Diggings and Drink.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 219, 8 November 1888, Page 3

Diggings and Drink.

THE BLACKGUARDS THAT INFEST THE GOLDFIELDS. The Marlborough Express lately had the fol • lowing:—Lively scenes were enacted in the vicinity of Cullensville on Saturday night last, a number of diggers having come down from the various claims to see the sights of thia embryotic oily. Sergeant O’Donovan, of Havelock, and Constable Franx'yn, Stationed at Cullensville, were to bo seen walking about with six chambered revolvers, ready for any emergency that might arise. A theatrical combination had been announced to give an entertainment—a notification that also caused the digging fraternity to muster “ galore.” The entertainment, we are informed, beggars description, and puts in the shade all previous entertainments of the kind that have taken place on many colonial goldfields. The principal actor in the scene had been evidently worshipping at the shrine of Bacchus, and permitted a big burly digger to sing a couple of songs for the edification of the audience. His third song was of a most obscene character, and mat with strong disapproval from the audience, the lady accompauyist leaving the stage—which measured 12 x 12—and other female auditors followed suit. The bootings and hissings increased in volume, and the row brought the proprietor of the show on the stage. He bundled the vocalist off, and the latter made his way outside the tent. He then came in at the door, crawled under the seat, and struck a man standing with others at the front part of the tent, knocking one of his teeth out. He then decamped before he could be caught. There was now a general stampede af.er the cowardly culprit, but the search proved an unsuccessful one. If the man had been caught he would have barely escaped with his life. On Sunday all the tents were searched for this cowardly individual, and woe betide him if he falls into the hands of the “ Philistines. ” The performance was continued, but the least said about it the better. Mrs Dickson was ordered to shut her accommodation house by the police, and not a “ drink ” was obtainable after nine o’clock A gentleman who has witnessed some lively midnight scenes in Sydney says that the scene at Cullensville on Saturday night puts in the shade all his past experiences. Not a bed could be obtained anywhere, and several had to lie down on the stage in the improvised concert hall until morning. Fights were frequently indulged in during the night, and on Sunday morning not a few bore marks of violence as they lay outside the accommodation house “ suffering a recovery. ” Many are, no doubt, regretting the day a pub. was ever opened at Cullensville.