The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1879-10-16


A magistrate himself, he knew that
shifts are often made to withdraw we'll
connected offenders from justice, and,
SO far as he was concerned, he would
lave cared little had an appeal been
made to him, dd ffaisefteordtcnt, to /
acknowledge that he had, Perhaps; beeh
mistaken Id fancying that he saw Mrs.
PIX. pocket some lace and. .handker-
chiefs. But Mr.. Pottridge could not
bear to be pooh-poohed at or threatened
with unpleasant consequences if he did
his duty: He was an Alderman, gro
Ger with a blameless conscience, and he
feared no man. Feeling that hts char
actet for veracity and common sense
was at stake, he resolved to give bis ets
idence against the wife 6f Lord Keyii-
soies cousin with no more hesitation
than if she were the commonest jail
bird.
From that date, however, things be-
gan to go wrong somehow with Mr.. Pot
fridge. 1t seemed as though his long
luck had forsaken him. On tre NOR
row of his adventure in London, Mr..
Chucklewurth, the principal solicitor
of the town, who was Lord keynsele's
legal adviser, passed him In the street
without nodding, and later ih the day
Mrs. G. sent stiff hote, begging that Mr..
Pottridge would send In his bill, and
intimating that she would henceforth
purchase her groceries at another house.
Now, the Chuckleworths had always
been excellent customers of Mr.. Pott
ridge.
This was bad enough, but worse was
to follow. Ncxt day some inspectors
of weights and measures arrived at the
Alderman's shop and found a piece OF
lard sticking under his scales, They
declared they should make report Of
the fact. Scarcely had they gone, leav-
ing the grocer speechless with confu-,
sion, than two well-dressed strangers
entered and bought some tea, brown
sugar, cocoa, pepper and a pot of mus
tard; after which they stated that they
were public analysts, who were going to
examine the quality of these goods.
They examined them, in truth, 30 fast,
that two days later Mr.. Pottridge re-
ceived summons to answer q charge
of putting birch twigs in his tea, sand
in his sugar, tdrmeric In his mustard,
clay in his cocoa, etc. Mr.. Pottridge
shrugged his shoulders at first, taking
it for granted shat the charge would pe
dismissed by his brother magistrates,
Messrs. Dott, Bungs & Co., but before
the case came on for hearing it fortuit-
ously transpired that Mr. Pottridge had
been up to London interviewing Lord
Beaconsheld for the purposes we know,
and this made the other Aldermen furi-
GUS. Mr.. Bungs, the brewer, was par
ticularly angry, and declared that Pott-
ridge was traitor, insomuch as the
poor grocer, instead of having friend
ly bench to Judge him, found a very
stern one.
II am sorry for you, Mr.. Pottridge,
said Mr.. Dott, who sat as Chairman,
but men in your position should set
an example. Yousare fined e20 on each
count, with costs. Total, s12O."
Ill-starred Pottridge! he left the court
politically done for, for he could no
longer hope to be reelected Mayor,
nor to marry Miss Dott. He should
have, moreover, to resign his Alderman
ship, and his personal character, as well
as that of his tea. sugar and mustard,
was ruined.
So ruined was Mr.. Pottr1dge that
when he went to London to give evi-
dence against Mrs. Pounceforth-K Keane,
the first question asked him by the
council for the defense-a clustering
| Old Bailey barrister-was, Il believe
you have Just been convicted of selling
adulterated goods and at false weight p
"Let me explain" stammered poor
Pottridge.
3No explanations, sir. Give me
plain answer, yes or nop
Yes, then"
We'll, then, if you are liable to make
mistakes about your weights, you may
err in other things
7sA" Perhaps" replied the grocer, des-
perately, l may have been mistaken in
thinking this lady was a thief. I have
had enough bother about the business
"You ought to be ashamed of your
fippant conduct, sir" cried the counsel
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
Pounceforth-Keane was, of course, dis.
missed, and Mr.. Pottridge skunk out ol
court with magisterial reprimand ring
ing in his ears. To conclude this little
story, one has only to add that when
Fl. r. 81. the Prince of Wales gracious
ly went to open the baths at Smallbor
ough it was Mr.. Bungs who was Mayor
and eventually got Knighted, while Mr.
Pottridge was not even invited to the
dinner at the Town Hall, whereof ht
paid his share like the other rate
payers.
He is no longer regarded as lucky
man.
The Compass.