Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-06-22
Curious Suits for Damages-EpisOdes
I'm the Arion COncert-FrauIein Ku-
nigunda and Captain Muller - A
Dead Parrot aud a Broken Leg.

nigunda and Captain Muller - A
Dead Parrot aud Broken Leg.
From the st. Louis Republican, 2Oth.l
We yesterday heard of two very funny
suits for damages commenced against
Mr. Eugene Haas, the President of the
Arion Singing Association. Both orig
mate in the circumstance that, at the
bottom of the Arion's advertisements to
! the concert on last Tuesday, the people
were promised extra cars after the con-
cert had ended. The first suit of which
we were informed, though uncommonly
rich in fun, is insignificant in regard to
the amount of damages claimed by the
person, who finds herself injured by the
non-appearance of the extra cars. The
second, as far as the claim of damages is
concerned, is of very serious nature !;
and the Arion would very probably be
ruined financially if any court could be
found to pronounce in favor of the plain
tiff. For, whilst in the first case only
twenty-five dollars are claimed, the dam
ages asserted to be incurred in the latter
amount to fully FIVE thousand dollars.
The facts in both cases are reported to us
as follows: The plaintiff in the first case
is a Fraulien Kunigunda Pieniz, who
lives far out on Bellefontaine road, very
near Lowell. She is spinster of forty,
or thereabouts, living on nice little in
come, together with an old cat and a
still older parrot In the morning of the
day of the concert one of her many ad.
mirers made her present of a ticket, and
after long deliberation with herself
Fraulien Kunigunda concluded that she
would undertake the trip to the Union
Park in order TO have musical treat,
such as she had not had during the last
fifteen years. Ascertsining that the cars
would wait for her, she knew in advance
that her whole trip would not cost more
than ten cents. The only question of
any difficulty was what to do with her
beloved animal friends, whom, for many
years, she had not left alone in the house
longer than time to 60 and return from
the Magwire Market. After some reAec-
ton she found what she thought to be
capital solution of the question. She
would take the two beloved animals
along with her, putting each separate in
a little basket. twas in the evening she
reckoned, and soon they would fall
asleep anyway, whilst nothing would
seem more natural to the people on the
way and at the park than, going such
long errand, she would have little bas-
ket hanging on each Of her arms.
When all the preparations were made,
she started on her journey and arrived
safely at the park, though not without
being little vexed by the restless be-
havior of the two dead-head passengers
in her baskets. But the great troubles
of Fraulein Kunigunds should only com
mence when she had taken posse ssion of
chair in one of the srbors of the park,
and the orchestra intonated the overture
to Tampa. Neither Pussy nor Polly
would remain in their small prisons, and
whilst the one mioued and scratched at
the basket with all her might, the other
cried out in his loudest voice, whatever
his mistress had taught him during many
years, with the self-sacrifcing love of a
mother. The hustle of the audience at
the commencement of the concert, yet,
was SO loud, and the first measures of
the overture so full Of sounds, that the
private duo of Fraulein Kunigunda's
hidden artists did not attract the general
attention. Under no circumstance would
she leave the park before the end Of the
concert, and yet she felt that something
had to be done to prevent the public
scandal of discovery of the two noisy
guests whom she had brought with her.
A happy thought at this critical moment
traversed her mind, and she executed it
at once. She slipped her hands care
fully under the covers Of ber baskets,
pressing gently the throat of the two pets
until they cease screaming, letting a
little loose when she imagined that they
might be in need of air, and so she
continued for four long hours, until the
last sound of the orchestra had died |
away. Her anxiety during the whole |
evening did not permit her TO listen to |
the music at all, and, in deluge of per-
spiration, she left the park, consoled by
the thought that car was waiting for |
her on Carondelet avenue to take her
hack to her home, which she solemaly |
promised to herself she would never leave |
any more for the mere sake of frivo-
lous pleasure, such as profane concert.
But to her unspeskable terror there
was no car, and here she stood at dis
tance of upward of seven miles from her
house loaded on each arm with restless
burden. Neither screaming nor despair
could bring her home; she had to walk
through the whole length of the city,
distance about FIVE times longer than she
had ever dared to travel during the whole
of her previous life. Sometimes she
opened the covers of her baskets. Her
two friends had become quite in the end
and Polly especially seemed perfectly ex-
hausted. AT haifpast three in the morn
ing she reached her heme; herself more
dead than living, Pussy laying comfort
ably asleep in her basket, but poor Polly
with closed eyes, which he would never
open any more, for he was dead. His
was not strong enough to
stand an imprisonment Of eight hours
and half. Who was the cause Of this
Froulsin Kunigunda asked her.
self. Nobody, except the President OF
the Arions. Had be kept his promise TO