Galway In Days Gone By

The effects of drink

That he only drank four small ports in eight hours is what an aged Gort man asked the Recorder, Judge Doyle, K.C., to believe at Gort Quarter Sessions on Wednesday.

He brought the action against a licensed trader in Gort, John Nolan, to whom the plaintiff alleged he had given £33 to keep for him.

The man was drinking with several people in Mr. Nolan’s shop, where he had been drinking from about 3.30 in the afternoon until after midnight, consuming only four small ports during that time. When going away for the night, the plaintiff, who was helped to his lodgings in Gort by a civic guard, was alleged to have given the sum named to Nolan to mind.

His evidence was that when he went to get the money on the following day, Nolan denied having got any money to keep. The Defence was that he had only given £15 into the safe keeping of the defendant, who returned it on the following day.

Two witnesses corroborated this and said they had seen the plaintiff handing a £10 and a £5 note to the publican. In dismissing the action, the Recorder said the plaintiff was suffering from the effects of drink.

Pictured: Time for tea at the Woodford Senior Citizens' Party on January 6, 1971.