Ellsworth American., 1876-05-11
A Question OF Law
W iKT Skis



\ man came lnt" III" office ot Judge n,
th' "r!l-AH""n lawyer. the other day, and
when the judge had time TO ll-t"n 10 hun
hr >1ll:
Judge, NY name l. Scudicr- | called
To see you, ~ir. about dog case that kind
tr be"iidrr' me, aud thought maybe you
mt-ht throw some IiIht on hcr-ml.ht lust
give me The law points so'> III know wheth-
er y wa, worm while SUING or not.
-" ell. Judge. you -ec, Inc and a man
named Potts went into partnership on a
dog. We bought him. lie was setter,
and me and Potts went shares on him sos
to take hun ont-a-huntin4. II vas never
exactly settled which half OF him owned.
ana which hatt belonged 70 POtts.but SOM
how KINDER formed IN Idea in my mind
that the hlnd end was Scuddrr's and that
the front end belonged 10 Pntt-. The con
sequence was that when the dog barked,
always ,ald. There zoe, Potts part eXcr-
cI>ing itseii while my part does nothing Y
ana when the doc tail wagged | always
consider j that my end was being ugertated
And OF course when one Of my hind lcs-
scratched one Of Potts ears, or one Of Ms
shoulders. | was perfectly satisfied; first
because. that >urtcr thing was good for the
whole dog. and >ccoLl, because the thing
would get about even when Potts' head
would reach around and bike a ilca of N
hind leg or snap at ny.
'Weu.tning, went along smooth enough
fur while. until one day that dug began
my tail. He was the fJoIi-hr~t do. about
ihaf | ever seen. U-ed to chase h, tail
round and round until he'd ct - gidis he
Couldu't baTA. Ana yuu Know | wa sheer
ed lcsr it might lurt the dogs health, a
a. Potts didn't >eeu to be- willing to l,y,
his end from circulating in pursuit ,l uy
end, nair up my mlnd to chop the dogs
tail of, SOS 0 make him reform and be-
have.
1 50 last Saturday caused the dog to
back up a9in d log and then | suddenly
( dropped the axe on his tail, pretty close
up. and the next minute he was booming
around that yard. bowling like boat load
[ of wild cats. Just then Potts came up
and he let on to be mad because Ia cut of
that tail. One word brought on another
and pretty soon Potts sicked that dog on
me-my own half too. mind yOu--and the
| dog bit ME in the leg; bit piece out, see
that; look at that leg, About half a pound
gone; eat up by that dog.
Nov, what | want TO see you about,
Judge, is this; Can't | recover damages
for assault and battery from Potts? What
| chopped off belonged to me, reco!Iect
/ owned an urdivideQ half of that setter pup,
| from the tip of his tail clear up to his third
rib. and had right to cut away as much
! OF it as Ia mind to; while Potts, being
sole owner of the dogs head, is respOnsi-
/ bic "heu he bites anybody"
II don't know" replied the Judge, mus
I ia.ly. There haven't been any decisions
/ oa cases exactly like this. But what does
! Mr. Potts say upon the subject"
1 by, Potts view IS that | divided the
| dog the wrong way. When lie wants TO
map out his half he draws line from the
middle of the nose, right along the spine,
and clear to the end of the tail. That gives
me one hind leg and one fore leg. and
makes him joint proprietor in the tail.
And he says that if wanted to cut off my
half Of the tail might have done it. and
he wouldn't have cared; but what made
him mad was that wasted his property