Red Wing sentinel. [volume] (Red Wing, M.T. [i.e. Minn.]) 1855-1861, 1859-05-21
=. -. 1897 9d7 Communicated. .s" .as 81
THE ADMINISTRATION. OF Law
IN A WESTERN JUSTICE COURT;


fore them. A collection of their
Docket Entries would furnish VOL
ume of forms and precedents, that
would undoubtedly, were they to be
generally adopted, soon place Whit
taker on the top shelf of every law
yer's library, as book no longer Of
any use. ~: ~o3 1
1t was once my good fortune to at
tend a trial had before one of these
originals. A brief description of the
perso'ael Ct the Court may not be al
together uninteresting. In stature, he
was about five feet four inches high,
and four feet five inches in "circumfer-
ence,---his head and face, with their
profuse hirsute ornaments, suggested
the idea of a backwood knot, orna-
mented with the usual fly brush car
ried by animals of the genus bovine.
His face, or rather all that could be
seen of it, had about as much express
ion as a pan Of dish water. To en-
able him clearly to distinguish the
legal "oi'ats," the summit Of his era
mum was ornamented with pair of
large round eyed, steel bowed specta-
cles; kept in their place by means Of a
tow string passing around the afore-
said ;cranium. His person was clothed
in red flannel shirt and grey kersey-
mere pants, terminating in a pair Of No.
|l6k cowhide boots, between which, and
the bottoms Of his inexpressibles there
seemed, Judging from appearances, to
have been difficulty of long stand
ling. Add to this that he chewed an
immense amount of "plug,'' and spit
|profusely, and you have a picture Of
his Honor. I will not attempt to de-
tail the proceedings at the trial, but
merely give q literal copy (barring
names) Of his docket entry in the case,
for the genuineness Of which, vide the
record in the words and figures fol-
lowing, to wit: .sf
estate oF-CouNrY oF--ss.
'oan; n9epxSp +; ;SD1, ROE. Sci. Be- it ''n.n: men.
bered that on the 2sth day of Novem-
bur, A. D. 1855, the sayd John Doe
filed here as his Klaus of acktion a
olame for damage on MAR, which
sayd John Doe bot Of said Richard
Roe, which he baut for A saund Beast,
whereas she proved onsaund... Partys
appeared-cort cauled before ten
o'clock-the defendant sayd he want
in in cort, which was a lie; he was
hear all the time-then the next move
was for remoaving it befoar some
other justice, but befoar that was got
along with it was discovered that the
constable hadn't maid his return o1
sarvice. this was by the defendants
attorneys-then no moar was sayd
about moving the suit, but they un-
dertook to have q. breakdown on &C.
count of the constable's not having
his naim to his return of sarvis-that
didn't have any affect-tharfor they
Civ it up, and evidens was sworn--:iit it
was proved that the mair in contem.
|plation was very unsound-had a
SPAWN on each hind leg, and calls
on the fore leg and had the heaves--
and one hip had bin injured some way
and she had A stiff neck on account
of her having the pole evil-and fur
thermore it was proved that if said
mair was sound she would be worth
one hundred dollars-one of the evi-
dens swoar that sayd mair was worth
not over thirty dollars. land other
evidens that her to be worth not over
fifty dollars-it was proven that said
Roe recommended her sound there
fore ! decide from the proofs and al
|ligations that Mr.. Richard Roe pay
Mr.. John Doe fifty dollars and cost Of
IcOrf-fsnr tho reason nf his fakinc, nna
hundred dollars which was a sound
|price-and l Judge after hearing the
|proof and ALI igation, that fifty dollars
compensate Mr.. John Doe for the un-
|soundness therefore I give John Doe
Ia Judgment Of fifty dollars.
MI e.s7sx JOHN SMITH,
- "A Justice Of the Peace.
Who will say after perusal of the
above, that justice is not sometimes
dealt out even handed. q.