BlogStart:
**Dublin**: something from the archives.    Daev Walsh forwards an article from
The Irish Digest about ''Billy in the Bowl''.  This story is also immortalised
in an old Dublin song, which in turn was mentioned in a Pogues track.  Billy
was a legless beggar in the alleys of Stoneybatter and Grangegorman (where I
now live) during the 18th century, who discovered a new, but not entirely
legal, way to make money.
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LinkText: Billy in the Bowl
From:         daev <hellshaw@fringeware.com>
Subject:      The Case of the Stoneybatter Strangler
A story of my new neighbourhood...
The Irish Digest July 1964
The Case of the Stoneybatter Strangler
The handsome, deformed Billy in the Bowl evolved a plan to rob his donors.
Then, one night, he made the biggest mistake of his life
DUBLIN in the eighteenth century was noted for two things - the
architectural beauty of its public buildings and the large number of
beggars who sought alms in its maze of streets and lanes.  Many of these
beggars relied on visitors and the gentry for their coin, but there was one
who campaigned among the working class.  This was "Billy In The Bowl"
The strange appellation was derived from the fact that Billy's sole means
of transport was a large bowl-shaped car with wheels.  Seated in this "
bowl ", the beggar would propel himself along by pushing against the ground
with wooden plugs, one in each hand.
Billy's unusual means of conveyance was vitally necessary, as he had been
born without legs.  Nature, however, had compensated for this by endowing
him with powerful arms and shoulders and, what was most important, an
unusually handsome face.
This was Billy's greatest asset in his daily routine of separating
sympathetic passers-by from their small change.
The cunning young beggar would wait at a convenient spot on one of the many
lonely roads or lanes which were a feature of eighteenth century
Grangegorman and Stoneybatter, until a servant girl or an old lady would
come along.
He would then put on is most attractive smile which, together with his
black curly hair, never failed to halt the females.  The fact that such a
handsome young man was so terribly handicapped physically always evoked pity.
"Billy in the Bowl", however, wasn't satisfied with becoming the daily
owner of a generous number of small coins; what his greed demanded were
substantial sums of money.  The more he managed to get the more he could
indulge in his pet vices - gambling and drinking.
As a result the beggar evolved a plan to rob unsuspecting sympathisers.
The first time lie put his plan into operation was on a cold March evening
as dusk, was falling.  The victim was a middle aged woman who was passing
through Grangegorman Lane on her way to visit friends in Queen Street - on
Dublin's North Quays.
When Billy heard the woman's footsteps, he hid behind some bushes in a
ditch which skirted the lane.  As his unsuspecting victim drew close, the
beggar moaned and shouted, and cried out for help.
Trembling with excitement, the woman dashed to the spot where Billy lay
concealed.  She bent down to help the beggar out of the ditch, when two
powerful arms closed around her throat and pulled her into the bushes.
In a few minutes it was all over.  The woman lay in a dead faint, and Billy
was travelling at a fast rate down the lane in his " bowl ", his victirn's
purse snug in his coat pocket.  An hour after the robbery the woman was
found in a distracted condition, but failed to give a description of her
assailant.  And, as "Billy in the Bowl" had figured, nobody would suspect a
deformed beggar.
Again and again the beggar carried out his robbery plan, always shifting
the place of attack to a different part of Grangegorman or  Stoneybatter.
On one occasion " Billy in "the Bowl " tried his tactics on a sturdy
servant girl who put up such a vigorous resistance that he was forced to
strangle her.  The incident became known as the 11 Grangegorman Lane Murder
and caused a great stir.
Hundred.s flocked to the scene of the crime and for a couple of months
"Billy in the Bowl" was forced to desert his usual haunts.  Around this
period, Dublin's first-ever police force was been mobilised, and the first
case they were confronted with was the Grangegorman lane murder.
Months passed and  "Billy in the Bowl" reverted once again to his old
pasttime.  A number of young servant girls were lured into ditches and
robbed, and the police were inundated with so many complaints that a
nightly patrol was placed on the district.  But the beggar still rolled
along in his "bowl" pitied and unsuspected.  Then came the night that
finished Billy's career of crime.
Two stoudy built female cooks, trudging back to their places of employment
after a night out in the city, were surprised and not a little shocked to
hear shouts for help.  Rushing over, they came upon a huddled figure in the
ditch.
Billy, thinking there was only one woman, grabbed one of the cooks and
tried to pull her into the ditch.  She proved much too strong for him,
however) and while resisting tore 'at his face with her sharp finger-nails.
Meanwhile, her companion acted with speed and daring.  Pulling out her
large hatpin she made .for the beggar, and plunged the pin into his right eye.
The screams and howls of the wounded beggar reverberated throughout the
district and brought people dashing to the scene.  Among them was a member
of the nightly police patrol who promptly arrested the groaning Billy.
"Billy in the Bowl" was tried and sentenced for robbery with violence, but
they could never prove it was he who had strangled the servant girl.  The
Grangegorman-Stoneybatter district became once again a quiet, attractive
Dublin suburb where old ladies strolled, and carefree servant girls laughed
and giggled as they wended their way home at night.
daev
_______________________________
Rev.  Dave 'daev' Walsh, daev@fringeware.com
Home:  http://www.fringeware.com/hell
Weekly Rant: http://www.nua.ie/blather
'Is it about a bicycle?'-Sgt.Pluck,
'The Third Policeman', by Flann O'Brien
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