T h o m a s was forthwith assisted into the vehicle, and driven h o m e accordingly. O n the morrow, punctually at the appointed time, the cabman pulled up at Dr. Wilkie's door, and his knock was responded to by that gentleman personally. T h e double-fare was asked for and peremptorily refused. A n explanation followed, when Wilkie's indignation was intense at the shamefully unprofessional manner in which he had been personated. Ultimately, the cabby was no loser, for Thomas, having had the full enjoyment of his joke, was too generous not to pay for it. In connection with communications for which by which it will be seen trouble, though this time
the subject of these remarks, I append an extract from one of the many I a m indebted to Mr. Robert Russell, Melbourne's first Chief Survey Officer, that T h o m a s had not long been in Port Phillip before he got himself into it was "cold" instead of the proverbial " h o t " water with h i m : —
" T h e late Dr. David J. Thomas, when he arrived in the 'Louisa Campbell,' met with strange mishaps, and used to describe hisfirstadventures in a most ludicrous manner. His boat had been swamped at Sandridge after leaving the ship, and he tramped up to our cottage on the Yarra bank at dead of night. T h e watch-dog seized him, and on hearing his cries, we, in no good humour, called out to him to take the boat, which he did, and went flying down the Falls, in the dark, bringing up opposite Fawkner's Pub., where, no doubt, his troubles ended." But it was not always "cakes and ale" with the light-hearted Doctor, whose vagaries at times brought him into trouble. A s an illustration, it m a y be mentioned, that he had a particular weakness for riding on the portions of the streets by a legal fiction then termed footways, and no remonstrances could cure him of this foible. T h e police were at last constrained to change their tactics from words to action, and as a consequence, the offending equestrian was several times fined for breaches of the law by the Police Court. O n c e he had a narrow escape from death by a muscular garotte, for on the night of the 7th May, 1847, he was waylaid by two soldiers of the 58th Regiment. T h e outrage was committed in William Street, and after knocking d o w n their man, the scoundrels not only half-choked, but rifled him of his watch and all the cash in his pockets. T w o of the military (John Stokes and Shepherd O l d h a m ) were subsequently arrested and tried for the offence, but the former got off through insufficient identification, whilst his comrade was convicted and sentenced to a long term of transportation. This "sticking-up" was the more remarkable, because in the times of which I a m writing, medical men, ministers of religion, and newspaper reporters were free to roam through Melbourne at any hour of day or night, without the slightest danger of personal violence from thieves or rogues, w h o knew them all well, and regarded them as privileged individuals. This immunity I can only account for on the supposition that the doctors and ministers, being about so much at night, frequently visiting haunts of vice to render gratuitous help, or religious consolation, such services inspired a feeling of gratitude towards the givers. A s to the journalists, the whole corps would not at any time number more than half-a-dozen, and as they were all general utility men, the scribe of the Police Court to-day, scribbling in the Supreme Court on the morrow, the rascals w h o invariably attended these places in full force, had a wholesome dread of possible recognition if they ventured upon any nocturnal liberties. Furthermore, the reporters, when pay-day had passed, were, as a rule, so impecuniously situated, that a needle might be as easily found in a bundle of hay as a shilling with one of the tribe. O f this important fact, the town thieves had an instinctive suspicion, and they knowingly considered that in such a case of attempted black-mailing, the game " wasn't worth the candle." Dr. Thomas, after m a n y years' extensive practice, visited Europe, and from his return to his death never recovered the position he temporarily abandoned.*
- A n intimation has been conveyed to m e that the publication of some incidents in m y sketch of Dr. Thomas has given annoyance
to a surviving relative of that gentleman. 1 a m very much pained that such is the case, and if I have so offended in this way, I had not the remotest intention of doing so. A perusal of the notice will convey to the mind of a dispassionate reader, that Dr. Ihomas was a man of exceptional professional ability, esteemed both publicly and privately, but prone to the occasional indulgence in a certain practical jocularity of a harmless character, and without a particle of malice or ill-will to anyone. The ftw samples given constituted a portin-i of the popular gossip of Melbourne for more than a quarter of a century, and I have heard them detailed scores of times. A verbal portrait of Dr. Thomas, omitting all reference to the humorous peculiarities of his organization, would be an ideal, and not a real impersonation; in fact the reverse of a reproduction of the "old identity" as he lived, and worked, and laughed amongst us in the days of yore. Every one seemed to be then well acquainted with his innocuous merry making, which never depreciated him in the slightest degree as a skilled practitioner. worthy, kindhearted citizen, and a staunch sterling friend.—24th November, 1885.—[THE A U T H O R ] .
