"'It was about this time or some years later,' continues Gin'ral
Merceer, 'that I received ividince iv th' Cap's guilt. I made it
mesilf. It was a letter written be me fr'm th' Cap to a German grocer,
askin' f'r twinty r-rounds iv sausage. [Turmoil in the coort.] It was
impossible, mon colonel, that this here letter cud have been written
be Estherhazy. In th' first place he was in Paris at th' time, in th'
sicond place he was in London. Th' letter is not in his handwritin',
but in th' handwritin' iv Colonel Pat th' Clam. Thin again I wrote th'
letter mesilf. Thin who cud 've written it? It must 've been Cap
Dhryfuss. [Cheers fr'm th' coort.] I give me reasons as they occurred
to me: First, th' Armeenyan athrocities; sicond, th' risignation iv
Gin'ral Alger; third, th' marriage iv Prince Lobengula; fourth, th'
scarcity iv sarvint girls in th' sooburban towns; fifth, th' price iv
gas. [Cries iv 'Abase th' price iv gas!'] I thank th' aujience. I will
raysume where I left off. I was speakin' iv Gin'ral Guns. I met him on
th' sthreet. Th' moon was clear in th' sky. I says, "Guns," I says,
"lave us go down to Hogan's, an' I'll buy ye a tub iv obsceenthe." As
we sthrolled through th' bullyvard, I saw a man that looked like a
German dhrivin' a cab. I was overcome with terror. I ran madly home,
followed be Guns. It was a week befure I cud hold a glass iv
obsceenthe without spillin' th' liquor. Shortly afther this, or it
may've been tin years befure, or it may niver have occurred [the
coort, 'Spoken like a Fr-rinchman an' a sojer'], in th' middle iv July
a man tol' me that the divine Sara [wild an' continyous applause,
cries iv 'Sara foriver!'] was about to projooce th' immortal play iv
"Omlet" [cheers] be th' wretched Shakspere [hisses]. Cud annything be
clearer? I will detain th' coort not longer thin a day while I give me
opinyon on this marvellous performance.'
"Cap Dhryfuss was settin' on th' window-sill, whistlin' 'Garry Owen,'
an' makin' faces at th' gallant corryspondint iv th' Daily Wrongs iv
Man. At this point he cried out laughingly: 'I will not conthradict
th' gin'ral. I will say he lies. I saw th' letter mesilf, an' that man
was Esterhazy.' [Sensation.]
"'Let me ask this canal iv a Jew a question,' says th' corryspondint
iv th' evening Rothscheeld Roaster, a Fr-rinchman be th' name iv Sol
Levi.
"'Ask it,' says Cap Dhryfuss.
"'You are a despicable thraitor,' says th' gallant corryspondint.
[Sensation.]
"'Th' pris'ner must answer,' says th' coort. 'It is now nearly six
o'clock iv th' mornin', an' time to get up an' dhress.'
"'I refuse to make anny commint,' says Cap Dhryfuss,
"The pris'ner's remark, uttered in tones iv despair, caused gr-reat
emotion in th' aujience. There were angry cries iv 'Lynch him!' an'
all eyes were tur-rned to th' Cap.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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