[cyseymour]

It was a C because that the name "McCrea" is a real Irish name, while the name "McGrea" is not. "McCrea" is a common part of the Irish lexicon, while "McGrea" is just gibberish, nonsensical.

That is why the Old Judge book authors inferred to be a C and not a G, because intuitively they know that McGrea is not a part of our lexicon, while McCrea is.

Other examples exist of cards with the letter C that appear to be G. Take Owen Clark on p. 176, card 75-3. Same effect as the C that Troy refers to, looks blotched at the bottom, it reads like "Glark".

Also, you can see from the printing of McCreachery that the third C, contained in "Chery" is also a bit heavier at the bottom. These reasons show that it had to do with a fuzzy printing process, not that it was intended to be a G.