Watertown Republican

English Practical Jokes.

The London press has had much to say about the coarseness of American humor, and has been dreadfully shocked by such hoaxes as the sending of a forged dispatch to the Stock Exchange announcing the death of a great railroad financier. But the English themselves are fast becoming a nation of practical jokers. Within a few weeks the British Admiralty has been made the victim of a stupendous hoax. A fictitious dispatch was received by the Port Admiral at Cork ordering the gunboat Goshawk to proceed to Gibraltar at once. The vessel sailed within 24 hours, and would have gone the full length of her fool's errand if a storm had not compelled her to take refuge in Galway Bay, where dispatches were received from the Admiralty. About three weeks ago a marriage was broken off in Birmingham by means of a bogus telegram. A young Hebrew couple went to the synagogue to be married in the presence of a large circle of acquaintances. The preliminary formalities were completed, and they were only waiting for the registrar, who was a few minutes behind time, when a messenger arrived with the following dispatch from London: "Stop marriage at once, His wife and children are in London." The bride, nearly swooning from excitement, demanded an explanation. The bridegroom protested that he was innocent and that the charge was groundless. The bride's friends refused to acquit him, and the marriage was indefinitely postponed. It was subsequently ascertained that the address given by the sender of the telegram was fictitious and that the bridegroom had been made the victim of a heartless hoax. American humor may be broad and coarse, but is English wit pure and undefiled?