Loading finished Jute on to flatbed lorries
An amusing story was reported on 2nd November 1937 from the Dundee Courier.
The story involved Thomas Benson of 168 Main Street, High Blantyre who was stopped by Police in Dundee and charged at Dundee Police Court with driving his motor lorry with an insecure load. Now of course, that’s not the amusing bit. The fiscal said five bundles of jute had fallen on the carriageway. Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. Dundee was well known for it’s Jute mills.
Finding himself in a bit of a predicament, Thomas when charged decided to use his quick thinking and charm to try and talk himself out of trouble. Talking about the jute, and knowing he was in a Dundee courtroom, he said, “We can’t handle it as expertly like the Dundee men.” Mr A. Gilruth, solicitor, on Thomas’s behalf, said that was the point of the matter and that “outsiders of Dundee” had not the same inborn ability as the Dundee men to handle jute. Thomas’s comment was upheld and he was admonished.