There are many curious stories to be found in the pages of the 19th century newspapers.
All types of human activity are to be found there, from the antics of William Onions, The East End Poet, to the doings of Shiner Bob, the worst man in London.
The South Wales Echo, on Monday, 4th December, 1893, published one such tale:-
A CURIOUS SCENE
Never (says a correspondent in the Mail) since the jocular intimation appeared many years ago in this column to the effect that Spring- heeled Jack would leap from the top of the Market-hall to to the spire of St. Martin’s Church has a newspaper paragraph caused so many people to assemble at a given spot as did the following advertisement, which appeared in the local papers on Wednesday last:-
PERSONAL – The Lady whom the Dark Gentleman nodded to in Corporation-street, yesterday afternoon, would be glad of a personal interview, and will wait in Union-passage (Bull-street end), between 6.15 and 7 p, m. tonight.
HUNDREDS TURNED UP
Probably the lady was true to her promise, and probably, too, the dark gentleman did as he was asked but unfortunately for any privacy they may have desired many hundreds of other individuals, some dark, some light, and some red-haired, put in an appearance also.
I do not think I ever witnessed so curious a scene.
CROWDS IN THE STREETS
Long before six 1,500 persons were strolling along Bull Street and Union Passage, each one striving to appear unconcerned, and professing entire ignorance of the circumstance which had brought them together.
There were so many ladies present, too, that it became absolutely impossible to identify the lovelorn maiden who was desirous of improving upon the mere nod she had received from the gentleman with the dark moustache.
DARK-HAIRED OBJECTS OF SUSPICION
Every dark-haired fellow who passed, however, became an object of their suspicion; the men who ostentatiously displayed their presence were mainly those whose looks were of a prominent auburn hue.
The crowd continued to surge along Union Passage until long after the seven o’clock limit, but it is only reasonable to assume that the pair who desired an interview saw the futility of attempting to carry out their purpose, and the spectacle of the couple falling on each others necks was not one which fell to the lot of the expectant multitude.
THE BLANKET SALE
A humorous incident of the gathering was this.
A sale of blankets was going on hard by, and some wag connected with the establishment profited by the occasion to paint a handsome dark moustache on a piece of cardboard, which, having affixed thereto the letters in bold type, “Sold,” he placed in the window of the shop in which the sale was going on.
A GENUINE ADVERT
There is every reason to believe that the advertisement was genuinely inserted, but if it happened to be the work of someone who wagered that by doing so he could draw together a crowd of certain dimensions, it is only reasonable to suppose that he won his wager with the greatest possible ease.
It is really curious how small a matter will cause a hubbub in the centre of a city composed in the main of staid and industrious inhabitants.