Alexander Petrie


(The Clincher)

1853 - 1937

A noted Glaswegian eccentric, The Clincher adopted his name because he knew he would always clinch (win) an argument. 'The Clincher' was also the name of a news-sheet which he produced from 1897. The target of most of his arguments was Glasgow Town Council and her councillors, who had him seized in the hope that they could have him declared insane. After a psychiatric examination, he was cleared and given a certificate of sanity. For years following this incident he would claim that he was the only sane man in Glasgow and that he had the documentation to prove it, much to the embarrassment of the Town Council.


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