East Saginaw courier., 1866-04-25
Bill Arp Addresse Law School, and
gives his Experience.
MILLEpeEvILLE, Feb, 1865.


,df MILLEDGEyILLE, Feb, ISOo.-
hessrs. C. c. Cummings and Others, Com
mittee. t
GENTLEMEN have received your
kind invitation TO address your law
skool. In the situation by which /
am surrounded it will be impossible
for me to go. l wish i could, for L
would like to tell you all i know
about law, and it wouldent take long.
I'm now in the law business myself
at this place. We are, engaged in
manufacturing it by wholesale, and
after a while it will be retailed out by
the lawyers to anybody that wants it..
It's an easy business to make law,
though some of the tills introduced
are awfully spelt. To-day / saw n
bill in which "masheenry" was spelt
with two esses and four ease. But
the greatest difficulty is understanding
the law after it is made. Among law
yers this difficulty don't seem to lie so
much in the head as in the pocket
For five dollars lawyer can luminize
some, and more according to pay
But he oughtent to lnniinize but one
side at "a time. The first case / ever
had in a jestiee court, i employed old
Bob LiggiIs, who was sort of self
educated fool. l give him two dol
lars in advance and he argued the
case, as L thought, on two sides, and
was more luminous agin me than for
me, 1 lost the case, and found out
afterwards that the defendant had
employed Liggins after L did, and
gave him FIVE dollars to lose my case.
! look upon this as warning to all
clients, to pay big fees and keep your
lawyer out of temptation.
My experience i'll litigation has not
been satisfactory. Isued Sugar Black
onst for the price of lead of shuks.
He said he wanted TO buy some ruff
uess, and agreed 20 bring him load
of shuks for two dollars. Ny wagon
got broke and he got tired a waiting,
and sent out after the shuks hisself
When / asked him for the pay. he
seemed surprised, and said it had cost
him two dollars and a half to have
the shuks hauled, and that jestly
owed him a half dollar. He was
bigger than was, so 1 swollored my
bile and sued him. His lawyers pied
set off for haulin. He pied that
the shuks was unsound that they
were barred by limitations; that they
didn't agree with his COW, that he
never got any shuks from me. He
spoke about an hour and alluded To
me as swindler about As times
The bedeviled jury went out and
brought in virdict against me for 50
cents and IS for costs of suit. haint
saved nary shuk on my plantation
since, and / don't intend to until il
gets less expensive. / look upon this
as warnin to folks never to go to
law about shuks, or any other small
circumstance.
The next trouble L had was with a
feller who i hired to dig mea well
He was to dig it for $40, and was
to pay him in bacon, meal an sich
like. The vagabond kept getten
along until he got all the pay; but he
hadn't dug nary foot in the ground
So Imade out my akkount, and sued
him as follers, to-wit: l
Old John Hank to Bill Arp, DIR
To l well you dident dig g---- $40
We'll, Hanks he hired a cheap law.
yer, who rared around exclusively and
said a heap of funny things at my ex.
pense, and finally dismissed my case
for what he called its "redikulum ab,
sordum." / paid those costs and
went home a sadder and a wiser man
pulled down my little cabin and
moved it some hundred yards nearer
to the spring, and I've drunk mitJ
little well water since. / Took upor
this case as warnin to all folks, mere,
pay for anything TIL you're got IL, es
pecialy 1 ii has TO be dag.
The next law case / had / gained
by myself by the force of circumstan
ces. i bought a mans note that wa,
given for the hire Of a nigger boy
Dix. Finding that he would not pay
me, / sued him before old Squar,
McGinnis, beleevin that it was such 8
dead thing. that the devil couldn'
keep me out Of a virdick. The fell
ler's attorney pied failure Of consid
Grafton, and non est fdktmm and ynii
fatnn and infancy, and that the mig
gers name wasept DR but Rmhdd,-