Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1848-05-13
A CLERoYMAN TAKEN In AND DONE FOR

1 CLEN1fMAN TAKEN IN AND DONE FOR.
y The boat from Albany landed on the
pier, last Tuesday morning, an innocent,
unsophisticated clergyman from the western
4 part of the State, who had never been in this
, city before, and of course knew nothing Of
the vicious habits of the elephant. The
clergyman stood on the pier, with his carpet
bag in his hand, and wondrous expression
on his mild countenance, when he was es-
pied by a Jehu, who was on the look out
for a fare. 1 e 9ssdi iaa
coach, sir p says Jehu, touching his hat
respectfully, and looking demurely. II sal
sYes, my friend,' the Clergyman replied,
waking, suddenly from his reverie,, i do
want coach,' 8
] ,sAll right, sir, come this way," and tehu
s.i..sed the carpet bag, to which its owner
clung and was dragged through the crowd
to rickety old machine, which the driver
called coach. i
where to, sir p says Jehu. A9'4 l'q
sTo any respectable public house.-I ain
a stranger here.' iA idl .,4 ia as4 hli
'Pll cary you to the best one i'll town
the hotel where rooms have eentaken for
the King of France as ass
sBless me- said the clergyman, sis the ex-
King of France coming overAI didn't
hear of that ~1.'r
Expected next steamer, sir-who would
have been here before, only he waited to
see if the Queen of England wouldn't want
to come along too.' .A3 -
sAh,' said the clergyman, 1--WE live in ex-
citing times.' 7ra ia07 p a.aa tsHf
sWe don't do any thing else, SIR res
ponded Jehu, as he jumped on the box and
applied the whip to his miserable nags.
To what den of thieves the rascally coach
man carried our country friend, we cannot
say, since the victim was unable to describe
the place or its locality to the police. But
it was opposite dity looking building,
that he was put down by the driver, who
then demanded three dollars fare.
sThree dollarsn exclaimed the good cler-
gyman, 'why, neighbor of mine said that
the rates were fixed by law, and that I
would have to pay only three shillings to
ride mile in the city, ,o
%, that was before the news of the French
revolution came; wages have riz since then,
and the law now is for every man to get as
much as he can, and keep all he gets, and
we 60 in for that law-we do,
sBut, my friend, if had known that you
would have demanded so much, l should
have walked'
sTaint safe for strangers to walk in the
city--ten to one they'll meet the elephant
'Meet the elephant-I don't understand
YOU
BY this time, according to the clergy
mans account, the knave, must have tired
of fooling with his victim, for he answered
saucily-
q cant stop to talk with you-pay me
my three dollars and let me go.'
The country gentleman, unsuspicious an
hour before of such tricks, yet felt that he
wasbeing cheated, and mildly declined to
pay the money.
'Then you must 60 before magistrate
cried Jehu in rage.
.Willingly-and if the magistrate says
that your charge is right, l viii pay it,
Better pay it now and save the costs of
courts.'
sThe costs of court will Justice of the
peace charge anything for answering sim
gle questions
"A single question! If you 60 to law
with me, we'll have regular trial, accord
ing to the new constitution; I'll have a iu-
ry of twelve men, if they can be got, or six
any how answered the hackman.
The clergyman endeavored to compro-
mise with the Jehu, but new idea had en-
tered into the rascal's head, and he now
not only demanded three dollars fare, but
extra pay for the delay. The victim con-
cluded to see the magistrate, and he re-en-
tered the hack and was driven off, where
he could not tell; but his description of the
scene which followed was ludicrous e.
nough.
Twas introduced to the magistrate, who
shook hands with me, asked the hackman
what was the nature of the charge, and
shook his head when told that would not
pay three dollars for riding from the steam
boat to the hotel. l asked him ifthe charge
was iusta He said that the new law was
not clear to his apprehension, and that ju-
nv must decide the matter; and he thanked
God that under the new constitution the
Jury were Judges of the law and the fact,
and he didn't care d-n for all the bench
es in the Supreme Court-then he walked
away with the driyek and told me that ]
must consider myself prisoner until the
case was adjudicated., I asked him for my
carpet bag. He said that the new law die
not allow prisoner to have a carpet bas
or trunk, until the chief of police had ex
amined into the contents, and he asked M
for the key to send with the bag to th'
chiefs Office which gave to him. | wait
ed for more than an hour before jury wa
empanneled; when the trial began, the ma
i giSrate asked me il. had council. l re
: piled no; upon which he said, that tn
! court would assign me council, and red
faced man who stood in the doorway wa
! told to take charge ofmy CASE, The hack
man was examined, and told his story ver
j. briefly. "a.
!. Then I was put upon the stand and que,
u toned and cross-queaioned for two hour
!. ! was obliged to aate where ! came from
ae how old ! was, what was the state of m
wife's health-hoW MANY children had