The Portland daily press., 1869-10-15

Oar unfortunate fsIlow citizen Baruum.
who's case appeared and disappeared 81
spssdly the other day In The Superior Court
seemed 10 have 6f-i-rais grievance. Ne
ssiom ~ a mare perfect ease Of An iuluyy
reaalirs ifuin earclessuess. A hwyef woull
Loi al Or mare eomFl,ie ana safisiartory
a'r''ieui b aasiFaie hs hyoriie remedy %
tsesslass 81 ne rss.. tban NJ. BarLum pre-
senial kren ne lastl exhgseraiisn Of s'Fik-
inf hitting. siahidng. ,heoiiuE, iaaaiins, hiuis-
NJ. malirf aing add knackiug aaSn erud
scarce equal tao plain unFanishcd tale Of his
wtlns1 ana consequent sancTings. lie was
knsskol dsHn, binWn up. hloHn down. SHOT
hufIt so ou &C., pot cat, fcaicd down stairs
Jpn caasidcrais and senile explosion.
ia.gei in blindiRs Game. which he had 10
ian aasy Ia order 10 see What he was about
Thrrc Is On Of damages ior You. Al any
rate here are damages. We defy the elo-
gacnoe 81 counsel 10 exaegerate ihe pla' N
and simple recital Of each chapter Of person.
al abuses
BItno vel. ordered lawsuit can so on with
out a defendant Accordingly. Mr.. l.. 8.
Brown was pitched upon to perform that
part. Brown Is good name TO go 10 law to.
We do not know 10 which Of the parties TO
the record are most entitled TO our commiser-
alton. Last spring when the calamity was
4 esh and horrid, we stood by the wreck of IL e
n scent hotel, and felt our hearts almost as
much lacerated as its gushing walls. in behalf
Of the plaintiff. This fall we confess a sub
dued sympathy for the defendant. For we
do not know OF man in the city, who might
not with the same propriety have been put
into the writ, to have this accumulation OF
injury and suffering laid to his charge, as
could Mr.. Brown. Nobody believes he is
bad man, that he has any diabolical
malice of blowing up his fellow citizens and
d nuding them of their integuments He
would pay his part and probably did, along
W tn others, TO relieve the victim of the ex-
plosion from the losses occasioned by his long
illness. Now Mr.. Brown was there, called
there probably without much, if any, COM
pansatlon, to adjust, as an arbiter, some ques-
ton OF vauing old gas fixtures between land
ioLu anu teHdHl. buJ as the most innocent
and prudent man, if he had been there at the
time of the explosion, would have stood The
chance of losing his "integuments" if not his
lite, so Mr.. Browns being put in the writ and
made to face the claim of $4,000 damages
must be considered an act Of God.
Even ifin doing, what he had come there
to do, for Mr.. Barnum's convenience. Mr.
Brown had removed las he swears he did
not,) the peccant gas fixture, he did it for Mr..
Barnum with his knowledge, and with the
amp est notice ON his part, that it was off. and
must be stopped up before the gas was let on,
or there would be a young Petersburg mine
under his roof And to stop this open gas
pipe was the very thing that Barnum after
TIE ampest warnings charged himself TO per-
form.
1t was doubtless hard to 60 out of court
with SO plausible and eomely case. 1t was no
breaking down OF the case,-simply a mistake
in the identity Of the wrong doer The writ.
with whatever of legal eloquence and empha-
sis, need not even be thrown away, since the
next man that an attorney might throw
chip upon from his Office window, may with
as good right be compelled to perform the role
of defendant. We are glad Mr.. Brown has
nothing 10 pay but his lawyers, and have no
doubt they have been considerable.