Sioux City register. [volume] (Sioux City, Iowa) 1858-1871, 1859-12-10
UNCLE JOE IN COVRT.

was Just the one " do 1t. In short he Wa
universal "man Friday" and for consid
J Grafton he would perform any kind Q
work which might be called for. He wa
= happy old fellow. and he would cracl
soms hard jokes without, hurting any body
He owned little hut over back of thu
village, to which few acres Of good lane
were attached and besides this he had 4
COW and some other items of stock. He
lived quite comfortabIs, snd the impress
sion had gone abroad that he had mana
ged to lay up some money.
Capt. Daniel Lober, who had recently
settled in town owned fine piece of land
adjoining uncle J,e's lot, and he was not
long in making himself very disag, eeabIe
to our man Friday. lie was proud, selfish
and little mean withal. Uncle Joe had
some geese, and they ran upon Lober's =
land: upon which the indignant captain
threatened 10 shoot them if he caught the IN
there again.
"If y.'d make your fence tighter, they
would not &c. through" meekl7 replied
Uncle Joe.
Ny fence is as tight as the law requires,
returned the hauS h;y captain, aad with
that he turned away.
50 Uncle Joe had to go to work and
tighten the fence, and put large yokes up.
on his geese.
Lobers next movement was against
Joe's hens. He swore he would shoo.
them if they were not kept out Of his lot.
Joe built u hen house and put his feather
ed bipeds therein, but it was a sore trial
! nR ia IA ,,,;ti !
| him, though they could not he p him.
One season Capt. Lober p!Oughel up
his lot, some ten acres Of it, and sowed it
with wheat. The grain came on finely
aud The owner used to take the men out
there to show them his grain. |. vas ac
kuo~edged to be the bes; piece Of whea.
IN town. But the captain was destined to
some i'll fortune he had not though, Of
| This land was at some distance from his
dwelling, aud when he was busy at other
points, q week or two might pass without
his visiting it. One afternoon he came to
see his wheat, and when he reached the
edge Of the field he stood aghast at the
sight which met his gaze. The tall. stout
grain was trodaen aud tramplcd down.
Over half the lot presenting scene Of
| havoc and destruction truly horrible to
behold And the astonished owner was
at no loss to account for the desolation,
! for near the centre of the lot he saw "A
| horse. 1t was gauat, heavy built animal
of dingy white color, aud although svi-
IDENTIFY we'll stricken in years yet he caper
ed and frisked about with marvellous spiri.
| aow cropping few we'll filed heads. and
| n,>N ,lo D.. ~
though he were treading the wine vat.
| should not dare to tell the oa,hs which
| Capt. Lober then and there poured forth /;
but they were terrible ones, and the white
foam was upon his lips as he raved. As
soon as he could collect his thoughts, he
started for uncle Joes. He knew that
Joe must have seen the horse in there, for
the animal must have been there three or
four DAYS at work. And perhaps the dep
redator belonged to Joe. Just as the Cap.
| tain reached the road he met Sam War
ner. Sam was not temperance man,
nor did he belong to church; but was
particular friend Of uncle Joe's, and didn't
think much Of Daniel Lober.
"Mr. Warner, does Joe Bassett own a
horse, cried the Captain, trembling with
rage.
Yes. ] believe he does. Squire" re
turned Sam.
ia he white ons?"
"kien o whltish.'
"How old is it?"
"Wall, 'taint very old nor very young,
but it's kind O. shaky round the knees
| Capt. Lober posted off to Uncle Joe.
cot, and found the old fellow at work about
the premises.
MIR Basse,,' he said. with awful mean
ing do you own horse p
"Wal, | rather calkila.e now l do
Squire he answered.
And did you know that your horse
had destroyed more than half my wheaI?"
"Je.ru sa lem yew don t say SO SQUIRE
exclaimed Joe 10 terror.
Il, is fact, sir and YOU may settle it
or suffer the consequences.
"But Squire really cant believe it, my
hoss is sucn quiet eritter.
Are you willing to settle it?' cried
the captain madly.
But Squire, really, couldn't pay ye
nothin' sartin.'
Then you will pay something else
You knew very well that your horse has
been in the field
| | couldn't swear that he hadA't--that' S
q fact"
That's enough
With that the captain walked off. He
went to one of the assessors, from whom
he learned that Joe owned some two or
/ three hundred dollars worth Of property
aud then he went to a lawyer and had Joe
Bassst sued, setting the damage AT one
| hundred dollars. The lawyer sent Joe =
| letter, but the old man refused 10 take any
notice OF it. The case Was carried into
court, Capt. Lober having sworn that he
would push Joe to the last extremity.
The court was in session and the day
for trial arrived. The room was crowded,
for the whisper had gone abroad that Joe
had got the best OF il. Finally, the case
/ was called up aud l.obers counsel made .
i statement OF the case which led to the suit,
.nlsrpiug upon the damage which had
been done to his clients pronerty. aud ex
planning how little the transgres,or seem 1
I TO care for II.
What IL the defence p
Nobody seemed 10 know.
"ls the defendant ia court
All ewes we're now turned upon Joe, aal
he arass,
Are yau the defendant in hi. eAs. -
asked the court
M. 7? SAID doe, with vacant stare.
"les~-soa
! ale IL, Your honm, answered. l.olef 5
Z