The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-04
From the PhilaJs,phla Tin.es.


From the Philadelphia Ti1:cs.
Here Is letter that is rather compH-
mentary, because il suggests that some Of
our chats are worth telling twice 1t is not
a book taEe. It fell on the ears of the mar
rator In strictly dual conversation Lctween
himself and the late William =. Florence,
not only one of the best comedians The
American stage has ever known, hut as
lovely man as ever served friend,
cracked a joke or put his right hand into
one pocket without letting his left know
what it was doing:
About two years ago, in speaking OF the
late William J. Florence, you related a
joke, perpetrated on an English actor, Mr..
Lee, which was certainly gaughnble. If II
is not asking too much, ! wish you would
repeat H. [ am sure your readers, VINO
have heard it, could stand its repetition,
and those VINO have not heard it, will
laugh for week; something that we are
sadly in need Of to drive away the worry
and excitement brought on by business d.
preston and the war. Thanking you for
your many interesting talks AMI also for
this favor, which l am sure will lie granted
1 remain, respectfully,
Joseph ]. Nichols"
The Mr.. Lee referred to was not al uc-
tor, but the husband of Adelaide Nelson.
one of the chief perpetrators of the joke,
as suggested by MIR. Nichols, Was Wiii1m
J. Florence. The leading conspirator, how
ever, was F.. II. Sothern, remembered by
all American playgoers as Lord Drum
dreary." There have been many versions
of the tale, but the narrator can repeat it
to you, as said before, as il fell from Flor
ence's Tips shortly prior to his death, in
the Continental Hotel, in this city, al
though the narrative was given in his
nome apartments, in the Fifth Avenue Ho-
tel, In New York
Philip Lee" said he, was the husband
of the beautiful and gifted Adelaide
Nelson, since whose death we have never
seen Juliet upon the stage TO equal her.
Lee was the son of an English clergyman,
and in demeanor and apparel was a gem
tleman. He accompanied his wife to this
country, not as her business manager,
but simply as her husband. He was
harmless, pleasant, gentlemanly fellow,
with but little knowledge of American
ways. 1t is not true, as has been fire.
quently stated that he knew SO little Of
this country that he expected to see buf-
faoles plunging down Broadway and In
dams tomahawking people in Central
Park, New York, nor was his astonish-
ment at the absence of such surprising
adventures the inspiring cause of the joke
of which he was made the victim. It's
inception was in this way: AT the time
Lee was in New York city, I'm the fall Of
1877, he was patron of the Fifth Avenue
Hotel, where I was also staying, as 1
had been for years, and Mr.. Sothern was
quartered at the Gramercy Park Hotel.
One night the three of US met at the Lotus
Club which was then far down town,
and, as we were about leaving there, So
thern and myself, desiring to pay the
Engishman some attention. invited him
to accompany us to the old chop house
kept by George Brown, and there nave
bite and sup before going to bed. We
walked up Fifth avenue together and, as
we were opposite the Glenham Hotel, our
attention was attracted by disturbance
across the way, evidently caused by
brawl between a policeman and some Jo-
vial young blades. Lee, who was very
curious about everything he saw, eX-
claimed, Bless mel what's thatF MT.
Sothern replied in the most nonchalant
manner, as he continued walking on, on,
only another dead man.
"Auother dead man! gasped Lee;
Lord bless me, what do you mean?'
"'Oh, that's nothing, exclaimed So
thern, with a wave of his hand; / STUN
bic across them every night on my way
home. They are killing men around here
all the time. l trip over them, but pay
no attention to them but keep rlSht on
my way home. I don't care to be sum-
moned as a witness petore the coro'lsr
every day of my life
Bless me! exclaimed Lee; what re-
markable country
1--WE finally reached Browns and, nav
ing secured a table, we ordered chops ana
ale Sothern and myself had not prear-
ranged any joke upon our guest, Dut ne
had given me a wink, which knew meant
mischief, and l was ready to play second
to any part he proposed performing.
While we were eating, Sothen suddenly
reached over and placed his fork in one
of my chops, attempting to remove II TO
his plate. l prevented this by the inser-
ton of my own fork, and then said, in
calm but determined tones: Ned, don {
like that to which Lord Dundreary re-
sponded but not in the feeble tones of that
suffering stage nobleman, Mr. Florence,
l don't care whether you like it or not;
1 want that chop"
with that / sprang upon him with up
lifted knife and grabbed my dearly-belov-
ed friend by the throat and he seized me
in a similar way, while he apparently
made desperate efforts to cut my jugular
vein In the melee which ensued the table
was upset and chops, ale, dishes, knives,
forks and all the other appurtenances des-
cended upon poor Lee in a shower. Brown,
the proprietor Of the establishment. who
knew us boIh intimately, rushed forward
and separated us, and, at his solicitation,
he thinking we were entirely in earnest,
we finally shook hands and renewed our
VOWS of eternal friendship upon one an
others bosoms.
That was the inception of the famous
Lee dinner hoax. Sothern came to me af-
terward and said he desired to give the
Englishman a dinner at the Gramercy
Park Hotel In order to introduce him to
the customs of the great American people.
and said that the only part that he de
sired me to take in it was TO be sure that
Lee should be on hand at the appointed
hour, which was noon of the following
Sunday. To this l agreed. l knew, of
course, that some sort of joke was 10 be
perpetrated upon Miss Nelson's husband.
ADrAD