The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-12-14
A NEW MULHATToN.

y - Ah1AsN &#EH@' 3lHGSENENWH
Springfield. Ill.
Al NEW MULHATToN.
We do not know who Mr.. Edward
Wakefield may be, but he has cut '.cross-
lots To fame and safely occupies first
place al the most amusing and colossal
liar ia an age that has made q tolerably
good record for startling and varied UNI
ycracity. Mr.. Edward Wakefield's pecu
liar distinction is that he has so cleverly
clothed himself in the garb OF sober
truth that he has succeeded in imposing
upon d staid and respectable publica-
ton like the Contemporary Review, one
De EnglRnd's ablest periodicals, in q
manner that will make the editor OF
that serious quarterly laugh at himself
when he discovers the situation. The
only trouble is that Mr.. Wakefield has
carried his pranks too far, and his merry
humor may be taken for damaging fact
by d public that is not so quick as ours
to discover the hidden truth concealed
in his chat.
MI. Wakefield evidently got the in
SEPARATION for his article, which he calls
the "Brand Of CAIN" and which is de-
voted to the alleged murderous instincts
OF Americans, from a funny incident
that occurred in New York many years
10. The cockney husband of a beauti-
full English actress landed in the me-
tropolis filed with as ludicrously erro-
neous ideas Of our people as those Mr.
Wakefield feeds to the Review. He ex
pected to sec Indian teepees on Jersey
City Heights, hunt buffalo on Long
Island and encounter d~esperadoes, with
knives in their top boots and reyolvers
ia their belts, on Broadway. His first
observations were a little disappointing
but the emerald tinge on his question
ings enabled Florence, Southern, Dan
Bryant and other mad wags to read
what was going on in his mind and they
made up a swell dinner party for his
benefit. There was perfect propriety
and decorum at the beginning of the
feast but later on, as the wine went
round, the "Brand of CAIN" as Mr..
Wakefield would call 1t, was exhibited
for the verdantforeigner's especial bene-
fit. With all due seriousness of coun-
tenance and earnestness Of manner the
lie was passed between two Of the jokers,
q bottle was hurled at the head OF one
Of tho offenders and a smashing Of
crockery began. Bowie knives were
whipped out of bootlegs, pistols out of
hip pockets and pandemonium reigned
until the previously posted police rushed
in and stopped the fight. The terribly
frightened Englishman was fished out
from his hiding place under the table
and left the feast thankful to escape
with his life but with his worst impress
sion Of the Americans more than real
lied. st.
Wakefield has worked over and i'm
proved on this incident. He tells the
guileless Review Of a number Of thrill
ling incidents. ">E.
On n occasion, while riding on a
southern railroad, when the train
for dinner, Mr.. Wakefield, as he
got off, asked two men next to him to
keep his scat for him until he came
back. What followed should be told in
MIR. Wakefeld's own words:
When / returned to the car I found a tall,
gaunt man, in a broad SLOUGH hat, appar-
about to take my eeat, bat yet not
taking it. A glance at my &C.
quaintances opposite showed me why he
hesitated. Each of them was holding a cup
of coffee to his month with his left hand,
while his right Rraspsd a revolver covering
The intruder. Time being short, they were
drinking their coffee while they kept the
Britisher's seat ..5 g-
The tall stranger politely retired on my
appearing, the others put their revolvers
in their hip pockets without any remark
and we resumed our journey. What
me- most of all, though, was a
glimpse l got of a solemn-looklng old man
about half way down the car, who had
drawn out from somewhere an enormous,
antiquated iv~ory-handled ~six-shooter, and
WAS holding it up with his finger on the
Trigger, ready to take a hand in any little
festiyity that might arise. He looked so
disappointed when it all ended in nothing
that | felt quite sorry for him.
This is very much like the New York
coke, and the incident really might have
been prearranged for q green English
man. which our gifted and artlstic liar
is not. But Wakefield goes too far in
assuming a serious vein, as for instance
when he says, in apparent earnestness,
that every American lawyer keeps a re-
volver in the pigeon-hole of his desk and
knows when to use it," and the like.
With all due respect for Mr.. Wakefield
as a liar of undoubted genius we feel
compelled to warn our English friends
that his humor is deep and subtle and
needs to be read with a discriminating
mind. Otherwise it might be fancied
that there is now and then a grain of
truth in his stories, which there is not.
4 5H d.
PROSPECTS FOR 1892.
The mugwunp view of things polit-