VILLAGE POET

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 July 1931, Page 2

VILLAGE POET

IN LIBEL CHARGE,

LONDON, May 17. A village poet who was alleged to have displayed verses about a village milkman on his shop door and in the window was the defendant in a case at Cambridge yesterday. He was Alexander Philip Smith, a grocer, of Stapleford, and was committed for trial on charges of publishing defamatory libels on Edgar Peter Baynes, milk vendor, of the same village. Dr Peters, who prosecuted, said that placards of a very obnoxious character had been placed in the window after the summons was served, and were there until that morning. An example in verse was:— Sunday Edgar says his little daily prayer, Oh, Lord, send down thy bounteous rain upon the rich brown soil, That it may sink into the ground > while I rest from toil, So when the first faint flush of dawn with splendour gilds the sky, I find the water in the well has risen nice and high. A poster on the door of Smith’s shop concluded:—

Therefore, I hold up this dirty swine (meaning Baynes), who tried to poison the village with his filthy milk, to the contempt of all.—(Signed) A. P. Smith. Dated April 25. “THE TOMBSTONE.” One of the libellous “poems,” said Dr Peters, was entitled "The Tombstone,” and read, “Here lie the remains of Edgar Baynes, who mixed up his milk with germs of pump water.” The conclusion read, “Of this wicked deed I have tried to tell, and now poor Edgar has gone to hell.—R.l.P.” Baines, giving evidence, said he had had a milk round in the district for thirty-five years. On Friday, April 24, he saw a poster in Smith’s shop window, which he took to refer to himself. Since he had taken out the summons other posters, together with the summons, had appeared outside this shop. He saw Smith on April 28, and told him that if he was not very careful he would give him a good thrashing. Smith then said, "If

you want to do anything take legal action against me.” To which he replied, “I shall take legal action on your nose if ydu are not careful.”

Smith in evidence said he made people laugh, and last Sunday the public-house opposite did a great trade because of tlie number of people who came into the village. “Possibly my abnormal and misplaced sense of humour,” he added, “has increased the consumption of milk in the village, and I would be quite prepared to drink his milk. I am afraid I have allowed my sense of humour to get the better of me. These are only humorous little poems.”

Cross-examined by Dr Peters, Smith said that he had not taken the posters out of his window because they were causing a great deal of merriment, and did no harm.

Dr Peters: You referred to Mr Baynes as a dirty swine, who tried to poison the villagers. Do you call that humour?No, but I had not then got into my stride.

Judge Farrant (the chairman, after reading some of the poems): Do you think that you are an unconscious plagiarist?—lt is quite possible. The Bench committed Smith for trial at the Cambridge Assizes, and granted bail on the undertaking that he would take down the placards at once.