The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1883-06-15
WHOLE NO. 727
UNBIASED JUSTICE.
The Session Ended, His Honor Retires from
Court.
Stockton Herald.

Stockton Herald.
"When was practicing down at Tomb.
stone," said the lawyer, "a friend Of mine
had his ear chewed off one evening IN q dis
pute with . prominent citizen who deal,
faro. After seeing the doctor he came to
me, and under my advice he had the promi.
!. inent citizen arrested on 4 charge of may
hem. Next day we had the man up for bis
preliminary examination. My friend was
there with his head bandaged, and so were
the prominent citizen and his counsel, and
the friends of both parties. The general
public-and it's pretty tough general pub.
lie In Tombstone-crowded the court room.
The hour went by, bat the justice didn't
turn up. The constable went out to leok
for him, but couldn't find him in any of the
saloons. We secuted around for half an
hour, but nary sign of the court turned up.
Finally, General OBrien, the leader of the
Tombstone bar, stuck his head up through
q trapdoor in the floor, and said In a solemn
way:
Gentlemen, remove your hats. His
Honor Is here And he dragged the court
up by the collar. He was timber drunk and
had been sleeping it of In the cellar. You
never saw such a long adjournment from de-
cency as that ornament Of the bench was.
He was covered with dirt, and even his hair
and beard were chock full of sawdust. There
was, remember, fsttened quid of tobacco
on his cheek bone. We had to hold him
under each arm as we led him to the nearest
barber shop. A bath and a shampoo brought
back some life to him, and he was able to
walk without help to the courtroom. Once
in the chair behind his high desk he looked
all right and he went on with the case. We
had taken the testimony Of three witnesses
to the row and subsequent chewing of my
friends car in the Excelsior faro parlors,
when General O'Brien and Colonel Stephens,
jumped up and objected to one of my ques-
tions. 1t was a law point and We argued
and quoted authorities for about half an
hour. 1t was pretty hot set.out and we
were all on our feet when we finished and
turned around to the court for ruling. He
was looking straight before him up above US,
as If he was sleeping with his eyes open.
"Your Honor" said the General, after q
long pause, eve are waiting for your rul-
Ing
"There was no answer. Then Clipped
in with:
".Your Honor, will you be good enough
to give us your ruling?'
"'Wash tha'9' he said, trying to bring his
eyes to bear upon me.
"'We want your ruling "A
"sCourt's ajourned,' he said, trying to
lise.
awe all protested, but his only answer
was to strike his desk with his fist and cry
out again that the court was adjourned.
"'Won't you fix the bail of this defend
anti? demanded the General.
NO, SIR said the court, who had got on
his feet by this time and was frowning heav-
lily. Turn i'm loose. H'd oughter chewed
the head off that tenderfoot, that's what he'd
oughter DONE
"Well, gentlemen, what do you think the
court did next? He just deliberately stag.
gered over to the trapdoor. lifted 1t, stepped
down the stairs until only his head and
shoulders were above the floor and then
pausing to glare at the paralyzed crowd of
US, he growled out:
"'You can all 60 to -
"With that he ducked his head aud let the
trap fall, and suppose he had his sleep out
on the dirty floor of the cellar"