HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1954-07-28, Page 30Thirty The Wingham Advance-Times, Wednesday, July 28, 1954
Wingham Publisher's Sense of
Humor Reaches Climax in Court
• , By W. J. Plenty
Mr, G. R. Osborne was the publish
er of the Wingham Times and Mr.
James *Bleuty was publisher of the
Wingham Advance* This incident to
be unfolded occurred about the year
1875.
George Hagyard was the editor of
the Teeswater News. He had been an
apprentice in Walkerton under Mr.
Fleuty and was a warm personal
friend.
ON THE MAITLAND
By Leon Cantelon
Back in the 1906-1915 years both
branches of the Maitland River were✓ much deeper and wider at some
points. Bor instance, the south branch
One night a clothes line in Teeswa
ter was robbed and the news of the
theft was duly chronicled in the next
issue of The News, which in report
ing the theft specifically mentioned
that one article stolen was a man’s
shirt, The published item, as a news-,
paper joke on a contemporary con
cluded with the words: “The editor of
the Wingham Times was in town that
night.”
Any other editor might have replied
that he could afford to buy his shirts,
but instead, Mr. Osborne was incens
ed at the mere suggestion that he was
interested in the theft and was so
filled with wrath after the Ad
vance had copied the item the follow
ing week with the added remark that
The Times editor had not been seen
wearing any new shirt since the theft,
that he at once entered an action for
libel against the publishers of The
News and The Advance.
of the stream, east of No. 4 Highway,
was much wider and deeper. At the
“Blackey” (just east of the gravel
road bridge) we had a spring-board,
or diving-board, on the south bank,
which was the higher one, and it was
considered no mean feat for a 10 to
12-year-old lad to dive in, swim under
water and come up west of the bridge.
Similarly, the water was much deep
er at the Upper Dam and it was con
sidered "tops" to dive in off the
“slides”, swim under water and come
up near the high C.N.R, (Grand
Trunk) bridge. How the water has
become shallow in many of the once-
famous swimming holes! It used to
be common practice to toss in a white
door knob and then dive in and bring
it up.
Hanna’s Travelling Emporium
to loosen their jaws from anything> ludicrous incidents although very em-
they bit—unless the head was cut | barrassing to the star actors. One
off, Some of these turtles pleasured
a foot or more in the diameter of
their shells, and a few had many ini
tials carved in their shells. The older
turtles must have been from 50 to
100 years old, and it was apparently
one of these that was mistaken for a
large rock.
north branch of the
Methodist Sunday
at that time was a
Neither publisher was much wor
ried about the outcome of the libel
action, yet it was not a pleasant
thought for either of them to carry
around with them day after day.
The case was duly called when the
assizes came along, Nobody appear
ed in court for the prosecution and
naturally the case was thrown out of
court. The publishers accused had a
legal representative present, and to
say the least, it was a relief when a
telegram came telling what had hap
pened.
A. J. Conover, formerly of Wing
ham, who is said to be the notorious
bank draft 'forger and ex convict, has
been arrested in Peru, Ind., charged
with fraud by the American Bankers’
Association. —News item 1896.
The writer recalls the time when he
helped a number of the boys clean out
some stones near the “Blackey", just
to make certain no diver would get
injured by making too deep a dive
with eyes closed. Of course, a pro
ficient diver always opened his eyes
under water, but some never seemed
to be able to do so. Tom (Irish) Lut-
ton dove in and got his hands on a
large rock that
he surfaced and
Below the water wheel at the power
house the flume or spillway was (and
still is) a narrow channel between
successively higher steps or sections
of cement walls. Before the First
World War the writer recalls occa
sionally swimming in this channel and
diving in from the different steps of
wall. It was absolutely necessary to
take a shallow dive as there was only
a few feet of water; and the direction
Of the dive had to be accurate in
such a narrow channel. However,
nothing deterred youthful bodies with
strong muscles and nerves, and stout
hearts.
such took place near the Ashery, just
west^pf the foot of Leopold and Alfred
Streets, on the
river.
The writer’s
School teacher
wonderful and lovable gentleman, the
late Mr. Albert E. Lloyd, of the firm
of C. Lloyd and Son. He owned a flat-
bottomed punt which he was keeping
on the Mill Pond. He often took his
Sunday School class for boat rides
and this day there must have been
six or eight of his boys in the boat.
At fhftt time a family named Beal
(or some such name, m&ybe it was
Behl) lived in the most northerly
house on the west side of Leopold
Street, the Frank S. Edgar residence
now. I remember that thejr name is
scratched in the cement sidewalk, so
those interested may check, One of the
daughters of that family came along
that day for a boat ride and she was
Sitting on the seat at the very prow
Of the punt, thus facing the others in
the boat. Her sister or some other
girl may also have been with her, but ,
that is incidental. She had an oar and
was paddling backwards.
Just as the boat was near the Ash
ery, at about the closest possible point
to her home, Miss Beal took such a
strenuous backward lunge as she dip
ped in her oar that she over-balanced
and turned a back somersault without
use of her hands into the water. The
boat was moving forward at a fair
speed and it passed completely over
the unfortunate girl, who was grabbed
and dragged into the punt by the two
boys sitting in the stern seat.
Happily the accident happened with
in a few hundred yards of her home
so Miss Beal's discomfiture was short
lived and she suffered no ill effects
because of her'* unexpected immersion.
The writer cannot remember the
names of the boys in the boat that
day, but the following belonged to
the Sunday School class: Frank Gal
braith, (now Dr.) George W. Howson,
Earl Johns, George Thomson, the late
Clarence Brooks, the late Leonard
Brock (K.I.A.)* the late Bddie Helps
(K.I.A,), the late Harvey Willis (died
of disease overseas), John Martin,
Gordon Buchanan, Gordon Ransom,
Bert Isard, Chas. Lloyd, Lloyd Hing-
ston, and others.
From 1906 to 1916, the writer’s fam
ily lived on the south side of Victoria
Street, fiye houses west of Minnie St.
The lot was very long and the south
end was the Maitland River. About
half way back the lot continued dpwn
a rather steep hill and then the rest
of it was river flats to the stream's
edge. There were some trees on the
lower part of the lot strategically
placed for the attachment of a boom,
which conveniently caught much of
the summer’s firewood during each
spring freshet or flood,
The writer generally managed to
have a boat or raft moored on the
lot each spring also, which he and
his chums used to s.alvage bridge tim
bers, fence posts, etc., from the fast
flowing main current. For safety’s
sake the boat or raft was always an
chored by a long rope to a sturdy
tree, and was manipulated from place
to place by pike poles.
One spring, Tom (Irish) Lutton was
helping the writer catch some flood-
wood and a most enjoyable time was
being had until Irish mistook a large
compact mass of swift-moving slush
for a solid chunk of ice. The boat was
far out at the end of the rope, at the
edge of the faster^flowing main cur
rent, where the water was quite deep,
at the time.
Irish made a wicked lunge with his
long pikq PQle Into the fast-approach
ing mass of supposed ice, and there,
was nothing solid there. It looked as
though Tom was trying to spear a
fish beneath the fee because the pike
pole pierced into it like butter. As
the front end of the pole did a dis
appearing act its other end followed,
and Irish still had his hands firmly
gitied to that end. The result was that
one Irishman also dived through that
mass of slush fee.
Of course the writer also had a pike
pole and it was only a matter of sec
onds before he Pulled the very wet,
very red faced youth from the water.
Irish lived about two blocks away
and he raced home and soon had dry
attire again. Even a war later failed
to dampen that Irishman’s spirit so
the above incident never even "wiped
the Irish grin off his handsome, Irish
face.-*
The writer had several similar nar
row escapes caused by plunging
through the river ice, but we will
mention only one. About forty-five
years ago there was a game which
uncertain memory names "Honk-Ho”.
In it some would be given time to
get away and hide and then after
giving a clue to their whereabouts
by shouting "Honk-Ho” a few times,
.they would remain hidden while the
others searched for them. The final
object of the game was to get back
to the starting point without being
caught.
One winter there was a big thaw
and an early flood, which a sudden
drop in temperature soon checked and
he coudn't move, so
called for help.
Cruickshanks swamRoy (Diddo)
over to help, and they dived (we call
ed it dove in those days) down to the
supposed rock. Just as they got a
good hold on the surprisingly round
“rock" a mud turtle’s head shot out
from beneath it, and, you may be
sure, Diddo and Irish got away from
there fast.
The “Blackey" and several other
muddy sections of the south branch
were infamous for snapping turtles.
These snappers could never be forced i
After the war a party of the above
mentioned swimmers, returned veter
ans, went to this power house swim
ming hole for a dip, and one look was
enough. Not one of the war-hardened
veterans had nerve or foolhardiness
enough to dive into that narrow,
shallot channel as they had formerly
done.
We will not say anything about the
drowning tragedies in the Maitland
River, although there have been a
number down through the years. Some
near-tragic river accidents ended as
Please turn to page 31
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