, 1880-03-15
Cigars and Tobacco.

Cigars and Tobacco.
Two men were sentenced in the
Criminal Court. yesterday, one for
beating his wife and the other for steal
ing cigars. The wife-beater's crime
was measured by q sentence of three
months and that of the cigar-stealer by
fifteen months. indicating that cigars
are Just five times more valuable than
wives. Perhaps in these particular
cases, the cigars were unusually good
and the wife unusually bad, and it
would not, therefore, be altogether
safe for husbands, generally, to in
dulge IN the habit of assault and bat
terry, unless they are prepared to prove
that their wives are of very inferior
grade, or for the tobacconist to rely upon
heavy sentences as protection to any
but the best Havanas. Even then he
must be sure that the case is tried be-
fore Judge who knows the difference.
A recent case in England opened up
line of defense which, had the pre-
cedent been sooner thought Of, might
have saved many cigar thief from
Jail. In this case, the Judicial action
turned, not upon the cigar stealing,
but upon selling cigars without a Ii
cense. An old man was charged with
selling tobacco in the shape of cigars
without license. The defense was
that cigars we're not mentioned by the
act of Parliament under which the
charge was made, tobacco only being
named. and that, in the point of fact,
the cigars in question contained no to-
bacco whatever, being manufactured
solely from cabbage leaves and hay, no
offense was committed. The magis-
trate thereupon discharged the pris-
oner. 1t will be observed that in this
case the defense was peculiarly strong;
as strong as the cigars, themselves.
The dealer boldly alleged that there
was no tobacco in them, at all. But
even if the American dealer, in revenue
cases, or tho American thief, in larceny
cases. we're to admit the presence of
some tobacco in the article sold or
stolen, it is evident that the plea in
mitigation of sentence or abatement of
tax would depend upon his ability to
show how little real tobacco was in
volved in the transaction. The Court
might take cognixsnce of a theft, even
if it were only of cabbage leaves and
hay; but it would naturally send the
culprit, not to Jail, but to reformatory
where genuine tobacco alone was used !,
and where he might learn to discrimi-
nate between the real and the bogus
articles. The British trader was bold
man to own up the total absence of to-
bacco from his cigars. Few Ameri-
can dealers would display equal cour-
age. Although the ability of Ameri-
can intellects and morals in evading the
tax collector has reached some very
high developments, very few tobacco
nists would go to such lengths of con-
fession. And in tho matter of cigar
stealing, the average thief is so accus-
toned to bad cigars that he probably
does not know whether they contain
tobacco or only cabbage and hay. 1t
is evident that his safety lies, if any
where, in stealing the cheapest article
be can lay his hands on, as it gives him
the best chance either of sQuashing
his indictment on the ground of i'm
proper description, or claiming the
cIemency of the court on the ground
that he was doing public service by
putting SO much bogus tobacco out of
the way.-PhtL. Bulletin.