William Ritchie

William Ritchie was a publican in Ballarat, Victoria, <1863>.

History

Ritchie was the publican of the White Swan Hotel at Springs, near Bungaree, now beneath the White Swan Reservoir. As well as the hotel, Ritchie also operated a small store. In June 1863 there was an attempt to defraud him:

On Wednesday evening a Chinese went into the store of Mr Ritchie, adjoining the White Swan Hotel, at the Springs, Bungaree, and offered a quantity of gold for sale. On Mr Ritchie asking if it was good, the Chinese replied "werry good." On proceeding to test the gold the vendor ran away, leaving the metal in the hands of Mr Ritchie. The gold was tested on Thursday and found to be spurious, in fact pieces of lead coated over with gold. Last week Mr Ritchie bought a quantity of spurious metal from the same Chinese; and did not discover its value until after the rascal had taken his departure, and he would have given him into custody on Wednesday only for the good use he made of his legs.

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