The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1881-04-06

.I Yesterday afternoon, when thu
lawyers of Justice Cary's court were
waiting for the verdict in a petty
larceny case, Attorney Soderbere
related an incident Of his early child
hood in Minnesota, illustrative ol
! the peculiar customs in vogue in
! that state: II knew an old farmer
there who owned 10 acres of timber
land where millions of pigeons came
each year to roost. They devasted
the wheat fields, and the old coon
used to catch the birds in nets and
thrash them out on the barn floor.
Each bird had three ounces of wheat
in his crop, and it was a bad year
for old Thompson when he couldn't
ship a thousand bushels of wheat to
market at 50 60 a bushel, and it
ranked A No.1 when it reached the
Chicago elevator. If there had been
a few millions more of pigeons he
would have come pretty near get
ting a corneron the Minnesota wheat
crop"
II knew planter down in Ala
bama," said Kittrell, who was full
ly as sharp as that. He trained an
alligator to work up and down the
river, and catch the little piccanin-
nies that played along the bank.
The alligator would take the little
kids in his jaws and swim back to
the plantation. 1t was dull day
that he couldn't corrall three or
four. The planter raised 'em care
fully, and when they got big sold
'em in New Orleans at prices rang
ing from three to ten thousand apiece
He was rolling in wealth when Lin
coins emancipation proclamation
was issued. and after that the alliga-
tor never did any more work. The
man is now barely keeping body
and soul together in Washington,
olerking in one of the Government
bureaus at eight hundred dollars a
year"
Judge Cary eyinced the greatest
interest in these wierd tales, and
edged up to the group.
These are curious yarns, gentle
men, but | believe them all. / had
a dog once, back in Nebraska, that
| kept to herd lumber"
"Beg pardon, Judge; did you say
the dog herded lumber?"
"Yes, sir, cottonwood boards.
We always kept dog there to
bring the lumber in at night"
Everybody now payed the closest
attention, as they knew that the boss
was at work.
at was this way. Cottonwood
boards warp like thunder in the
sun. A board would begin to hump
its back up about 8 in the morning,
and in about half an hour it would
turn over, By IL it would warp
the other way with the heat and
turn the other way. Each time it
turned it moved d couple of feet,
always following-the sun towards
the west. The first summer l lived
10 Brownville over ten thousand feet
of lumber skipped out to the hills
the day before | had advertised a
house raising. | went to the county
seat to attend a lawsuit, and when |
got back there wasn't stick of tim
Der left. 1t had strayed away in
the uplands. An ordinary board
would climb a two-mile hill during
a hot week, and when it struck the
timber it would keep yormin' in
and out among the trees like q gar
ter snake. Every farmer in the
State had to keep . shepherd dog
to follow his lumber around the
country, keep it together and show
where it was in TIE morning. We
didn't need any fumes there for
lumber, We sawed it east of the
place where we wanted to use it,
and let it warp itself to its destina-
ton, with men and dogs to head it
of at the right time, we never lost a
ctiek. Well, here comes the jury"
continued the Judga. "The witness
es lied 50 guess they viii disa-
gree"