Ephemera and Oddities

I came across this tale of a clever John Lyons while poking about in the Pennsylvania USGenWeb Archives. I'm fairly certain he was not a relative since he is described as "a gentleman," although he could be a descendant of Richard "bad meat" Lyons (see entry for 5 June 2011). The story is a good example of the peculiar stuff you find when you go digging for ancestors. I wonder if it was a slow news day or if this was the kind of thing that usually made headlines in County Clare in 1749.
http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/schuylkill/newspapers/doctor.txt