Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1917-11-02
WILLIAM ONIONS, -. s,a
ARRESTED 500 ylMEs
Altar Reformation Ne Read Posms
to Court Magistrates In ~

London.
London. England.--A shabby group
stood In front OF q howell In the. ILL
favored East End the other day. They
were denizons OF the neighborhood.
That something was wrong was indi.
Gated by the pushed look on every
face. and when Q bobby" happened
along. he asked: -,
whats upY"
ITS Spring Onions" ono OF tho
group answered. He hasn't been
about for three days" ,f -,
So the bobby" sent for the Official
known as the guardian OF the poor,
and the guardian broke in the door.
There lay Spring Onions on the foor,
unconscious and dying. He breathed
his last before . physician could be
summoned.
And SO died q poet.
There was an inquest, at which the
coroner gathered enough information
to I'LL out report reading: Name.
William Onions; age, 81; cause Of
death senility." and q few other es-
sential but unimportant facts. such as
that 5-pound note. "a in gold and
some smaller pieces OF money were
found In the room. %Af
The proceedings were hurried thru,
but once they were halted long enough
for a nejghbor OF the old man to 'ex-
plain that he had found tackled TO the
door behind which Onions lay dying
the following verse. under caption of
Every Man His Own Policeman
Keep out OF my room. or tits my belief,
At the Thames police court you'll
come to grief.
Herein Is my Temple, wherein ] oft
pray. -
Keep me from temptation and its ae-
cursed way;
Ny Goo and my father. amen say.
Now. octopuses. with hearts of stone.
Leave me and my belongings alone.
II was Spring Onions last poem"
aud o niggardly IN fame II IL the only
one preserved to posterity. But It was
only one OF hundreds which the East
End poet wrote.
More than three score and ten
years ago Q boy In the Same East End
made his way to the bar In low pub.
lie house and called for gin. When
he went out 1t was with q lxrching,
staggering gait. The boy was William
Onions and at g years old he was
drunk. From that time on. for more
than half century. he never knew
what II was to be sober.
Usually he was amiable and harm.
less, but once In q while he would be-
come SO boisterous as to disturb the
peace or SO infiamed by bad liquor
that he endangered the safety OF other
residents Of the East End. and then
a policeman would take him in tow
and put him In jail, to sober up and
10 appear In police court when he
achieved that state. Spring" Onions.
as by this time he always was called,
became q notorious character.
In the old records OF the London po-
lice courts the name Of William
Onions 10 written more than 500 times.
No other man In the United Kingdom
ever held such m unenviable. record.
Twenty years ago the Church Army,
an organization like General Booths
and sanctioned and supported by the
dignifed state church, had delegated
to 1t the Christy task of going into
the highways and byways with the
message OF salvation. And the high
ways and byways II found Spring
Onions, and strange to say. Spring
Onions welcomed its message. An old
mas before his time. he was lifted out
Of the gutter and set on his feet. and
his eyes were fixed on the goal OF re-
formation. -sf
Spring Onions fought his fight and
he never took another drink.
But the police court habit was
strong. He missed the greeting OF the
magistrate. Here We are again." and
the voice of the bailifi, William
Onions, answer to the charge against
you"
There we're no charges. So Spring
Onions figured out way by which he
could keep In touch with the court
officials and at the same time adver.
tise his regeneration.
Once every month he appeared in
police court and, gaining the recog.
milton Of the magistrate, would read
an original poem to his honor. The
poems generally dealt with the evils
Of strong drink and with the merits
Of sober living. Now and then they
limited at the sorrow of q wasted life.
but oftensr II was the spirit of Opt.
mism which inspired them.
When Magistrate Meade presided
over the Thames police court Spring
Onions once went before him and
read some verses. which began:
"Oh. Mr. Meade. sir.
Dash Il stow it"
But that In all the court attaches
can recall. aitho the two lines are
quoted. On occasion. to this day.
When King Christian TX. Of Den
mark died In 1908. Spring Onions sent
q poem OF sympathy to Queen Alex
..Ara g. ~ kno~l -har> ~ Al N,