Now! Then! Tom Palliser, a Kilvington drunk, denies to a York court that a half crown received from Col. Dawnay, Conservative candidate for Thirsk, was an electoral bribe

30 June 1880: Tom Palliser, a Kilvington drunk, denies to a York court that a half crown received from Col. Dawnay, Conservative candidate for Thirsk, was an electoral bribe

William Allison. 1920. “My Kingdom for a Horse!”. New York: E.P. Dutton and Company. Get it:

Excerpt

The most amusing incident of all, however, was the examination of our old Kilvington factotum, Tom Palliser, to whose long career of drunkenness I have already called attention. Never in his life had he dreamed of voting other than blue, and, being the oldest inhabitant, he had been asked, when Colonel Dawnay came to canvass at Kilvington, to show the party round to the various voters. He was given half-a-crown for his trouble, and it was urged that this was a bribe. He arrived in the witness-box in a semi-insolent state of intoxication, and made defiant answers to questions about who had canvassed him. Then, to quote from the report which I have before me:

Justice Denman: “You have recollected several that you said you could not remember at first. Tell us all. You are in considerable peril of being sent to prison.”
“Indeed, sir!”
“Yes; you are.”

Then came a long series of questions about the half-crown, and presently Mr Atherley Jones, for the petitioner, asked:

“Where did you get drunk?”
“In the town. The same places that others get drunk. I get drunk whenever I have the chance.”
Justice Denman: “You need not make yourself out a greater blackguard than you are.”
“I am not a blackguard, sir.”

The above is all from the printed report, but I remember most clearly that Mr Justice Denman pursued his theme, and said: “Yes, you are; a great blackguard, by your own admission.” To which Tom Palliser responded: “Why, mebbe aboot that!”

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations

Comment

The date is established by the article which appears to have been Allison’s verbatim source (Leeds Mercury 1880/07/01).

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Original

The most amusing incident of all, however, was the examination of our old Kilvington factotum, Tom Palliser, to whose long career of drunkenness I have already called attention. Never in his life had he dreamed of voting other than blue, and, being the oldest inhabitant, he had been asked, when Colonel Dawnay came to canvass at Kilvington, to show the party round to the various voters. He was given half-a-crown for his trouble, and it was urged that this was a bribe. He had gone away after the election to near Huddersfield, where he had a married daughter, and the contention was that he had been sent there to keep out of the way. Anyhow, he was served with a witness summons and given one pound conduct money. He arrived in the witness-box in a semi-insolent state of intoxication, and made defiant answers to questions about who had canvassed him. Then, to quote from the report which I have before me:

Justice Denman: “You have recollected several that you said you could not remember at first. Tell us all. You are in considerable peril of being sent to prison.”
“Indeed, sir!”
“Yes; you are.”

Then came a long series of questions about the half-crown, and presently Mr Atherley Jones, for the petitioner, asked:

“Where did you get drunk?”
“In the town. The same places that others get drunk. I get drunk whenever I have the chance.”
Justice Denman: “You need not make yourself out a greater blackguard than you are.”
“I am not a blackguard, sir.”

I suggested the cross-examination of him, and it runs thus in the report:

“I have been a voter for forty-three years in the borough. During all that time I have supported the blues. That is well known. The gentlemen gave me half-a-crown for going round Kilvington with them. No reference was made to my vote. It took me an hour or more to show them where the voters lived.”

On leaving the box he went away mumbling to himself, and more than once looking back defiantly at Mr Justice Denman. The court was just rising for lunch, and I was fearful that he might get himself into some sort of trouble, so went out after him.

On seeing me he at once asked: “Whea was yon au’d chap ‘at called me a blackguard? Ar’d have gi’en him a bit o’ lip if he’d said owt more te me!”

He had never been in any but a magistrates’ court before, and seemed to think the judges were merely clerks or other officers of the court. I warned him to be very careful or he would be imprisoned for contempt before he knew where he was. He was highly indignant, however, at the way he had been treated, for to him as can be seen from his evidence drunkenness was merely an agreeable condition, and the idea of it involving blackguardism was too preposterous to entertain for a moment.

The proceedings on the petition lasted for two days, and finally the petition was dismissed with costs, Mr Justice Lopes saying it “had been an unusually pure election,” and Mr Justice Denman added that it was “a frivolous petition recklessly conducted.”

610 words.