A PUZZLED COURT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 187, 27 October 1876, Page 14

A PUZZLED COURT.

++ " EVA StJxTOlf /' cried Sergeant Quinn, at the Tombs yesterday, in a voice from which all traces of emotion had vanished ; and in response to the challenge, there hobbled from the pea a hearty young woman in a gaudy dress. With his usual sympathy with the halt and lame, the judge inquired of the prisoner when she had hurt her leg. " About six months ago," was the response. "And do you suffer much from it now, Eva?" asked the couiPassiouate court. •

" Not much now, your honor," replied the prisoner, as the tears which the tender words evoked purled down her too roseate cheeks. " None whatever ? " pursued the judge. '• No, your honor ; since four months you could stick a pin in it and I wou'dn't feel it." " Paralysed ? " queried the judge. " No, your honor." " No rheumatic pains when the wind's east? " " None, your honor." "A most singular case," said the judge, becoming more and more interested. " I must say, most extraordinary. How do you account for it, prisoner ? " "Well, your honor," said the girl, " I don't know^unless maybe it s because it's a cork leg." " Silence in the court," shouted Sergeant Quinn, as he glowered upon the audience, who had the bad taste to laugh, and jerked a dozen grinning boys into the street. "Now, Thompson," said the judge, testily, to the testifying officer, these indictments must be more carefully worded. Who ever heard of a person striking another with the leg ? People kick with their legs 5 they don't strike." t " She did, your honor," insisted the officer ; " she had that cork leg in her hand when I" "Ten dollars or ten day 3," growled the judge, and as he saw the I woman limp off grinning, after paying her fine, he felt like calling her , back and making it 3100. — American paper. °