CORK LEGS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2086, 30 October 1880, Page 3

CORK LEGS.

Modern science has brought the cork leg to a state of perfection which renders it almost impossible for the casual observer to detect the difference between the real and the artificial. There was an eminent sergeant-at-law some years ago who had a cork leg that was a triumph of artistic deception. None but his intimates knew for certain which was the real and which was the sham limb. A wild young wag of the “ utter bar,” who knew the sergeant pretty well, once thought to utilise this knowledge of the sergeant’s secret to take in a green, newly • fledged young barrister. The sergeant was addressing a special jury at Westminster in his usual earnest and vehement style, and the wag whispered to his neighbor—“ You see how hot old Buzfuz is over his case ; now. I’ll bet you a sovereign I’ll run this pin into his leg up to the head, and he’ll never notice it, he’s so absorbed in his cose. He’s a most extraordinary man in that way,” This was more than the greenhorn could swallow, so he took the bet. The wag drew a large pin from his waistcoast, and leaning forward drove it up to the head into the sergeant’s leg. A yell that froze the blood of all who heard it, that made the hair of the jury stand an end, and caused the Judge’s wig almost to fall off, ran through the Court. “By Jove! it’s the wrong leg, and I’ve lost my money,” exclaimed the dismayed and conscience-stricken wag, quite regardless of the pain he had inflicted upon the learned sergeant.