American literature -- Humor; American wit and humor
(The testimony on the cross-examination went to show that during the
fight, one of the parties drew a slung-shot and cocked it, but to the
best of the witness' knowledge and belief, he did not fire; and at the
same time, the other discharged a hand-grenade at his antagonist, which
missed him and did no damage, except blowing up a bonnet store on the
other side of the street, and creating a momentary diversion among the
milliners.) He could not say, however, which drew the slung-shot or
which threw the grenade. (It was generally remarked by those in the
court room, that the evidence of the witness was obscure and
unsatisfactory. Upon questioning him further, and confronting him with
the parties to the case before the court, it transpired that the faces
of Jones and Smith were unknown to him, and that he had been talking
about an entirely different fight all the time.)
Other witnesses were examined, some of whom swore that Smith was the
aggressor, and others that Jones began the row; some said they fought
with their fists, others that they fought with knives, others tomahawks,
others revolvers, others clubs, others axes, others beer mugs and
chairs, and others swore there had been no fight at all. However, fight
or no fight, the testimony was straightforward and uniform on one point,
at any rate, and that was, that the fuss was about two dollars and forty
cents, which one party owed the other, but after all, it was impossible
to find out which was the debtor and which the creditor.
After the witnesses had all been heard, his Honor, Judge Sheperd,
observed that the evidence in this case resembled, in a great many
points, the evidence before him in some thirty-five cases every day, on
an average. He then said he would continue the case, to afford the
parties an opportunity of procuring more testimony.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account