The Portland daily press., 1884-10-11
The dude" Lawsuit.
Some Very Poor Definitions of the Word
Dude' IN a Montreal COurt-The Case
of Young Hamilton Dismissed.
Respectfully submitted,
j. HERBERT SHEDD.
Montreal HeraldN

(1OnJreal Herald.)
The case Of Allan Hamilton against George
Bricault for alleged insult, came up in the
recorders court Thursday morning. A large
posse OF court house officials helped to swell
the already large crowd which was gathered
In the court room. The efforts of the court
appeared to be the discovery of what dude
is. The young man named Allan Hamil-
ton, who was qualified by that name, is tall,
pale and elegant looking, and possesses more
muscle than his insulters cared to encounter.
only occasion that offensive words bad been
used to him in the same locality by the same
pers on. 1t appears that several times as Mr..
Hamilton was proceeding to his office by the
way of st. Gabriel street, insulting language
had been used by him opposite the provin-
cial government buildings. On one occa-
sion the words, 81 wonder if the court house
dudes are different from the others,'' and
again s'There is the dude" and again ''There
goes the ID English SWELL" On the day
in question the man he alluded to called
out rudely, II am a dude" Ia the evening
about five o'clock he was insulted again by
the same persons. Joseph T. Either and two
others, one of whom he believed to be the
prisoner, were on the sidewalk, and called
out, "Fhere is the dude" He turned and
walked up to the group, but they ran into
the office. Following them up he entered
the office, where he encountered Either.
who said that it was not he, but put the
blame on one of the others. Hamilton then
asked Mr.. Desnoyers what could be done,
who sent Deputy High Constable Rosson-
cite back with him. Either was brought to
the police court, and said that Bricault was
the man, giving his name and address.
On being questioned witness said that he
could not swear that Bricault was the one
who used the offensive words, but he was
positive that he was one of the group. He
nas never spoken to any of them before, and
they had no reason TO insult him. The rea-
son he supposed they called him dade was
because ne wore whip helmet, which he
presumed they objected to. Witness was
asked what dude was. He said duGe
was vulgarly overdressed man, who tries
to ape his betIers, and walked in an absurd
manner, holding his arms in a peculiar
style.
Joseph Either was then put in the box,
aud swore positively that Bricaut was not
there at five O'Clock next day, hat at three
O'Clock he was sitting in the window in
| stead of standing on the sidewalk.
Mr. Doucet, clerk in the crown office,
said in his estimation tue word dude was
one of contempt.
Mr. George Stephens, tailor, said that he
had acted us Hamilton's tailor for some
time, and that he was not loud, but only
dressed as an English gentleman.
Mr. Frederick ColsOn of the Gazette was
put in the box and asked his idea of the
meaning of the word dude. He said that
dude was man who paid TOO much atten-
ton to his dress, and was an object of con-
tempt. A dude was equivalent to what il
England would be called masher. On be-
ing asked whether he considered the COM
plainant dude, he declined to answer, and
asked his honor If 1t was a fair question.
HIS honor said that it lay with him to an
sWer or not.
Mr.. Cusson, witness for the defence, said
that Either had not hidden behind the coun-
ter He also admitted that Bricault had
called Hamilton a dude.
HIS honor in pronouncing sentence, Isaid
that there was no doubt that they had in
tentionally insulted Mr.. Hamilton, but as
they were not on the sidewalk it could not
be considered an offence. He would there
fore dismiss the case.