Businesses have used a wide variety of methods over the years to collect payments due for their services. A strange and hilarious method that is rarely seen these days is public shaming.
This rather glorious example comes from the Aug. 23, 1849, issue of the Sandusky Clarion, a regional newspaper that had subscribers all over Ohio, as there were only a few prominent papers in the whole state at that time.
A small paragraph on page two of the paper is headlined “A Shabby Shote / Called George Berote.” A “shote” (modern spelling “shoat”) is a little pig.
The artful putdown says that the newspaper had been informed that Belote, who owed them money, had run away from Bangs, in Knox County, and headed to Illinois.
It notes that Belote had previously run a tavern in Mount Gilead in Morrow County. Perhaps he had been doing the same in Bangs.
The short article doesn’t specify whether Belote owed the newspaper/print shop for a subscription or for printing services. But it does go on to suggest that the first ‘e’ in Belote could be omitted, “to make the name and the character correspond.” That would make his name “Blote,” or “bloat.”
So, basically, in a very classy, literate way, they were calling George a fat pig for not paying his bill.
Not surprisingly, I wasn’t able to turn up much about George, who probably sought to keep a low profile if he was constantly outrunning creditors.
There were either a number of George Belotes (or Belout, or Billet) in pre-Civil War Ohio, or else this one really got around and got married several times. If his tendency was to skip town when the atmosphere got hot, he could very well be one slippery customer.
Kind of a greased pig, if you will.