Artemus Ward? Charles Farrar Browne? Leo Rosten? Punch Magazine? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: A grotesque comical tale illustrates the notion of chutzpah. A young person was found guilty of murdering his father and mother. The judge asked, “Have you anything to say before I pass sentence?” The defendant replied, “I hope your Honor will show some consideration for the feelings of a poor orphan.”
The precise phrasing of the question and reply vary. This tale has been credited to the nineteenth-century U.S. humorist Artemus Ward, but I have not seen strong evidence, and I am skeptical. Would you please help me to find a citation?
Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match found by QI appeared in 1856 within “The Knickerbocker or New-York Monthly Magazine”. The anecdote appeared in a section called “Editor’s Table”, and it was submitted by a person who was only identified as “Bob”. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
A Frenchman was tried for murdering his father and mother under very revolting circumstances; was found guilty; and finally brought up for sentence. The judge put the usual question, preliminary to sentence: ‘Have you any thing to say?’ etc. ‘No, your honor’ was the reply; ‘but I hope your honor will have mercy on a poor Orphan!’ Isn’t that slightly cool, considering what it was that made him a ‘poor orphan?’ Good for (and from) ‘Bob!’ Let us hear from him again.
Thus, the participants in the anecdote and the creator of the yarn remain anonymous.
A version of the tale with an Arkansas setting was presented by Artemus Ward in 1858, but the story was already in circulation. Artemus Ward was the pseudonym of Charles Farrar Browne.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1858 the “Cleveland Daily Plain Dealer” of Ohio printed a short piece titled “A Hard Case” which included the following paragraphs:2
. . . the hardest case we ever heard of lived in Arkansas. He was only fourteen years old. One night he deliberately murdered his father and mother in cold blood, with a meat axe. He was tried and found guilty.
. . . even the Jury who had found it to be their stern duty to declare him guilty of the appalling crime—even the Jury now wept aloud at this awful moment.
“Have you anything to say?” repeated the deeply moved Judge. “Why, no,” replied the prisoner, “I think I haven’t, though I hope yer Honor will show some consideration FOR THE FEELINS OF A POOR ORPHAN!” The Judge sentenced the perfect young wretch without delay.
The author of the tale above was not specified in the newspaper; however, a closely matching text appeared in a collection of writings by Artemus Ward published in 1867. Hence, QI believes Artemus Ward deserves credit for this 1858 citation.
In 1860 “The Literary Gazette” of London printed the following condensed instance:3
His genius is akin to that of the gentleman who, having murdered his father and mother, suggested that the court in place of hanging him, should have “mercy on a poor orphan.”
In 1861 “The London Journal” printed the following version:4
A Yankee being tried for having murdered his father and mother, suggested that the Court, instead of hanging him, “should have mercy on a poor orphan!”
In 1864 the London humor magazine “Punch” printed the following:5
They never were so ingeniously pleaded, in MR. PUNCH’s recollection, as when a Frenchman, who had murdered his father, and also his mother, hoped that the Court would have mercy on a poor Orphan.
In 1866 “The Saturday Review” of London printed the following instance:6
. . . a plea somewhat suggestive of the Frenchman’s, who, when convicted of murdering his father and mother and asked what he had to say in self-defence, begged leave to express a hope that the Court would remember he was a poor orphan.
In 1867 the collection “Artemus Ward in London: And Other Papers” appeared. An anecdote titled “A Hard Case” occurred in this book, and the text was very similar to the version given in “Cleveland Daily Plain Dealer” in 1858.7
In 1982 U.S. lexicographer Leo Rosten published “Hooray for Yiddish!” which included an entry about the word “chutzpah” (also spelled “chutzpa”):8
Definitions of chutzpa spring up like weeds: the classic, of course, goes: Chutzpa is the quality shown by the man who murders his mother and father, then asks the judge to forgive a poor orphan.
In conclusion, the earliest known instance of this anecdote appeared in 1856 within the New York periodical “The Knickerbocker”. The story was submitted by someone who was only identified as “Bob”. The guilty defendant was called a Frenchman, but no other identifying details were presented. The tale might have been fictional.
In 1858 Artemus Ward told a version of the anecdote set in Arkansas. However, QI would not credit Ward because the tale was already in circulation.
Image Notes: Illustration of a wooden gavel and sounding block from Wesley Tingey at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized. Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Jonathan Lighter whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Also, thanks to “The New Yale Book of Quotations” which lists the 1867 citation for Artemus Ward.
- 1856 June, The Knickerbocker: Or, New-York Monthly Magazine, Volume 47, Number 6, Section: Editor’s Table, Start Page 632, Quote Page 653, Published by Samuel Hueston, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1858 October 27, Cleveland Daily Plain Dealer, A Hard Case, (Probably written by Artemus Ward), Quote Page 3, Column 2, Cleveland, Ohio. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1860 November 10, The Literary Gazette, The Week: Mr. Gladstone and the Museum, Quote Page 399, Column 1, Published at the Office of The Literary Gazette, London (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1861 February 16, The London Journal, Facetiae, Quote Page 110, Column 1, G. Vickers, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1864 May 21, Punch, or the London Charivari, Punch’s Essence of Parliament, Tuesday, Quote Page 207, Column 2, Published at the Office of Punch, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1866 October 6, The Saturday Review, The Simla Court-Martial, Start Page 413, Quote Page 414, Column 1, Published at the Office of The Saturday Review, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1867, Artemus Ward in London: And Other Papers by Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne), Chapter 25: A Hard Case, Start Page 183, Quote Page 183 and 184, G. W. Carleton & Company Publishers, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1982 Copyright, Hooray for Yiddish! A Book about English by Leo Rosten, Entry: chutzpa, Quote Page 85, Simon and Schuster, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎