The Late Mr Capone
American ** deadpan” humour sometimes takes strange forms. How else can one account for the proposal to immortalise the late Al Capone, the notorious gangster., by endowing a chair of taxation at the University of Pennsylvania? One of the least successful incidents in his career was his imprisonment for tax evasion, although he was commonly believed to have committed graver crimes without punishment Possibly his successors will get better advice from the Al Capone Professor of Taxation. It was appropriate that the proposal should be announced by “a Philadelphia ** lawyer ”. Philadelphia lawyers, of course, are famed for their sharpness, a distinction they earned from the success of one of their number who rescued some grateful British sailors “ from certain difficulties ” (according to Funk and Wag-
nail’s dictionary). Mr Capone
•earns to have owed as much as to a “ Philadelphia
“lawyer” in escaping from all his “ difficulties ” but one, a minor deficiency to be remedied posthumously.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19590113.2.65
Bibliographic details
Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28792, 13 January 1959, Page 8
Word Count
158The Late Mr Capone Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28792, 13 January 1959, Page 8
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.
Log in