From the Dundee Evening Telegraph, 6 June 1907:

“LADY’S SMOKING PROPENSITIES

Mary Telford, a married woman, living with her husband at Armagh, who caused some amusement in Court by admitting that for some years she smoked a pipe because of a bad stomach and bad teeth, was awarded £200 damages yesterday at the Four Courts, Dublin, in an action for libel against Michael J Burnside, a gentleman farmer, residing at Fivemiletown.

The libels were alleged to be contained in certain letters written by the defendant and which, plaintiff said, contained statements seriously injurious to her moral character.

The Lord Chief Justice, in summing up, referred to the lady’s smoking propensities.  He said as to smoking to promote the care of one’s teeth he could not express any opinion; he smoked very little himself.  There were some people who acknowledged gladly that they smoked because they thought the possession of minor vices was an indication that they had not major ones.”

A fuller report of the case in the Freeman’s Journal from 5 June 1907 describes Mrs Telford as ‘about 36 years of age,’ the wife of a carter in the employment of the Great Northern Railway Company, and a former domestic servant of the defendant.

Mrs Telford gave evidence that, when she left Mr Burnside to be married to Mr Telford, the former made her a present of £50, which, he said, he had intended to leave her in his will. A couple of weeks after the marriage, Mr Telford received a letter from Mr Burnside saying that, immediately after Mrs Telford had left his service, he had missed a long basket, jam-pots and two very expensive cellular nightshirts, which must have been stolen by her. 

In reply to a subsequent letter from Mrs Telford’s solicitor, Mr Burnside made further allegations against the moral character of his former employee, describing her as ‘an outrageous liar’ who had ‘smoked all the time she was with him,’ adding ‘a liar is often a thief.’  In court, Mr Burnside gave evidence that he had given the £50 to Ms Telford in the belief that she was leaving for America with her 10-year-old son, born outside wedlock; there had been no reference to any intended marriage on her part.

A case of hell hath no fury like an employer spurned?