In
1863 a court case arising seems to have stemmed from a minor scuffle.
A
group of about twenty navvies caught the last train from Edward Street Station
one Saturday night and were locked into their carriage by the guard, Pat
Montgomery, because he considered them ‘rather hearty’.
One
Pat Kelly then complained that he had lost a cap worth 2/6d and a handkerchief
worth 3/-. He was let out of the
carriage to search for them. When the
train was moving off Kelly tried to board it again but the guard pulled him
back. A witness recounted,
‘I
saw the companions inside pulling him into the carriage. Montgomery
seized him by the hinder part. The train
went off without Kelly or Montgomery and Montgomery lost four teeth.’
However,
the witness, a watchman on the train, admitted,
‘I
can’t even swear it was the prisoner [Kelly] gave the kick!’
However
Kelly was found guilty and although his solicitor Mr Murphy pleaded,
‘He
has been in custody for nearly three weeks and I think a small pecuniary fine
would suffice’,
The
judge sentenced him to one week’s imprisonment - as he said -
‘in
order to make up a month.’
Nowadays
Kelly would be successfully suing the railway company and its employee for
assault and battery to his ‘hinder part’!