Mrs. Pounce-
forth-Keane was, of course, dismissed,
and Mr.. Pottridge slunk out of court
with magisterial reprimand ringing in
his ears. To conclude this little story
one has Only tO add thatswhen TT r ri
the Prince of Wales graciously went to
open the baths at Scarborough it was
Mr.. Bungs who was mayor and eventu-
ally got knighted, while Mr. Pottridge
was not even invited to the dinner at the
town hall, whereof he paid his share
like the other rate payers
He is no longer regarded as lucky
man.-LonClon Truth