The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1881-04-23
A COLD DAY FOR ABBATUCCI.

of an esteemed contemporary, "What
is the news this morning? Who is mar
riedP Who is deadP Has Fertsel got his
divorce?n
Hush, Tillie," said Dahlgreen, and
he read second time this local brevity;
'.Abbatuec Tambourini, an Italian peanut
vcnder in Mulberry Street, was yesterday as
saulted by Poindexter RYAN, who upset his
stand and robbed him of $3.22 RYAN was ar
rested and will be tried this morning for the
larceny and assault"
1t so happened that Mr.. Dalrymple
sat among the spectators in Court that
day when the case was called. He had
sublime respect--not uncommon
among those unfamiliar with its work
ings for the administration of justice,
and he expected confidently to see
Tambourini's goods restored to him
andRyan sent to deep dungeon cell.
He listened, and this is what he heard:
Counsel for Tambourini, rising, said:
"If it may please the Court, the pris-
oner at the bar is charged with aggra-
waited and unprovoked assault upon my
client; but, in consequence of the re-
peal of the statute of 1871 by the new
general law of 1873-an error. as your
Honor will remember, not noticed I'M
til after the negatory act had passed
both houses of the Legislature and OBJ
tanned the Governors signature-there
is no law covering this case. You will
find however, in an act passed in lS43,
and entitled, An Act to prevent mock
auctions ana to secure efficiency in the
National Guard clause in the second
section of the third amendment which
bears directly upon this matter. 1t has
been held Blown as. Bown, %, IS, Ma
guinness j. that an assault upon the per-
son of an alien is misdemeanor. Though
Abbott lin Blake Us. Snoogles, 40, II,
Al. held otherwise. In an act passed
in 1885. entitled An Act to withhold
water franchises from the Union Ferry
Company for ninety-nine years. it was
provided that where robbery follows as
sault, the power of the Judge shall be
discretionary. But where they are CO.
incident, his power is restricted to: "A
fine of $50, or more, or less, or six
months Imprisonment, or more, or less,
or both, or neither And we find that
at common law the same rule holds:
Esto gitOd esse Uideris. / admit that in
the present condition of the statute it is
impossible to say whether an offense of
this nature is, technically, a INSIDE
meanor. However, it must be clear that
my client has lost his peanuts and is en-
titled to some redress"
Ryan's counsel here arose:
O. If it may please the Court, this case
turns on the old law of 1921, entitled,
AN Act to empower the State Surveyor
to sue for damages sustained by reason
of county ordinances. The first case
is reviewed by Mills, G. j., who, in the
matter of Shillito as. Guiteras, held that
a man may suffer the same injuries if
assaulted in the street as if assaulted in
house. Two Judges concurred and
three dissented. BY one of those laches
which seem almost inevitable the clerk
mislaid the opinion of the dissenting
Judges, and the assaulted man was sent
to Jail, where he died some time after
ward. That, however, is not material.
Parsons on Contracts states clearly that
where man enters into an arrangement
whereby there is reasonable likelihood
that he will be knocked down, he can
only recover damages in the event of
his being killed. Your Honor will re-
member that Parsons lays down this
rule as peremptory; but, as Chalmers
truly observes: How can the dead man
sueg Bis peccare in bello non icet. l
will not waste the time of the Court to
inquire whether my client did really
rob and maltreat this Italian. l admit
that he did. We concede generalization,
the assault and the larceny. But what
has that to do with it? Has not Hope,
in Downing Us. Durande, 1915, decided
that where warranty is not specified it
is not to be presumedP Does ANYBODY
come into this Court to guarantees these
peanutsp No. Mr.. Tambourini swears
the peanuts were his. Let us concede
1t. What did he have them for? Pre-
supposing no illicit intentions on his
part, and waving how he got them,
will say simply: He had them to dispose
of. To whom? That is no business of
the Court. RYAN comes along. He takes
them. They are disposed of. And
then this sallow-faced, coal-eyed, Ian
tern-jawed, hungry-mouthed Peninsulan
comes here and asks this august Court
to resolve itself into an investigating
committee to ascertain whether the con-
sideration was adequateP And in the
same breath that he says he received
nothing for the peanuts he swears that
he got two black eyesr'
sslf your Honor please said. the
Italians counsel, 1.-THE black eyes re-
ferred to were given to Tambourini BY
the gentleman's client"
Unsurpassed merriment of the
Court officers.
The Judge raped heavily for order,
and when silence was restored thus
spoke:
This case is peculiar one. About
once month / hear it. Sometimes