Judge, 1928-08-04 · page 11 of 36
Judge — August 4, 1928 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Nursery Murder Case" This is a humorous parody of detective fiction, a popular genre in early 20th-century magazines. The satire mocks the formulaic mystery story through absurdist logic: detectives investigate a crime while a mysterious "hollow voice" emanates from under furniture; characters make nonsensical deductions ("old Flemish custom" of exiting through open doors); and the investigation grows increasingly ridiculous (taking police dogs to the moor, searching closets despite doubt anyone's there). The joke targets readers' familiarity with serious detective narratives by replacing coherent mystery-solving with circular, illogical reasoning and pratfall humor. Names like "Sergeant Dillingworth" and "Sergeant Dilling" create intentional confusion. The illustration shows the body discovery scene, emphasizing the story's theatrical melodrama. This represents Judge magazine's satirical approach to mocking popular literary conventions of its era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE The Nursery Murder Case By S. S. Vax Jack Cheetr Sergeant Dillingworth paused for a moment, sprinkled tale on the smear and sneered: “The fin gerprints would indicate that—" He stopped short, unpaused, and uttered an ith of office through ng glass. ‘you interviewed — the * said Dillingworth’s able ; nt Dilling. I have my own theory about this crime, sides, it’s her day out,” ing’s able assistant, Dillingworth, “Let's. sit. down and recon- struct the crime,” said the third Mrs. Dillingham, . be- 1 Dill- Sergeant “Let's reconstruct the crime standing up.” said a hollow voice nder the bed. pustics and who tion call I Dilling- worth, covering the hollow voice with the ace of trumps. your s said “Iam the spirit of toyland,” said the hollow voice from under a pile of rugs. z \ \ \ \ SAPSuo9n) ave you ever endorsed a garette or a yeast cake?” said three detectives in unison. the But they were too late—the hol- low voice had hung up and gone home They made some rapid caleu- lations on a rapid calculator (by Burroughs) about the position of the body and sent for the coro- ner. It was Sergeant Dilli who first broke the silence: orth “Ah- * said Mrs. Dillingham, spinning around with knit eyelashes. Yardon me, Tha hay said the able cant Dillingworth, producing » blunt- nosed handkerchief. “And the coroner told you not to disturb anything until’ he ar- rived,” said Sergeant Dilling as he sandpapered his finger tips: “Whoever broke this open is still here in’ this ro inside job!" said Sergeant Dill- ingworth’s able assistant, Ser- geant Dilling, to Mrs. Dilling- am. “Well, what causes that?” Mrs. Dillingham, notin; fully the position of the be i—it’s an said re- “Because all the windows a locked from the outside,” Sergeant Dillingworth’s able a sistant, Sergeant Dilling, to Mrs. Dillingham. s, but the door is open: possibly the robber went out that wav—it’s an old Flemish custom, know, Mrs. Dilling- ham, née Schwartzbacker, Then it's an inside-out jc and we're on a wild goose chase said Sergeant Dilli orth But, what about the hollow voice! Let's investigate!" “Tl take the bureau drawers,” said Mrs. Dillingham, starting her own line of investigation “No! Vi the bureau drawers... . You take the po- you said lice dogs and follow those foot- steps out onto the moor — inci- dentally, you might feed the a able Sergeant Dillingworth. “Has anyone looked in this closet?” said) Sergeant Dilling from under the mattress. “No. But IT doubt) whether anybody would be in there this time of year,” said) Sergeant Dilling’s able assistant, Sergeant Dillingworth, (Continued on page 31) comicbooks.com