Wiseman had a long and difficult relationship with Percy Simpson, the local magistrate. Wiseman’s son, who lived not far away in Wollombi, was accused of stealing a horse, and Solomon was forced to appear in court to give evidence:

Mr Wiseman said that the mare belonged to a damned scoundrel who had spread a report that his (Mr Wiseman’s) son had stolen a mare belonging to him and had her in the Wollombi—that he had told the man where to go and get the mare and then rushing out of Court in a violent manner giving a most contemptuous look at the magistrate said that if he had known what business he was sent for, he would not have come…

The magistrate admonished him for the contemptuous manner in which he treated the Court…Mr Wiseman again interrupted the court in a rude and violent manner by saying ‘I won’t stand here listening to your nonsense’… adding that he never affronted a gentleman in his life, he had been 25 years in the Colony but a gentleman he had never affronted. The Magistrate said your conduct to me now on the bench has been most insulting. Mr Wiseman replied I never insulted a gentleman. No! A gentleman I never insult.

I was starting to get a feel for him. Irascible, defensive, unyielding. An entrepreneur who was confident of his own power in the situation, ruthless in using it. And with a snobbery that distinguished between a real ‘gentleman’ and a pretender.

Percy Simpson was foolish to take on Wiseman—had he forgotten that Wiseman was his landlord? A long correspondence ensued—accusation and counter-accusation—over rent not paid and expiry of the lease. In the end Wiseman insisted that Simpson leave his premises but when the magistrate, who had a large family of young children and an invalid wife, begged for more time, Wiseman relented:

In consideration of the delicate state of health of your Lady Wife and your purse, and young family, children, servants etc as I would not be thought capable of turning you out under the heavens…it being impossible to procure even a shed in this neighbourhood for any amount of money, that I am happy to take an opportunity of saying you may remain in your present residence without rent until the month of May…by which period you must be provided with other quarters.

Was it that he didn’t want people to think he was capable of turning someone out ‘under the heavens’? Or was he genuinely sympathetic? Did he remember at such moments what it had been like in Butler’s Buildings, in that life where no one would help you?

I pored over their exchange. I could hear Percy Simpson clearly: vain, self-important, a windbag. But Wiseman swam in and out of focus, now a good man, now a bad one. Now an innocent man unjustly accused, now a scoundrel.

What did others make of him? The Reverend Thomas Atkins’ parish included Wiseman’s place. Atkins described him as ‘a notorious emancipist, self-designated The King of the Branch...Solomon Wiseman, although illiterate, was a man of considerable natural ability, and deeply read in the corruption of human nature.’