King of Knaves

Last week, John Butts, defrocked after administering to the ‘spiritual’ needs of his ‘Congragational Church’ in more ways than one, was soon back in the clutches of the law.

This time, however, while serving yet another bootlegging sentence in the Bastion Square police barracks, word swept the city that he’d been found in his cell, stricken by paralysis, and doctors held out little hope for his recovery.

Victims of his slanderous spiels while he performed as town crier were relieved. But those who’d enjoyed his outrageous antics were crestfallen at the thought of losing the city’s most notorious character.

Next week in the Chronicles, the sad conclusion to the saga of John Butts, “town cryer to her Britannic Majesty”.

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PHOTO: John Butts, town crier who was said to be “a greater scourge than cholera or smallpox”. —Author’s Collection