Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1883-05-03
No. a..
TOMBSTONE JUSTICE.
How he Paralyzed the Distinguished
Bar of the City.
Sfnokfor, Hawaii

Stockton Herald.l
when l was practicing down at Tomb
stone" said the lawyer, friend of mine had
MS ear chewed off one evening in dispute
with a prominent citizen who dealt faro.
After seeing the doctor he came to me, and
under my advice he had the prominent citi-
zen arrested on charge of mayhem. Next
day we had the man up for his 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 a
pretty tough general public in Tombstone
crowded the courtroom. The hour went by,
but the Justice didn't turn up. The consta-
BILE went out to look 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
O'Brien, the leader of the Tombstone bar,
stuck his head up through a trap door in the
floor and said in his solemn way:
"Gentlemen, remove your hats, His Honor
is here" And he dragged the court up by the
collar. You never saw such long adjourn
ment from decency 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 flat
tened quid of tobacco on his cheek-bone. We
had to hold His Honor under each arm as
we led him to the nearest barber shop. A
bath and shampoo brought back some life
into him, and he was able walk without help
to the courtroom. Once in the chair behind
his high desk he looked all right, and we
went on with the case. We had taken the
testimony of three witnesses to the row and
subsequent chewing OF my friends ear in
the Excelsior faro parlOrs when General
O'Brien and Colonel Stephens, both on the
other side, jumped up and objected to my
questions. 1t was law point and we ar
gued and quoted authorities for about half
an hour. 1t was pretty hot set-to and we
were all on our feet when finished and turn
ed round 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
long pause, we are waiting for your ruling"
There was no answer. Then I Clipped
with:
Your Honor, will you be good enough to
gives us your ruling"
Wash tha?' he said, trying to bring his
eyes to bear upon me.
We want your ruling
Courts a'journed,' he said, trying to rise.
"We all protested, but his only answer
was to strike his desk with his first and cry
out again that the court was adjourned.
Wont you fix the bail of this defendant p
demanded the General.
Now shir, said the court, who had got on
his feet by this time, and was frowning
heavily Turn i'm loose. He'd oughter
chawed the head off that tendertoot, 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 trap-door, lifted it, stepped
down the stairs until only his head and
shoulders were above the floor, and then
pausipg to glare at the paralyzed crowd OF
u.s. growled out
"Yeh can all 60 to"
with that he ducked and let the door
fall, and I suppose had his sleep out on the
dirty floor of the cellar"