The national Republican., 1867-05-02

| lhhEE DEAD DuOkb IN COuRT.-Ont
OF those unique cases which rarely happen o.
make their appearance in the halls Of iu,tIce 70,
adjudication, came up before Squire Gull, in III,
Seventh ward, on Tuesday last. In fact We neyel
heard Of similar case In the annals Of legal juris
prudence bsfors, and they are not q few in ou,
journalistic sxperispcs. Bat to the facts Of tn,
ease In question.
DR., Darby, residing On the edge Of the corpora
tion limits has lot Of ducks; or at least he had
valuable, ducks--vhich, like other wide awake
and thrifty ducks. would wander away and gC
where they ought not 70, In quest Of food. Now,
on one Of their predatory and 'traidipR', iuour.
sions, the Aforesaid (defunct) ducks made an
inroad upon tho vegetable garden Of Mr.. Colum.
bus Roheyi not by ''olearng the fence" but
By squs,tins II, and played sad havoc with Mr..
hobey's celery lettucs, onions dc., 10 his infinite
loss. Mr.. Robey was 30 very much incensed at
the destruction Of his nice celery, lettuce, 30.
BY .ducls, that he took II upon himself 10 notify
tho owner Of tho Aforesaid rniding ducks, that II
he (Dr. d. did not keep them out Of his yegeta.
bic patch, he be id II he (Mr. r. did not
shoot them or worse stii) wiring their heads OF.
TO this threat he only reeeived tho response Of
Tho ducks came visiting again, much to the
discontinue Of Mr. Robey, and he fully deter
mined to send DR.. Darby's ducks away with a
" aes In their ear, and he did, too He be.
thought himself 10 take . little recreation by
going a hunting 30 b. fully armed himself
with powder-nssk, shot-bag pouch and double.
the teethjh and ss he was passing through his
vegetable patch, - to his utter aston ment he
discovered DR.. Darby's ducks In the midst of
Il, making celery and lettuce grow nshort by
degrees and beautifully less" His rage know
no boundss he put double charge In his smooth.
bore, blaEsd away and dispatched three of the
ducks out Of the patch into the Hades. Mr..
Rahaw had bis L.. l.. n
Darby, whom he wasfally made acquainted with
the Occurrences, dntermined TO have his, also
He took recourse 10 Law by enforcing It's DOW.
erful arm against the t6ici hunting expedition Of
Mr. Robey in his own (R :s.) vegetable ''pateh. -
He forthwith had warrant issued against Mr..
Columbus Roboy for "malcious mischief" Tho
ease was duly tried by Squire Gull, both parties
having talented counsel to represent them; Mr.
Hine for the plaintiff and Nj Robert s. Davis
for tho defendant. After hearing the evidence
In the case, and the argument Of counsel pro et
con, the justice dismissed tho case. Thereupon
the plaintiff instituted suit for damages; O., the
value Of the ducks, ten dollars apiece thirty dol.
lars for tho three. Upon this turn In the case
the counsel for the defendant demanded A trial
upon the broad and wido principle Of a trial by
jury, which, Of course, the Justice granted.
Twelve gentlemen, unprejudioed gentlemen, sat
upon the case or rather stood upon II, for Squire
Culls office not being as large as It might be- the
jury stood up in row against the wall, two and
two, and II did then and thore hear the case
aforesaid.
DR.. Darby depossd that his ducks were valua.
bic ducks-psculiarly soi that they would not
6y, neither would they scratch the ground as
other ducks that their eggs were worth 81 per
dozen, and that bis ducks laid one hundred and
ttcenty eggs during the laying seasOn After
cross-cxamination and debate by counsel on the
relative merits of the dead ducks" tho case
was closed.
The justice then charged the jury that II they
believed the ducks laid one hundred and twenty
eggs in the season, and the eggs were worth 81
per doTen, then they should bring In a verdict
for the plaintiff
The jury then retired, or rather tho counsel
and justice retired from the squires Office, and
after being out dn) for two hours announced to
the justice that they were unable to agree, and
not likely to-six being for the plaintiff and six
for the defendant-and they were discharged.
The dead ducks' case Is still In abeyance,
and may in all probability come up before the
District Supreme Court before 1t is brought to n
final close. We shall keep our readers duly ap.
prised Of tho fate Of tho ''dsad ducks"